Last week, a regular customer told me she'd been having some significant health issues and wanted to add a little happiness to her life. Could I please color her Bichon's tail pink? You bet I can; I will the next time she comes in.
The past few years have seen a “Spa” boom in the pet industry. We all want to care for our pet friends in luxury and many pet owners are willing to pay extra for services and products that pamper them. As we all know, marketing can be a very powerful tool, however, marketing alone does not always bring success. If the perception of services does not match the quality or value of the increased costs, the consumer is left disappointed and perhaps reluctant to try again somewhere else.
Pet groomers face seasonal challenges as winter loses its grip on much of the country. Get ready for mud, mats, and bugs now to prepare for the coming weeks. For starters, grooming customers who are not on a regular schedule tend to notice that their pets need grooming in the spring, so our calendars get extra busy. These not-so-frequent visitors, as well as the regularly planned dogs, may present you with the following problems to tackle.
Anjie Coates has taken her 34-year career grooming dogs and cats and hopped on to a new gig. She is now the country’s preeminent rabbit groomer. Coates hosts an active Facebook group for people interested in grooming rabbits (Professional Rabbit Groomers), offers a certification program, and has recently published a book called The Quintessential Rabbit Book.
Imagine you are at work. The Golden Retriever waiting to be finished is barking—a lot. You can hear it over the high-velocity dryer you use on a terrier mix. The radio is on. Someone is vacuuming a pile of fur from the husky that had just been groomed. A vent fan is humming along from the ceiling. Grooming can be loud. Not only individual sounds but sounds that layer one upon the other, so you don't even notice the noise level. That is, until the end of the day when the last machine is turned off and ahhhh… it's so blissfully quiet.
The days are growing longer; the groundhog says we will have an early spring, and heavy-shedding double-coated dogs are getting ready to blow those coats! Once pet owners see clumps forming, they will call to schedule a grooming appointment. If you have many of these dogs on your client list, your arms and shoulders are already bracing themselves for the onslaught.
Most people can’t resist the look of brachycephalic pets. Bulldogs, French Bulldogs, Pugs, Boston Terriers, Persians, Ragdolls, and Himalayan cats, to name a few. Those squishy faces. Those big eyes. They trigger something in our brains that makes us go, “Ohhhh!”
Pet groomers don’t need a calendar to tell us what season it is; we can tell the days are getting longer by how much the dogs on our tables are shedding. With the proper devices, there is no need to dread shedding season. Here are some tools and methods to help you get through these hairy times with less effort.
Most groomers see a fair number of wire-coated breeds on their tables. A few examples are Airedale Terriers, Scottish Terriers, West Highland White Terriers, Cairn Terriers, and Schnauzers. These and many more are familiar breeds that require regular grooming.
Since I was old enough to grasp the idea that I needed a job in life, I’ve always wanted that job to involve animals. As a kid, I thought maybe I could be a Marine Biologist or live in Africa and work with lions and Elephants. My aspirations changed as I matured, formed other goals, and settled on pet grooming. My career choice has been a happy one in many ways. I have, indeed, worked with animals. I have also met wonderful people at the other end of the leash.
