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Pet Bodyworks

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25.01.2022 " what your dog groomer wish you knew" (Submitted anonymously) Chances are if you've chosen a career in dog grooming, you've done it because you have a love fo...r the animals you work with and a Creative Flair you need to express. Most dog groomers bring home anywhere from $35,000 to $55,000+ annually, it is a very skilled trade that not many people are familiar with. for being such a rare breed, dog groomers often go unappreciated. We get bit at least once a day, scratched up all over our arms, to the point where family members ask us if we are self-harming, spend all day completely soaked from the waist up, and never less than 8 to 10 hours on our feet often-times without a simple lunch or potty break ("is my dog done yet?" We'll get to that in a sec) my point is, this is not an easy job. It takes incredible amounts of patience and skill to create art with sharp objects on a moving (sometimes unwilling) target. It takes a special kind of crazy for someone to wake up every morning and volunteer to get bit, peed and pooped on on a daily basis and we do it because we love what we do. We mourn heavily when a long-time client passes away, we cry for days when we cut a dog on accident because maybe he zigged when you zagged. our hearts break when we see the neglected matted dogs that come in twice a year to get groomed with poop caked to their bum and so many eye boogers that their eyes are glued shut, they've got matts ripping on their skin and skin infections underneath the dreadlocks, or toe nails that have grown in so long that they punctured the bottom of the foot... and we carefully procede, knowing we are their only comfort twice a year. It's not only a physically demanding job but you also have to be mentally prepared to deal with neglect and heartbreak on a regular basis. As a dog groomer we have to educate ourselves about hundreds of different breeds of dogs and their individual breed standard haircuts and coat needs. We do research on our conditioners, sprays, and shampoos to find the best fitting product for the job. We spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars to buy the best equipment (one pair of shears can easily cost $300 or more if they are of good Japanese steel quality) and we also attend seminars to further our knowledge in the industry , oftentimes traveling out of state to do so. We attend first aid and CPR classes so that we know what to do in the event of an emergency with your animal. We spend years honing our skills to give your dog the safest experience and the best haircut we possibly could. We have to be able to identify things like anal gland problems and ear infections, skin conditions and other minor health problems that we see because we literally have our hands on every inch of your animal in places you normally wouldn't think to look. A dog groomer doesn't become a dog groomer because it's easy money or because we get to play with puppies all day.( If I wanted to be rich I probably would have stayed in college) it is in fact a very rare skill that may be 1 out of 300 people possess. There are a few things however, that you as the pet owner should understand about the grooming proces and how to make it easier for you, your dog, and your groomer. 1.) Understanding the importance of an appointment. With the information age of Technology it baffles me to this day how people still seem to miss their appointments or show up late despite the fact that we called or texted you to remind you yesterday ( never mind the fact that there's a cute little app in your phone to keep track of your grooming appointment it's called the calendar) first and foremost about 90% of dog groomers get paid commission. That means, if we have you scheduled on the books and you don't show up to your appointment, your groomer spends an hour and a half to two hours (or more!) at work not making any money because they get paid a percentage per dog, not per hour that they are there. If we have enough notice of a cancellation we are usually able to give your appointment to someone else, but more often than not, we are not informed of your cancellation, and the groomer doesn't know you're not coming until 20 minutes after your appointment time. From there, it takes another 20 minutes to call someone else in and then another 20 minutes for them to show up and by then it's an hour past when the original dog was due in anyway and by that point calling in another dog would put the groomer an hour behind for the rest of the day so they just decide not to call someone else and don't make any money for that appointment slot and decide to do something like clean their toolbox , oil blades , or scrub down their grooming table until the next dog gets there. If you ever find that you are unable to make it to your grooming appointment please call your groomer with as much notice as possible, it's the considerate thing to do, especially since we are depending on your dog as our source of income. You wouldn't like to come to work and not get paid for it: Flat out we feel that people who do not take 2 minutes to call and cancel or change their appointment with enough notice don't respect us whatsoever and don't appreciate our time. We keep track of things like that, and a lot of the times groomers have saved people's phone numbers in the phone who have no called no showed more than once ( emergencies/ unforeseen circumstances of course always being forgiven) and refused to give them another appointment because having a client that doesn't show up without a simple phone call or text message just isn't worth it when you could have given that spot to someone else who would have been grateful and appreciative. 