Daryl Conner

There are some moments when dealing with customers that teach us important lessons. Pass out the compliments; they don’t cost a thing. 

If you have been grooming pets for more than five minutes, chances are that you have had some unusual requests. Sometimes it is as simple as “Please don’t trim the eyelashes,” and you look to see the dog in question has lashes that are so long they hang halfway down his face and must make blinking a challenge.  Or it may be something a bit… more.

Have you ever had the experience of trimming the ears on a drop-eared dog only to find that you simply can’t manage to get them even? Either one ear is shorter than the other, or you keep finding straggly pieces that you missed on one or both ears. It can be frustrating and sometimes end up with the pet having far shorter ears than you had initially planned as you trim one, then the other, in an attempt to get things perfectly matching.

Pet grooming towels have a “ruff” life. Not only do they dry dogs and cats, but in a pinch, they are sometimes used to clean up bodily fluids that stink. Then they get tossed into a hamper to stew a while before they get washed. So it’s no wonder they sometimes don’t smell all that great, even after a spin through the washing machine.

Here are some tips to keep your grooming towels fresh, despite their stinky job.

When marketing your grooming business, there are ways to get the word out without breaking the bank. The first thing to do is focus on “thinking local.” You want to pitch the information about your grooming to a targeted audience. In our industry, your best investment is to focus on potential customers close to where you operate.

Introducing puppies to the experience of being groomed can be lots of fun but can also be challenging.

Show me a pet groomer, and I’ll show you someone who knows about dry hands.

Have you ever wondered why many pet owners have some fears and preconceived negative notions about groomers? Of course, some of this comes from news stories reporting horrible grooming accidents, like dogs overheating in a drying cage or being injured when left unattended. But some of it comes from the language many groomers commonly use. Here are a few examples:

True confession time. When I was a brand-new groomer, we used many products on pets that were NOT designed with that purpose in mind. “Like what?” you may ask. Like, Downy fabric softener for conditioner, believe it or not. Mind you, this was back when Downy was its original scent, it smelled like sunshine and your favorite denim and happiness, but I digress. So why did we do this?

Mrs. M. was a challenging customer, no doubt about it. She was the human on the end of the leash of Precious, an adorable little Shih Tzu. Mrs. M. started every conversation with those most dreaded two words, "Last time." "Last time she was too short," or "Last time she was too long," or "Last time you didn't wash her, did you?" The flavor and tone of the "last time" complaints changed regularly. At one point, her regular complaint was, "Last time Precious got a terrible eye infection after you groomed her." Now, this alarmed me!