This is my dog :) I think this is the longest her hair has ever been. I fricken love I grooms deshed conditioner. She’s had barely any tangles through the whole grow out process cuz of it. Any shampoos or conditioners you guys swear by?

Needed to just rant. Today I got done with a puppy’s first groom, there was another groomer struggling with her last dog. The dog came in matted, was okay for the preshave but after the bath started jerking away from the shears while she trimmed the feet and muzzle area. Went to see if I could help her get through the last little bit of the groom. She was okay for 2 minutes before she snapped, punctured my finger and peed everywhere. She was 90% done and mat free so the groomer said she was done and was ready to send her home. As I’m getting my puppy ready to go home my finger starts gushing blood so I wrap it with a paper towel, hand my puppy off, then go back to wash my hands and threw on a bandaid and neosporin. I’m still bandaging my finger when one of the store owners (who just does baths and nails, no haircutting) has the dog on another table and is asking if I want to hold her still so she can trim more hair from the feet. I said “no, I think she’s over it” and she insisted to continue until the owner came to pick up. The other groomer offered to have them come back tomorrow after she’s had some time to decompress. Also the owner only spoke Spanish and the store owner was the only one there that could talk to them

I saw on a Facebook group asking about how to work with difficult dogs and at what point do you send them home. I wanted to share my response here in case it helps anyone else. It really depends on the dog and what they’re doing. If they’re stress pooping or vomiting then I’ll send them home and try to have them come back to finish the haircut another day while they’re still mostly clean. If they’re full flailing I’ll try to see if we can take a minute to have them settle and regulate before doing anything else. If we can’t (very rare) I will send them home and maybe I’m not their groomer, there is always the option to try meds or sedation if it’s critical. Sometimes extra vet input can be really helpful especially if there may be an underlying health concern causing the dog to be in pain (or for one case a Shih Tzu puppy that eventually saw a neurologist and was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus). I talk to all my dogs and sometimes even talking in a lower calm voice can help. Some dogs that are okay with most of the groom but don’t like their feet or face being done I’ll break it up into small parts and go between something they’re okay with vs something they don’t like rather than trying to force them to hold still while I trim their face at once. Sometimes I can use my clippers or shears and just rub the area I want to trim before I do to show them what I’m about to do (especially in young dogs that don’t know what’s happening). I know my back will hate me later but I’ve also found certain dogs do better if I work closer to the ground vs standing over them or adding a lot of spatial pressure. Every time I get a new dog I adapt my grooming style and try to work around what they’re having a hard time with. I love taking notes and will include what they struggle with in the notes so I can make a game plan for next time. Sometimes things aren’t always perfect and I’ll talk to the owner on what they’re having struggled with and what I did to try to work with them on it. I love clients that take feedback and are willing to keep their dog on a regular schedule as well as work on handling at home.

I was just curious on if you guys do out of standard grooms and what breeds. Because on Saturday I did a lab shave down and I actually have 2 labs who I shave, one with a 10 one with a 7. I also do Pom shaves either a andis 3 3/4 or comb blades, even Aussie shave downs! I’ve even done clean feet on a shihtzu before! At my shop we just do what the parent asks, we try our best to inform parents especially on our double coated shave downs but if they’re okay with the risk we’ll still go the groom! I’m curious to see if you guys also do these out of standard grooms or if you refuse service?

Today was my second day at my new salon, I spent the last month trying to train my replacement to take over as grooming manager ant my old salon and it has been extremely exhausting. I was at least able to take 5 days off before starting at my new job. A lot of things are different, dogs are done straight through vs 2+ at a time. Also the groomers helpers don’t have a bottom attachment so dogs are able to spin around which is something new for me. I think I just need to give more time to get into a rhythm. I’ve been really hard on myself for the quality of my work since starting at my new salon and even looking at one of my regular dogs that followed me today it’s very apparent I’m not putting the same quality of work out that I’m capable of