Come and Gone

So the big holiday has come and gone.  It was good - the weather held out (no massive snowstorm), the turkey was awesome! (I truly enjoy roasting turkeys - especially ones that have been raised at our family farm... Delicious!)

I'm on a mini-break from grooming for now.  January is typically a slow month for business anyways, so I'm taking it easy, just trying to clean up the house post-party. :)

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend and is in fine spirits!

Jen

Christmas Rush

In the pet services industry, there are two main times of the year that are beyond 'busy'.  The time around Easter is one of them. The snow is generally melted away and people are discovering they have a dirty/stinky dog that needs to be cleaned up for Easter, and while they are at it, a good grooming is required to prepare the pet for the hot summer. 
The other time is around Christmas... The business line rings constantly at this time from people who want their pups to be daisy fresh come Christmas morning. 
This Christmas was 'so-so' in terms of revenue and busy-ness for me.  In total, I groomed 32 pets.  I had more on the schedule, but due to no-shows and last minute cancellations, my schedule was thrown off. :( 

One of the big problems with this industry and really any one-on-one service business, you can get 'screwed' financially due to the actions or inactions of just a few people (clients).  For myself, it is always a bummer to find out a client forgets their appointment and I am out the lost income from that groom.  In the case of Christmas and other busy times, it is imperitive that my limited grooming reservations be occupied by paying clients.  Otherwise, there are holes all through my schedule which means loss of revenue and wasted time.

Overall, I really enjoyed the busy nature of last week, December 13-17 (my unorthodox work week as I do not work Sundays generally)...I groomed 16 pets which were all full grooms.  Overall, there were only two pets who were 'difficult' to groom but even they are regular clients and I know what to expect.

With the Holiday Rush crowd, I was careful to only book in people/dogs that I believed would show up and would behave for grooming. I only  missed the mark on a couple.

Yesterday, my last day for grooming for 2009, I groomed a small poodle mix that comes frequently.  His "mom" is very nice and even brought a wonderful assortment of home baked goodies for my family to enjoy this Christmas.  (I can assure you, dear readers, that we were all over that platter of cookies before the client left my driveway!!)  It was a good way to end the work year.

I am ever thankful for this opportunity to work within the comfort of my own home.  I can schedule pets based on my family's life, and that is priceless to me.

Thank you for visiting, and Merry Christmas to everyone. :)



Jen

The Holidays are Upon Us!

This is the season when pet groomers are especially busy.  With an excess of pets needing to be freshened up in time for Santa, it can be a little overwhelming.

So far this month, I have pampered and groomed 13 pets, which is way down from last year.  I usually groomed between 25-40 pets per month. At this point, I have 16 pets still coming in December - that makes 29 total pets.

Had we not had poor weather for a bit, I may have groomed more. 

The nice thing is everyone who is coming is a nice, well maintained regular client. 

This year, I have made ornaments for my clients - each pet receives one made just for them.  It's gone over pretty well. :)

Anyways, I need to get going because my first of two pets will be arriving shortly for her bath (including blueberry facial) and haircut.

Have a great day and Good Dogs to You.

Jen

Some Cute Dogs!

Here are a few the pets I have recently groomed, and I thought I would share with y'all.

Bonjour!

So I haven't blogged on blogger for a long time... looks like over three years! I have a blog (or 4) on xanga, but that format has changed so drastically since the emergence of other social websites like facebook and myspace.

I have preferred facebook to myspace, although I have accounts with each. Myspace should be renamed ClutterSpace because it is so hard to decipher anything. When I've heard about people meeting through ClutterSpace, I wonder how that was possible...

But, I digress... I had grand plans for this blog - And I still think it would be a viable outlet, especially for my clients (past and present) to see how I *see* grooming and what the trade means to me.

My sister has recently begun blogging on here as well. She has been doing a much better job of keeping hers up to date.

So hello again, to whichever readers may be out there.

Good Dogs To You!

Jen

Puppy's First Groom

Typically, I like to do a minimal amount of trimming to lessen stress on the puppy and myself. For a drop-coated breed (such as a shih tzu), I would trim between the pads of the paws, clipping longer hair between the toes. Toenails are clipped usually before the bath. The sanitary area is clipped with a #10 blade with the lay of the hair under the tail around the rectum and on the belly, just to the second nipple (for a female), and just over the tip of the penis on a male puppy. The clippers may be used to clip more cleanly around the penis if needed. Sometimes scissors can do a quicker, less stressful job of cleaning this area. After a gentle bathing process, the puppy is hand-dried and fluff combed. To finish the first groom, I use blunt-tipped curved shears (5") to round off the feet and neaten the appearance of the leg. On the face, I usually trim the hair from the inside corners of the eyes with blunt-tipped shears or if the puppy is calm, I may use a #10 blade on my clippers to sweep out just the corners of the eyes. For a puppy with a longer snout/muzzle, I do not shave down the bridge of the nose. The hair at the corners of the eyes is tamed using a few snips with thinning shears. I then comb forward all of the bangs and trim the visor so that the hair will not fall in the eyes of the puppy. If a topknot (bow) is requested, the visor is not trimmed. Excess hair that doesn't fit in the topknot will be left out, and when the hair has grown enough, it will be placed in the topknot bow/barret.

For drop-coated breeds, I prefer to do a 'face, feet, & tail' groom as described above as it generally is less stressful to both puppy and groomer. Also, doing an all-over scissor trim on a shih tzu puppy can have mixed results - and there is no guarantee even the best groomer can finish a haircut on a puppy who doesn't wish to be groomed!

Here is the 'first haircut' for PIPSQUEAK, my 13wk old shih tzu puppy. I have completed the bath and comb-out and did not take pictures of this process. What follows is pictures of the 'haircutting'. I hope you all enjoy!

Pipsqueak - The Newest Addition!

Ahh, the freckled belly of a puppy... It nearly rivals puppy breath as my favourite thing about these little guys.

Pipsqueak is the newest addition to the household... Squibbles isn't too impressed, but they are beginning to get along a little better. This picture was taken around eight weeks of age.

In the coming days (may take a week?), I will try to post detailed grooming details of how I prefer to groom puppies for their first couple of grooming experiences.

Right now, I am grooming mostly Shih Tzu, especially my own two boys, Squibbles & Pipsqueak. I will attempt to give grooming instructions soon.

If there are any requests for what someone would like to see demonstrated/explained, please leave a comment on this site.

Thanks for reading, and happy grooming!

My favourite Golden ever - Max!

Here's a picture e-mailed to me back when I moved to Canada. I was never more sad than the last day I groomed Max. Though all of my clients and their pets are special, Max and his owner, Mark, were extra special. I gave Max his first in-salon bath when he was 3 months old. I will never forget him, and will always treasure this picture that totally personifies this sweet golden....

First Post!

Here I am making a first post!

I hope to keep this blog updated with pictures of grooming, specifically "before and after" pictures of the pets I groom.

This will be to monitor my 'progress' and be available for other groomers as well as pet owners to look on!


Jen