How long did it take you to...

[MMak]

Just asking out of curiousity...
How long did it take you to:
1. Start to become comfortable and confident with your grooming.
2. Pick up an appropriate speed with your grooms.

[HoneyandChewiespal]

As to the first - I'm still not entirely confident in my work. Every dog that leaves is one that I see flaws on and places that could be tweaked. Am I comfortable and confident in my ability to handle most dogs then the answer is definitely, ever since I started grooming school. There are few dogs I'm not comfortable with. Think it stems from mutual respect and confidence.

The second part is harder to definitively answer. When I first started I was lucky to get through three or four dogs in an 8 hour day. I will remember my first Christmas Eve trying to complete the three cockers, 2 shih tzus, and a full coated Maltese that had been booked for two groomers ( and the other groomer never showed up ). At 8 pm I still had a dog to finish trimming. After moving into a spit on my own I started booking 5 and 6 a day all on my own. After 4 years I do anywhere from 9 to 14 dogs a day, depending on the mix of breeds and frequency of their grooms. I have a bather for three hours a day and the rest is just me. Days go from 9 am to around 5 pm, longer if necessary
For example, today was a 13 dog day that started at 9 and ended at 6:45. This versus Saturday that was a 10 dog day ( included two matted std poos) that started at a little before 9 and ended at 8:30.

Speed is important but I sacrifice speed to save coats and give decent look whenever humanly possible. Goes back to that respect I mentioned before. ( I respect my dogs and know it's not their fault the humans don't brush).

There is a mantra to keep in mind, and it's what I say to my clients when they frown about being told when their pet might be ready, "I'll go as quickly as possible and as slowly as safety requires."

Long answer to your very pithy question.

[MMak]

Thanks for the response.

I agree, time can only be "shortened" so much with each dog, without putting safety at risk.

I'm a new groomer, so only been at it for 3 months. My pace just recently seemed to pick up, I generally do 2 groom dogs, and 2 bath dogs each 8 hour shift, but I've had usually an hour - 2 hours to spare after each pair, so I'm thinking of attempting 4 groom dogs each shift.
For a while there, I was taking 3 hours to confidently finish a lot of my grooms... so I'm very happy to have recently shortened that time frame, but it is still something I need to immensely improve on!

[Pnalus]

Just b patient . The more experience you will have the faster you will work. It will just happen. Next thing u know u can groom 10 dogs in a day.