The shop where I work needs 1 or 2 new groomers. Besides posting on this site and Craigslist, where else can I get the word out?

Hi guys!

Do any of you fellow mobile groomers serve Southbury, CT? I am in Trumbull, CT and got a call from a woman who is in Southbury who needs her dog groomed, unfortunately I don't service her area. It's just too far for me, but I told her I would try to help her out and see if anyone does her area and is taking new clients. She's having a terrible time getting someone.

I appreciate your help. You can PM me if you have any info.

Thank You!

Oh yay, I just love it when this happens.

So I have a gentleman client who has an English Springer Spaniel. He has been late numerous times, no-showed a couple times, never apologizes, never tips. The dog is sweet but is HORRENDOUS for the dryer, and even for the bath (always practically climbing the walls to get out). When I am done drying him I am pretty much crying and sweating. It's a nightmare. It is amazing that I have been able to get him dry without me or him being seriously injured. PLUS, and this is my fault, that dog's price is lower than it should be for all the trouble he gives me.

So, yesterday.....9:00 appointment. He shows up at 9:20. It is my policy that if they are 20 or more minutes late, the appointment gets rescheduled. Now the guy is one of those that is fairly nice, but will get pissy really easily. So all the receptionists are like, if he still shows up, YOU can tell him! So I go out there and tell him nicely that I would have to reschedule since he is late. He says, "Oh really?" and looks really disappointed, as I knew he would be. I check the computer for the next available time, which is next week (and that was literally all I had) and he says, "I don't know, that's a really silly policy for just TWO minutes!" And I said, "No, you were TWENTY minutes late." And I went on again to kindly explain that I do dogs BY APPOINTMENT and when someone is that late, it makes my whole day late. So he mumbled something and I just said I was sorry and went in the back.

I do think he is probably surprised because back when I first started a year ago at this place, of course I was still building clientele and I was more lax back then. He KNOWS I am super busy now. I have to put my foot down now.

I don't know if I have lost this client or what, but truthfully I am kind of praying for that. You know those clients that continue to stress you out? He's one of those. Plus, I won't miss bathing/drying that dog.

Hey Ya'll, here's another inquiry aimed at the smartest animal people I know. My MIL lives on the same property as us. (We live on 40 acres). She recently adopted a boxer mix. All of our yards are fenced, but we take our 3 year old mixed breed for walks regularly. The first couple of times we took our dog (Dee-O-Gee) for our daily walk, as we walked by my MIL's "property", her new adoptee charged the fence and our dogs got very agressive through the fence. My question is...how can we introduce these two high energy, spayed, female dogs positively, without a vet bill? Our dog exists day in and out with a very laid back 17 year old awesome old lady dog. But she hasn't had much experience with young, exuberant dogs. How can we introduce these two beautiful ladies and help them to be friends? I am very nervous about any meeting between them now. I just don't want any injuries... and I would like for them to be able to be friends in the future. Thanks for any tips you can give me!!

i've been creeping around for a while now and you all come off as the most supportive, helpful, informative bunch i have ever encountered. ive only been grooming for a few months now and am employed by a petsomething. although i have a wonderful boss who oversees my grooming and has answers to all of my questions i feel i have learned more here from a technical standpoint than the basics i am taught at work. it is so refreshing to have an internet community that isn't intimidating to the point that i keep quiet and just read through everyone else's inside jokes. you have all given me confidence to try things at work that are saving a ton of time and unneeded frustration, where before i worried too much about messing up and not being unable to validate why i do things the way i do them. just in the last week i'm having so many major AH HA! moments and everything is starting to click. i will be transferring to another store in a few weeks and without you my stress would be through the roof. it's wonderful to be able to have a really bad day and then go home and read all of your inspiring stories. thank you for letting me laugh with you.

today for example, i had a 10 all over matted mess that left me with multiple band aids on every single finger [more to not bleed on the white dog than severity of the bites], and just when i started to feel like i really CAN DO THIS i went to take off the last half inch of her pelt and left a terrible clipper irritation as she turned into the blade to bite me yet AGAIN. not quite to the point of tears but i was very upset with myself as i had just been thinking yesterday how pleased i was that i hadn't had ANY incidents - our salon has a lot of spoiled brats who don't have table manners - up until this point. i came home and read the thread 3 dog mom has wrote about her progress in the last 2 years and it really helped give me a boost.

i see groomers at petsomethings who do what they do and that's what they do because they've always done it. i don't want to reach that point. i want to make this career a lifelong learning experience and improve every day as much as i can for my dogs, my clients, and myself. i hope to eventually find a private salon that i can call home with people who see things as you and i do, who i can call my family. where the pet parents will give their dogs what they need and deserve, and every other dog isn't a 7 shave down. yes we get bit, scratched, yelled at, peed/pooped on, discover terrible gross health problems, feel pain when we lose lifelong clients, and have to constantly see the same people with the same neglected dogs; but i would not trade this for anything else in the world. thank you for the hope that there actually are people who aren't in this for the money - that there are people who groom because they love helping dogs and love being able to pay their bills with something that doesn't feel like work. i eat, sleep, and breathe dog grooming. thank you all for doing the same.

