I know we have several groomers on the board. What you like? Dislike?

Did you go to school or learn on the job?

Tell all!

I got the job with no 'real' dog grooming experience. At a previous job I'd had I groomed the owners Collies- 1 to conformation ring standards. (hand scissoring the head to hide flaws/highlight strengths, trimming legs and feet, extensive brushing- this was a WHITE Rough Coat!)

Aside from that, I grew up washing my own dogs, and was responsible for keeping up on the grooming needs of the 30ish mixed breeds while I was managing a rescue.

I had experience with clippers- but body clipping horses, never shaved a dog! As a vet tech, I had experience with a surgical blade (40), shaving for surgery and shaving/cleaning wounds.

Everything else, I've learned on the job, with direction from the head groomer. Love it. It's great fun, most days. Rewarding, knowing that you're sending home dogs free from mats, and terribly over grown toenails. At the same time, it's depressing to see the dogs with eyes matted shut by gunk, and tails matted to rear-ends with fecal matter. Many sad things- but turning out a well groomed Maltese, or Bichon is totally worth it! Schnauzers are my favorites, currently.

I've only been working as a groomer for 6 months or so. They don't normally let people wield clippers for a longer period of time @ my shop, but I have a good grasp of canine anatomy, and I've used clippers in the past, so they started giving me 'real' dogs.

I know that some larger companies (Petco/Pestmart) will take a bather and train them to groom if they sign a contract for a certain period of time... Jessica? You reading this? How long?

That's all. I think.

I did show grooming for a number of years for myself and a few others. Mostly all terrier stripping but I also did Kerry blue grooming.(all scissor work)
I still strip a lady's Border terrier a couple of time a year but that's just Giterdone stripping. Nothing fancy.
What I didn't like was the owners that stood over me and told me how it should be done. These were folks that liked how I groomed and looked me up. There were a few that I even got a little rude with...but they kept coming back and telling me how to do their dogs.
All was self taught but I had done some serious sculpting over the years so I at least had an eye for shape, balance, etc. That was a big help.
I will say that my first time in the show ring with my first show dog (Kerry Blue) was and eye opener as to my grooming. I got a lot of looks...just not from the judge. LOL!

When I groomed, I trained under a master groomer for a whole day, and then the kennel I worked for (not Leerburg!)put me to work grooming dogs. To be fair, I did have a couple of dogs of my own that required grooming, and I did a pretty good job on them

The hardest for me was the hand scissoring and shaping -- it took me ALL DAY to do my first French Poodle clip. I had a very forgiving Bichon owner that let me practice shaping on her dog and that helped a lot.

It was sad when you'd see the dogs come in that never got baths at home and were matted and full of god knows what. I had several dogs that I sheared in one piece like a sheep. It was great to see the clean and shiny coat underneath when you were done!

I got into an argument once with the kennel owner when I had a customer come in with a Giant Schnauzer pup and wanted to have it shaved. This was a pup that was going to be showed in conformation. I told the owner that shaving could damage the coat and recommended a groomer that did coat stripping since I didn't know how to do it at the time. The kennel owner never forgave me for that, but I felt good for not sacrificing that dog's coat and future for a couple of bucks.

--Kel

I'm Suuuuupppppeeeeerrrrrrrr slow on Bichon's and Poodles.

Good for you, Kelly, on turning down that Schnauzer pup. So far, @ the place I'm at, we have not had any conformation ring dogs except a few Cockers from one family. We only Bathe and Brush them though- no way I'm up for stripping a Cocker! The coats are STUNNING, she does a great job, but man, they take a long time to dry.... rofl.


Bob- I envy your hand stripping skills! I CAN do it, but I'm not good at it.

I used to hand strip my Airedales....why oh why did I waste that much time?

Holy cow... That would be A LOT of work! I don't think I've ever seen a hand stripped Airedale outside of the conformation ring.

I'm going to ask a question here that I hope doesn't make me sound too dumb. I've heard the term before, but can someone please explain to me exactly what it means to "strip a coat"? I'm someone who has only owned short-coated, wash-and-wear dogs for the last couple of decades, and I've never had occasion to send my dog to a groomer, so I'm just curious.

Thanks guys, and thanks to Cheri for asking about the stripping, cause I don't have a clue either!

There is a new vet clinic opening up and I saw the ad for a groomer with just one year of experience and was surprised at the starting pay. Actually good for this area.

They have a training type position also and I think I'll go talk to them and see if I can get something part time.

I wouldn't mind working at a vets a couple of days a week. Could be fun.

Has anyone ever set up shop at their home? I do a little boarding, mostly for people that have a dog from me but I'm thinking that this could be a way to supplement income down the road.

Until I retired just this year (happy dance!) I had my own little grooming parlour at my home. Totally the way to go if you have the space ( and it doesn't take much). I easily pulled in $20-25,000 a year by only doing an average of 3 dogs a day, 5 days a week. Overhead very low. Of course I lived on a small Gulf Island and was the only groomer (pop. 3000-ish) so advertising was minimal

Setting your own hours, taking time off when you want, sitting in your own house for lunch an coffee breaks, not to mention training and play sessions with your own dogs! I almost can't imagine working for someone else and only getting, say, half the money per dog...

The main things I didn't like about grooming were dealing with dogs with fleas, drying Cocker Spaniels, shaving long haired matted cats, drying Cocker Spaniels, large dogs in general (as the years went by I became a small breed only groomer, amazingly with no drop in income!) and drying Cocker Spaniels (did I mention that, already?)