I am puzzled

[biddy3010]

I read threads on this board about single groomers grooming 18 dogs a day!!!! I am not sure how that works. Flat out I can only groom - we are talking, proper groom dogs poodles, bichons, shih tzu's etc) six a day. Allowing time for some of the issue that pop up on an average grooming day. Bathing, drying, brushing out, matts, temperment etc. If I have a washer I can groomer a couple more but still hard work. These 18 must be nearly all wash only dogs is guess.

Let me know you thoughts.

Thanks

[Particentral]

This question comes up all the time. It is more than possible to do that many alone. It HURTS but it can be done. My shop, with a bather, dryer, my son dealing with clients and ME the finish groomer, did 32 yesterday and yes there were bath dogs, but in my shop bath dogs get nails, FFTT done as well. I opened at 8 and we were through by 4:30. I had to wait on pickups, but we were done by 4:30. Training and co ndition of the dogs is key to doing this. Only two of the dogs brought in yesterday for grooming were off their 4 week or sooner schedule. Only those two were matted. The biggest dog was a cocker spaniel. In fact there were 4 of them all on suburbans, all done in the last month! Easy peasy.

I had a lot of yorkies and yorkie types as well, 5 in full coat, so that helped. Again, they are all on their 2 weeks schedule.

Scheduling is key but equipment is paramount and then again, mindset in ultimate in importance. You say it is not feasible in your mindset (not a direct quote) but it is. Being told you cannot sets into your head. Being told you CAN will make you try. I was told in school I couldn't graduate until I could do 8 a day alone. You learn that you CAN do it. Once you learn you CAN then you do.

BTW it is normal for us, minus my son, to do 20 dogs a day. remember I am the only finish groomer. Yesterday was the day before the SuperBowl so people are getting ready for their parties. All dogs left in their choice of Saints or Colts bandanas.

[windfall4]

When I work alone (no bather or anyone else helping) I can groom anywhere from 8-20 dogs a day. It just depends on what breed, and what they are having done. Obviously 20 full haircuts in one day is CRAZY. Most of the time I have a combination of baths, trims (Face, feet, sanitary, tidy the body and legs), and full grooms. Some days I have all bath dogs with maybe a few that are getting a light trim or whatever, then there are some days where every dog is a haircut. I just have to keep an eye on the schedule to tell the receptionists when to stop booking. I know what I can and can't handle. If it's a day where every dog is a haircut I usually do anywhere from 8-14. There are just too many factors to have a set number that you can do per day.

Also...one of my co-workers told me that the first thing you do to get faster, is to quit counting dogs. Just do 'em and get 'em done!

[Briarpatch]

I could do 18 Beagles! Seriously, with a bather, I do about 7-11 a day. I'd be dead if I did more. Of course, I've been doing this since 1986 and have no desire to work any harder than I do.

[Particentral]

Also...one of my co-workers told me that the first thing you do to get faster, is to quit counting dogs. Just do 'em and get 'em done!

AMEN! I like that! I use my computer program, Kennel Connection, and I just go by the color. Dogs here are one color, dogs done another color, dogs gone another color. My goal for the day is to make it ALL ONE COLOR! LOL

[Petekids]

On another board someone stated that they could between 16-20 full grooms a day by themselves - all sizes and breeds - no bather, no receptionist... More power to them! They must be absolutely exceptional with their grooms to be able to do that.

After 4.5 years of grooming (I'm 57) I'm up to between 8-10 full grooms in a 9-10 hour day. I have a bather most of the time. We only have one customer that does anything less than 4 weeks between grooms - most are on a 6-8 week schedule. The grooms include big hairies that are usually only done once or twice a year. Sometimes baths alone on these dogs take up to 45 minutes because of the filth, bugs and sand - it's not unusual to bathe them more than once before I clip them.

It's all about your comfort level, everybody is different.

[PrincessPoodle]

The groomers doing that many dogs have help usually. Most of them have bathers or at least a receptionist. I really try not to focus on HOW many dogs I do (I know what I have to do in order to pay $$$). Focus on how many clients you can get on a maintence schedule and quality. If they are coming into you on a regular basis it's less work (shorter groom time) and helps you have steady income. You can fit a lot more REGULAR clients than those that only come in every 3-4 months.

[HoundLover]

well technically speaking...you can do 2 labs an hour, 3 bostons an hour, 2 mini grooms an hour (dogs that are on a rotating 2 wk schedule...2 wks groom, 2 wks mini, 2 wks groom again).
so a lab (well behaved, dosnt put up a fight for nails,drying,or acts nutsy for bathing) takes about a half hr straight thru....same goes for mini grooms...if they were in the past 2 to 3 wks (even 4 wks if they were taken quite short) to do a general tidy up it shouldnt take more than a half an hour....and of course bostons only take about 20 mins all in one shot...beagles take about 25 mins so you can possibly squeeze 3 of those in in an hour as well...
so say...you have an 8 hr day.
you can do
7- shihtzu
8 - 2 labs
9 -2 beagles
10 - maltese
11-2 yorkies minis
12-bichon
1-s/d lab
2-2 weimerainers
3-4 italian greys

therefore you now have 16 dogs youve done.
it all depends on your mix of dogs as someone else pointed out, how easy they are to do and how big/small they are. it also depends on if you are able to hand dry most of teh way then just finish getting the dampness out in a crate with a fan blowing on them.
just how you work things out.
also if you have an assistant you can teach them to do the pads,nails,sanitarys and that also helps speed things up on how many dogs you can do a day also.
Hound

[biddy3010]

Puzzled

Very interesting answers and thanks all of you for taking the time. I am very picky and I have worked in salons that do 18 plus dogs (with a big crew working together) a day and I must say I saw plenty of corners cut! Slightly damp dogs, badly bathed dogs, bad clipper work, shoddy scissoring all going out the door. But I am sure that is not always the case and money does come into the equation. I am jealous! Thanks again.