I'm flying to TO today, and when I'm in town I want to pop into a couple shops, just to network (and deal with the withdrawal), so if you have a shop let me know and I'll try to come say hi!

-Lindsay

I was cheching out different random groomin websites and I ran across this. No sanitary clips done unless requested and extra charged will apply.
I just thought this was strange and wanted to see what ya'll thought.
To me a sanitary is mandatory on any groom.

Hiya Everyone!
Quick question... I pay my groomer employee a commission of 50% plus tips per dog. My pricing is super fair, if not even above average (not sure if that matters...). However when it comes to add on services, should I also split those fees with an employee as well? i.e. teeth, spa packages, etc.

Thanks!

My standard poodle boy is almost a year old! He is, of course, mid coat change... and while we are not having any matting, he is breaking hair like crazy. His body looks great... nice, hard, crisp coat that straightens nicely and scissors like a dream. His leg hair is awful, floppy, stringy, and breaks. Most of his breakage is on the rear of his legs, right above the foot pad. On his back legs it looks like I shaved a strip half way from his hock to his foot. He is also breaking alot of hair on his topknot (just a regular scissored top knot... not banded). I only brush him while blowdrying, and with a detangling spray... he usually gets a bath once a week, as he gets REALLY dirty playing outside. Am I letting him be a dog too much? I let him play and rough-house alot. I was going to try to compete with him at the end of June, but I don't think he has enough hair... should I just wait until he is fully done with his coat change? Do I need to be using different coat sprays or oils? Any other tricks to grow hair or keep hair from breaking?

I'm trying to make my own business cards and just searching and searching on the web, it's getting a little overwhelming... anyone have any good websites for me to look at that will have some good clipart choices? I appreciate any suggestions at all!

Has anyone tried this and if so how did you like it? Does it come off easily? I'd like to give it a try but not if little specs of glitter will be left behind on a customers carpet, clothes, etc.

Thanks

Hi! I have a really sweet client (good tipper) moving to Raleigh in a few weeks and she's really nervous about trying to find a good groomer for Sydney? He's a little yorkie who is great for grooming but has several health issues (intestinal, liver, etc). He gets a #5 all over and short face so very easy groom, but with his problems he needs to be done as an express groom. Anyone here willing to take him on?

Hey everyone, first posting on here. My name's Christine, and I've been in the pet industry for 13 years, grooming for 8. I went to the Great Lakes Academy in Lockport, IL and was taught by competitive groomer Jeanne Mulcahy and her daughter Meggan. I groomer out of several different shops over the years in Chicago, and have recently relocated with my boyfriend to Annapolis, MD. The grooming world here, while it is mostly the same, has a a few differences. Firstly, the prices are higher (which I'm not complaining about, but it does weird me out a bit.). The average cut for a shih tzu will run you around $55 here. In Chicago, it can be as low as $40. ( I was in the south suburbs, not in downtown) Second, many shops are one groomer deals, as opposed to several groomers, a bather and dryer, and receptionist.

I have been having trouble finding a 'home' to lay my clippers since I have arrived here, and have gone through a couple places already. Currently, I have taken a position in a small pet store, and am the only groomer. I am working as a sub contractor with a commission of 65%. The grooming area is pretty small...the size a full bathroom probably. So, I don't have room to hire a bather, and it also gets pretty hot in there with just me and the dogs. Adding another person would just add more heat anyway.

I have been so used to having a bather the past several years that I forgot how to balance my schedule. I am doing 5-8 dogs per day starting between 8:30 & 9:00 a.m. and finishing around 4:00 p.m. Does this sound reasonable to you all??

ANY tips and tricks to scheduling and working as efficiently as possible, and getting more dogs done per day, while maintaining quality work?

How many of you work without bathers? Pros and cons to that??

Also, the grooming table they are providing me is kinda wobbly and old...any suggestions on how to go about asking for a replacement? Should I wait til business is a little more steady first? Right now I'm averaging around 20 dogs a week. The last groomer left without notice, so we are in the process of building that back up again.

More details later this week.