Aj Bradshaw

@Mackenzie Nomad scheduling, so I’m not too busy to teach and figuring out where the new student is at. Getting dogs in for the trainee and then getting the right dogs for them too. Also balancing making enough money while cutting back.

Aj Bradshaw

Mar 17 •

General discussion

Introduction

Hi everyone, my name is AJ. I’ve been a pet groomer for 16 years. I love the mission of this group. There is a lot of poor handling and abuse in this industry and grounding yourself and keeping yourself in a calm mindset has been such a game changer for me in working with the animals. I’m hoping to learn more techniques and improve my handling with the animals as well as share what I’ve learned to help other groomers do better and make it more enjoyable for the pets.

New comment Mar 18

Miranda Bell

Mar 15 •

Tips & Tools

Introduction + Needed advice

Hello! My name is Miranda and I'm a 19yr old groomer in practice. I started off as a bather and no all the workarounds as a bather but currently I have been practicing on a Bouvier des Flandres named Louie (fluffy lou as i call him) ive been grooming him every 6wks 5 months. Due to my learning curve about how the proper de-matting process works and what is easier for his kind of coat, I would like some advice on de-matting techniques. I do not work at a salon, he is a learn as i go practice client. I normally just bathe him one time and then I blow dry him, but I’ve noticed that drying sometimes creates these spider knots within his coat which make it difficult to brush him later and we end up spending about two hours or most of the grooming time trying to de-mat him. I know that’s a long time for brushing and it’s not good for either of us as it can cause exhaustion and skin irritation. His chest and two front legs are the most compacted but mostly his legs since he lays on them so much. Any grooming advice for this breed is highly welcome!!

New comment Mar 16

Aj Bradshaw

1 like • Mar 16

Dematting is a challenging task. One tip real quick is with blow drying. If your dog has long fur you can try to keep the blow dryer only as close as the hair is long. So if the hair is 2” don’t get the blow dryer closer than 2”. This will help avoid those spider tangles caused by the dryer. For the rest of the matting the longer the fur is the more frequent the dog needs to be brushed out on a regular basis. For my customers that get a 1” clip on for the dogs body, I need them to come in for the next grooming every 4-5 weeks or the tangles get so bad I can’t get the clip on through the coat without doing an entire brush out that takes 30- 60 minutes. It sounds like this may be the situation you’re dealing with. Your practice dog probably needs to be brushed more often at home, and if the owner isn’t willing to do that then I would suggest a shorter haircut that they can maintain between grooms without developing huge tangles. I hope this helps!

Aj Bradshaw

0 likes • Mar 16

Awesome, you’re right on track! Another couple items worth mentioning are the long hair slicker brush and a dematting rake. These two tools have been the most dramatic improvements when it comes to these long hair brush outs. Flying Pawfect is the brush $25-$30 on Amazon and your life will be changed. I went with a generic dematting rake. the trick is to spray your detangler and then take the mat rake and saw the mats into tiny mats that the long hair slicker brush can easily separate and remove.

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Aj Bradshaw

@alexander-bradshaw-8202

Pro Dog Groomer for 16yrs. Started bathing dogs at 8 yrs old. 26 yrs working with over 20k dogs. I’ve helped build and open 14 pet salons in SLC.

Active 3d ago

Joined Mar 16, 2026

Salt Lake City