Dog grooming
Dog Grooming is most definitely an art form of its own kind. The best of us all have one thing in common. We do it for the animals and for the love of the trade.
You'll have to excuse the atrocious grammar as pet stylists aka groomers really have no need for it to be successful. We have help for that because more than likely we are either up to our ears in barking dogs or meowing screeching cats while the phone is ringing and taking a bite of a sandwich or sip of our ice coffee in between grooms because groomers rarely have time for a lunch break.
Here are some characteristics, traits, or strengths you will need to possess to be a successful (happy, booked, and growing) groomer;
Animal lover: feel connection with them that way it will be easier for you to earn the trust of the anxious ones no one else can touch.
Intuition: This will help you learn faster once you get to know the warning signs animals give when they are about to attack or go in fight or flight. This will also help you during consultation with parents you will get a better feel for the type of look or service they have in mind. To avoid bites and injuries you will need this in conjunction with fast reflexes.
Fast Reflexes: In grooming, we must be able to react quickly to protect our most precious commodity in our career OUR BODY. Mainly our hands, face, and neck. Although I've seen dogs go for any place they can reach. This will also help you potentially save a life should anyone fall off a table and hang or near hang themselves.
Patience: or insane amount of love for animals and the sense and ability to either take a break go do some breathing or whatever else centers you and/or ask someone to help you. You absolutely have to have this or this will not go well. You can face charges and kill your own career for the one time you lost you temper. Animals feel your energy... If frustration is all you're giving off, they aren't going to want to be near you which will make them want to run and not allow you to do your job, so in the end it hinders you to allow that frustration to build.
Excellent Time Management, Organizational, and Prioritization Skills: In order to make a decent living you will have to have the ability to juggle and multi task because grooming really is a process and in order to do it efficiently and safely you have to Be on time, know whos coming and leaving when, and getting the services that are more labor intensive such as deshed service, be able to work on at very least two dogs in the same appointment slot.
Requirements to become a groomer vary from place to place. In USA, there isn't any national certification requirement to work in this industry. So literally anyone with access to tutorial videos online can pick up the skill and call themselves "a groomer". In this industry, the only thing most shop owners care about is
- Can you groom dogs and/or cats
- Can you get it done safely without hurting the animal
- Can you get it done quickly
- Can you provide beautiful results consistently
It's pretty rare for a groomer who can do all of these things to be turned away for not having any kind of certificate from an institution (non accredited as there is no accreditation in this industry for schooling which is why you should beware of "schools" whom give certificates that most shop owners couldn't care less about).
What will get you hired obviously is experience and the ability to do the job. Most working groomers start off as bathers. That is when you're trained by a groomer to Bathe, Dry, Brush out, Clip and File nails, Clean ears, and do sanitary clip on Dogs. After some time bathing, the best get offered an apprenticeship which essentially means you're an assistant to whomever is teaching you. Large corporate companies whom offer grooming usually have their own "academy" so shortly after you become apprentice they generally send you to another location for training. Typically they offer training in exchange for a one year contract commitment or you'd have to pay back the schooling. It's no secret a lot of groomers evade this by getting terminated as that is the only way out of the contract. The only termination record that can keep a groomer from getting another job is one for animal abuse. So getting terminated for attendance wont keep you from finding another grooming job if you already know how to groom.