FUTURE IN GROOMING

Question
HEY LORI,

I'M HEADING INTO GROOMING SCHOOL THRU A MAJOR PETSTORE RETAILER.  I'M ANXIOUS AND EXCITED TO GET GOING.

CAN YOU GIVE ME ANY ADVICE FOR 'NEWBIES?'  ALSO-WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR GROOMERS?  MY INTENTIONS, I DO HOPE, ARE TO EVENTUALLY DO MY OWN THING AND GET OUT OF THE CORPORATE SCENE.

THANKS,
BH

Answer
Hi!
I think you are smart to ask about grooming from as many sources as you can find, BEFORE you get started. I for one, appreciate the question.
First, you asked advice for newbies;
I have been grooming for 17 years now. I will be 50. Grooming is hard on your body if you do not do it correctly. Learn to groom SITTING and STANDING. It will save you years of pain.  You sit whenever you can, (like eating at a diner, your table is slightly higher than a normal table) and you stand when you have to.

Save your body!  Big dogs need to jump up or put their front feet on the table so you can lift the rear. Dont' lift them just because it is quicker, teach them to get up with your assistance.

Learn to brush, comb and handle the dog with both hands. LEARN TO CLIP WITH BOTH HANDS!!! You will not be able to scissor with both hands, but you can do bulk work (precuts and body work) with both hands and it is important to do so to save your wrists and shoulders.

Never ever clip or cut anything you cannot clearly see.
ALways always clip and scissor everything you can see from that angle. You will miss much less and your work will go faster, less touching up at the end! So if you are working on a rear end and you move the tail to get the top of the back leg and you are looking at the dogs rear, do everything you can see, even the parts that you can see of the other back leg. When you turn the dog around you will have less to do and you can see if it is perfect.

Keep your scissoring to a minimum, that is do all the combing and brushing and clipping and only scissor at the end. If you scissor and rescissor and rescissor the same area, you are not doing a good enough job of clipping and combing.

other tips;

dogs dry faster if you brush though them after they are force dried. Hair that won't dry isn't brushed out, it has dead or matted hair in it and it will not dry completely unless it is combed or brushed out.

Learn to trim nails by holding the foot in front of and behind the dog. Do whatever the dog prefers. Most dogs are fine if they dont' see and hear the nail cutting process. Turn your stand dryer on and cut the nails as you are finish drying. The dog will be distracted by the dryer and you can do the nails easily.

Now you asked about grooming career and the future.
i will tell you the area you are in makes a world of difference. Farm type communities, small towns in poor areas, those people do not have money to get their dogs groomed regularly. Retirement areas, up and coming small communities, big towns, you will make more.
The people will drive you NUTS when you are grooming. Asking for the dog in a hurry, but then not coming for an hour after they requested. Saying they brush the dog when you know they didnt'. Lying about what the dog got into (gum that won't wash out? or latex paint that will?) and causing you a mess and much more work. Not saying a dog is nervous or nippy...but
If you budget your TIME and learn to do dogs quickly and easily you will make good money. The best way to make the best money IS to be on your own, either in your home or in a storefront. In your home is much more profitable.
In the Petstore type grooming, be sure to give your pet owners your time at drop off and pick up if you can. try to speak to them personally so you will get to know them and they will tip you.  
I have one groomer working here with me. She gets 55% and all of her tips. She makes good money working about 4 days a week, for about 5 hours each day. She easily makes $350 a week with tips. So if you think about it, that would be $700 a week if she wanted to work 5 days a week and maybe 7 hours a day.
Eventually you want to be able to do
3 dogs in 2 hours,
4 dogs in 3 hours
5 dogs in 4 hours
and so you can do 6 dogs a day in a five hour day. You do this by layering the dogs so that 2 come in at the same time. Wash the quickest to dry FIRST and the thicker coated one second. Groom the easier dog while the thicker one is drying. It is that simple.
Good luck, let me know if you need anything else!
Lori