doggroomerrants

[doggroomerrants]

Bad day

Better yet, bad couple of days. 

Here is where I start my bitching... for real this time.

I have been grooming for only a few years, yet I’ve already developed issues with my wrists. It started whenever I did a big dog that needed a lot of brushing.. but it was manageable and it would go away fairly quick. Then It started after whenever I had to work on doodles. Whenever I had them booked, it was almost a given that they would be matted and the owner would request it be “.left fluffy”. Needless to say, I did what I could... as much as was fair to the dog, mind you. If too severe, in goes the blade. All at the expense of my wrists. Fastforward to now, when I groom one wiggly small dog and its over for me.

So yesterday I had 2 doodles in a row and while I was able to do them both no problem, my wrist did not hesitate to complain. The complaining carried on till today when I had all difficult dogs. Not difficult in the sence that they were poorly behaved but...

 2 shih tzus that are terribly neglected came in matted as usual. Im talking PELTED. And the owners had the nerve to text me a pic of what they wanted. Cute, full, fluffy coat. I was pissed, so I decided to respectfully decline and explain why along with the risks of severely neglected coats. Which they were fine with but told me that somehow everyone in the household was injured (?), so no one could take care of them. I’m pretty sure I hadnt seen them since last year. I thought they would’ve gone somewhere else but I guess not. So that irritated the crap out of my wrists.. thankfully they were all groomed safely and are now comfortable and happy.

Following them, a matted doodle who hadn’t come in in 6 months because usually she is good for the first 3 months but then it gets out of hand... so they waited 3 more months so bring her in. She was a bit easier but the problem was that she is quite big and strong, so... wrists - not happy.

And then... little miss wiggly yorkie. Absolutely sweetest child but man can she move... 

Anyway.. thats that i guess.

[doggroomerrants]

Sad times in my neck of the woods

This happened a minute ago, I guess... but it is something that has been in the back of my mind since I first heard about it.

These are sad times for the industry in my area. There’s quite the shortage of groomers and there has been an increadibly rapid increase in puppies. Pet care workers are struggling to keep up. I blame the pandemic. People desperate to have some form of companion, getting puppies, so where does that leave us?

I really wish the pet industry was more regulated than it is now. I think it would stear the wrong people away from A) Working with animals and B) Owning them.

There is a groomer in my area who has had complaints for years due to her severe mistreatment of dogs. There is an open file with the SPCA about her but they won’t do anything about it as there doesn’t seem to be enough people coming forward with proof. However, she is known for constantly injuring dogs left, right and center. 

We have a few clients that have come our way from her and believe me when I say it is horrifying. There recently was a post on my local community facebook group that sparked outrage. She had hurt yet another dog. This lead to other owners sharing their experiences and even posting pictures of what this lady did to their pets. Normaly, I tend to side with the groomers but since I have seen it for myself... it broke my heart. There were around 200 comments of people discussing her back and forth. Some were simply sharing their stories, warning others, and others were trying to organize a way to have her shut down. I can’t go into specifics but I believe they did eventually force the store she worked out of to kick her out. There doesn’t seem to be any more grooming there. Unfortunately, I saw another post of hers promoting her business after this. She is still out there trying to find clients. She is a person too, which means she needs to make a living and like many of us, she is probably also in debt. I sincerely hope she is able to find employment outside of this industry.

Something I wanted to touch on is that, while scrolling through tones of comments with tears in my eyes (not sure if from anger or sadness or both... probably both) I saw a few people that were in utter disbelief. Could this possibly be the same person they used to take their pets long ago? It couldn’t be! She was so sweet and caring. What happened? It seems she wasn’t always the grumpy, impatient lady many of us came to know her as, but as time went on, she started to change. And it is no wonder, I did some digging and was able to find that she apparently worked 6 to 7 days a week for a long time. That cannot be healthy and while I am aware that this is normal for a lot of people in the world.. normal does not equal healthy. This lady burnt herself out to the point of becoming a completely different person. One that was ok with hurting an animal and refuse to give refunds when clients demanded it. One that wouldn’t even issue an apology. 

Then I got to thinking, I too have felt frustration in my heart. I too have been annoyed and upset that things during my grooming day are not going quite as smoothly as I had hoped. This usually happens when I haven’t had a break or when its been a long week and I just need to go home and rest. Only to do it all over again the next week, and the next, and the next. We are always focusing on the hussle that we forget how important it is to take a break. I don’t want to become this lady. I don’t want to be angry or mean to a pet. I need to figure out a way to make my work/life more bearable so that I can work efficiently and provide a healthy environment for the pets I work with. 

I need balance.

[doggroomerrants]

[doggroomerrants]

[doggroomerrants]

[doggroomerrants]

Challenges @ work

So now that I have gotten my little intro out of the way, the next thing to get out of the way is my most immediate thoughts and the main reason why I started a journal. 

I HAVE SO MANY CHALLENGES! And I don’t like to talk about them super directly to people because I also feel compassion is necessary if one wants to survive the grooming industry. But I need a way to let the frustration out! I can’t keep it bottled in!