[stacie-gotg]

The real question is why would you want to work like that? To do this volume would require stress. Do we know what regular stress does to the body. When do you sacrifice your health for a dollar. Not me, you all can die early.

[arlaede]

You just can't think too much about it. In my shop we do appointment only - so the only multiples I get are 2 - 3 dogs from one house. I still can alone get 13 dogs done in 8 hours, with no bather and me hand drying everything, although if 2 - 3 from one house will base clip, bathe, stick in front of a fan and do the other 2 to help drip dry before hand drying. (I don't use cage dryers)

That said, I can get most dogs, except for St. Poodles and some Havanese and Cottons done in an hour. Havanese, Cottons, some others like that in an hour and 15 min. I get interrupted all the time with the next one dropping off, and luckily the shop owner, who does the scheduling, really understands how I work and knows what order to book stuff. So he'll book a 1.25 hour dog, then a 45 min dog, and it all balances out. Course I'm always putting one up checking one in, getting the other one out to finish...ugh...at least my clients are SO happy their dogs aren't there for 3-6 hours and the money is good for providing this service.

[baddog]

I can do 30 jack russels....oops...

[scrubapup]

Everybody has their own way of doing things. A typical day for me is 12-15 full grooms, but since I do not groom large dogs it's usually Yorkies, Shih Tzus, Bishons, etc etc. Also, most of my clients want something simple, which usually consists of one length all over. (which everyone around here refers to as "puppy cut" although length always differs) It's very rare for me to get a "just bath" dog, since most people around here with small short haired dogs bathe at home. And (this makes a HUGE difference, IMO) 95% of my clients stay on a schedule, so I'm rarely dematting or attempting to perform a miracle on a dog that hasn't been groomed in 8 months.

I do not have a bather - but I don't work alone either. I do all the bathing, because I'm very anal about it. My daughter does all the drying, and unless the dog gets some type of pattern, she brushes and preclips after drying. I do NOT like interuptions. I take no breaks - not even a lunch break. I'm not sure if you would call me a work horse, or a hyper freak..... but I work straight through from the time I walk into my shop until the time I walk out. Breaks of any kind make me feel lazy and then it takes me 20 minutes to recoup and get back into the swing of things. Reaching over to take a swig of water is what I consider a break. My daughter deals with all the owners - grabbing dogs that are being dropped off and delivering dogs to the owners when they are getting picked up, scheduling next appointments and taking payments. We attempted her answering the phone a long time ago, but clients just insist on talking to me so we gave up on that. Now I let the answering machine pick up and I return calls at the end of the day.

I work 10-12 hours a day, 4 days a week and I work at a steady pace. Some days it can be hectic, but I prefer a hectic day over a slow, boring day. That's just me. Sometimes I DO feel stressed and wish I could have just one day where I only had 6-8 dogs on my book. But truth be told, I would get bored very fast. I have to be MOVING or my attention span goes down the toilet.

[Particentral]

We have decided at work that we take all day to do 10 or all day to do 20. WE get done around the same time everyday. John Stazko explained it to me this way. If you have 20 dogs your body and mind say GET IT DONE, whereas if you have 10 it says, OK yu can slow down.

I do not stress anymore...well, not often. The only thing that stresses me out is the phone, not the dogs. The PHONE will end up in the middle of the road somewhere....It takes me less than 15 minutes to do the trimming on well maintained Yorkies, and I can do a FFTT on a bathed, dried and brushed dog in 5 -10 minutes. Most full grooms take me between 20 minutes and 40 minutes. Maybe more for large dogs but we do very few large dogs.

My staff bathe them all (WELL) and dry them fully or they go back. We do have cages to finish drying dogs that do not like the HV, but we used them sparingly. My dryer/brusher knows not to give me dogs that are wet or matted and my bather KNOWS if the dogs are dirty, then they go back.

Its all in what you want to do. My total income yesterday after expenses and payroll, paid off a car for me. I like that! My last payment was done via Western Union this morning. We had 10 months left on the loan. Low payments, but still. I was excited! Next month I am trying to pay off my truck.....My goal is to have the house paid off by December as well. We can do it.

[lefty]

The real question is why would you want to work like that? To do this volume would require stress. Do we know what regular stress does to the body. When do you sacrifice your health for a dollar. Not me, you all can die early.

>>>

I agree, and it's all up to the individual.

However, some of us do have to support families on the money we make. That situation is stressful regardless of what you do to make that money.

I'd rather be doing something that I love and maybe have a little stress everyday, than something I loathe and have that stress to contend with.