So, here goes one of them... (There’s more but this one needs a whole few posts dedicated to it)

-Clients- 

Why do we have such a complicated relationship with the very people who keep us in business? The truth is that we need eachother! (Or their dogs need us, anyway.) This is supposed to be a symbiotic relationship! Why do we butt heads so much!? I’ll tell you why: Some of us seem to be unwilling to compromise. We forget that the priority should be the pet - ALWAYS. So regardless of who we are or whether we like the client’s/groomer’s personality, we need to put the dog’s needs first. And dogs need grooming as part of a well balanced, healthy life. 

Now, that being said. I notice that a lot of pet owners have unrealistic expectations on what their dogs should be/look like, therefore they have unrealistic expectations on what a pet care worker needs to do in order to achieve said ideas. At the risk of sounding old fashioned - I blame social media for this. 

I don’t know if you have seen this but there are countless of social media platforms and accounts of INCREDIBLY talented groomers out there. Who put out pictures of amazing, mind blowing work! Honestly, the amount of times my jaw drops when I am scrolling through instagram is countless. There’s tones of posts on facebook, videos on youtube, tiktok, pinterest... you name it. And when we see that, as groomers, we understand there is a lot that happened behind the scenes. There was a lot of work that came before the nice instagram picture. We know, and through this perspective, we are able to appreciate it in a very different way than the average person does. There are a lof or pet owners seeing this cute pinterest doodles and they want, no sorry, they NEED that look.. I mean, understandably so, they do look super cute... But then are dissapointed to find that their groomer couldn’t quite pull it off. 

Your dog may look cute as all heck, but not quite like you hoped and there are many different factors as to why your groomer wasn’t quite able to give you the pinterest look you were hoping for. Many of which we would love to talk to you about, if only you would listen. Please just listen, I promise we mean no harm. 

The thing is that we are more than just Fur-Stylists, and your dog is more than just a picture. We work on all kinds of different dogs - with different personalities, lifestyles, histories and training levels. Some are more cooperative than others, some are more resilient to stress triggers than others, some are more trained than others, some are maintained at home more than others. And we need to take everything that encompasses your dog into consideration, in order to figure out the best way to work with them in a safe manner. Yes, that also means that appointments will be scheduled according to this as well - not just according to when it is convenient to you. 

Please just try to remember that if you want your dog well cared for, sometimes you will need patience and an open mind. Remember that your dog is also an individual and they won’t ever be EXACTLY like any other dog - and every other dog won’t be exactly like yours either. So next time you go in for an appointment and you are not happy with the end result, make sure to bring it up in a respectful way (Groomers, you need to be willing to listen too!) and see if there is a happy medium that can be achieved. If you find that you want to try a different groomer, that is totally fair too. It is your dog, your decision. 

Just maybe leave the rude treatment aside? I cannot tell you the amount of times people have just about chewed my head off because I apparently missplaced my magic wand and couldn’t make an appointment slot magically appear,  or I couldn’t magically make their dog look like the completely different breed depicted in the provided pinterest picture, or I had to shave down a coat due to severe matting... Remember that I do my best to treat your pet with the utmost kindness and respect and it’s only fair that you extend that same courtesy to me. I am a human, just like you.

[doggroomerrants]

My 1st post

I was trying to decide what to make my first post about. There are so many things I feel I want to talk about but maybe, for the sake of having some form of order in what is about to become a chaotic mess of a blog, I will start by writing about who I am.  There are many things I am aside from my name, so why don’t I start there? I am a married woman in her late 20s. I am, like many people... lost. I have never really had any idea as to what direction I want my life to take and now, nearing my 30s, I feel an enormous pressure to have my life sorted... All the while, my past self was more focused on surviving and trying to have a decent time in doing so. 

I wish I had been more careful. Payed more attention. Was more focused. Had more motivation to make something of myself. But the reality is that I never really cared... I was very easy going, you know? Just go with the flow - Things will fall into place - Kinda girl. So why is it that now all of a sudden I am rushing myself to sort it all out? I wish I hadn’t wasted so much time... going with the flow. Where was I even flowing to, anyway? To be totally transparent, I think being married is what is putting presure on me to figure my shit out... after all... I am a married woman! Get it together girl!

But its not all bad... I am also kind of smart and very resilient. And even while lost, I always figure out ways to pick myself back up and move forward. Maybe not in the most conventional of ways but, hey... I’m still kicking! 

I’ve always had a love for animals... more specifically - dogs. How basic of me. And I guess my belief of “things will fall into place” was sort of accurate because it was thanks to my dog loving heart that I have been working in the petcare industry for about 7 years. Between daycares, shelters and now grooming, I’ve been able to learn and grow little by little when it comes to my understanding of dogs... Just not as much as I would have hoped. While I feel like I know a thing or two, I also know that I have a long way to go... So this blog will be my form of journaling my way through this learning journey. 

Anyway, I really need to go study... will share more details later! No time to waste!