2.) Being on time for your appointment is of the utmost importance. Appointment times are set for a reason and while we cannot always predict the exact amount of time a groom will take us we usually have a fairly good idea. Being so much as 20 minutes late for your appointment puts the groomer behind 20 minutes for EVERY DOG that comes in after you, and puts them 20 minutes behind going home as well. It is a domino effect that cannot be escaped and can cause serious problems especially if that groomer has a certain time to pick up their kid after school or an appointment for themselves after they get out of work ( another example of why you should also be prompt in picking up your dog especially if you are the last customer of the day) believe it or not we have lives outside of grooming your dog and people at home that miss us and children we never get to see and pets of our own waiting for us at home while we lovingly tend to yours. You wouldn't show up to YOUR hair appointment 20 minutes late without a courtesy call, don't do it to your groomer. If you live in an area where there is a lot of train traffic leave the house with an extra 10 or 15 minutes to spare, if you have a cat you are bringing to an appointment make sure to have that cat secured inside its carrier 30 minutes before your appointment time ( I can't tell you how many cats have missed their appointments because the owners couldn't find them in time to bring them because they were hiding) give yourself extra time to get there prompt for your appointment. We would much rather have you there 15 minutes earlier than expected than 20 minutes behind schedule. ( on another note: if you show up INSANELY early for your appointment, please don't expect your dog to be done sooner than their agreed upon scheduled time frame. just because you dropped off an hour earlier than expected doesn't mean they will be done an hour earlier, chances are we were in the middle of grooming another client *gasp* when you dropped off WAYYY early) 3.) Interrupting the grooming process is something that I am seeing more and more of lately. You would not show up early to pick your kid up from school unannounced and interrupt them in the middle of taking an important test would you? it's kind of the same principle when it comes to us grooming your dog. While we have your dog we are moving very sharp equipment across their entire body, trying to create smooth lines on a wiggling target. Our job is hard enough trying to keep their attention when they get excited by other customers walking in or when they see the mailman across the street or God forbid a group of joggers... with many salons including my own being open concept nowadays ( meaning of all the grooming is done out in the open: there is no back room in which to hide from the public) showing up early for your dog before we have called you can have some serious consequences. your dog gets very excited to see you when you come back to pick him up, this could result in injury if we are in the middle of trying to trim their hair when you walk in the door. your dog also might attempt to throw itself off of The Grooming table or out of the bathtub to get to you which could result in Strangeulation, broken bones, a concussion, or a groomer with a back injury if it is a large dog and she tries to catch them mid-jump. Not to mention, after you've shown up before we are done your dog oftentimes is entirely too excited by that point to even safely complete the groom. we can estimate how long your dog will take at drop off, but it isn't a promise of when they will be done. Dogs don't care if you have another one coming in in 20 minutes, they don't understand the concept of time, and some dogs might not like certain parts of the process and that definitely will take us extra time. You either get good or fast you don't get both. unless you are specifically instructed by your groomer to show up at a certain time we will ALWAYS CALL when your dog is ready. We know that the groomer told you 2 hours and fluffy has been there for two and a half hours so you think you need to show up and see how she's doing...BUT We promise we want to complete your groom as quickly and safely as possible and chances are that maybe fluffy probably just didn't like a certain part of the process, or we had a bunch of phone calls we had to answer and ran a little behind .... if you are concerned about your dog's welfare while in the care of your groomer then maybe you should find a different groomer that you trust with your animal. if you must check on your animal while they are with the groomer please call before showing up assuming they are ready. dogs that maybe had 15 minutes of work left on them can turn into 30 minutes of work after they have been excited by seeing their owner before they were done. (PS- your dog can see through glass: it's not a one-way mirror you aren't invisible and you're not helping me get your dog done in a timely fashion by waving at him through the window) if you come back to the salon and you see your dog still on the table, please don't rush us. chances are we skipped lunch and have been holding our bladders until we fear a puddle on the floor to try and get your dog done in a timely fashion. if you absolutely must have your dog done in a certain time frame please make sure you relay that information to your groomer during the initial phone call Scheduling the appointment. Please trust that we only want to send out the best haircut your dog ever had, and that is impossible to do safely if we are being rushed through a grooming. 4.)Treating your groomer as a professional is important. we are skilled trade workers, some of us specializing in cat grooming, creative grooming with PetSafe color, or show grooming. Our skills and our knowledge comes at a price. believe it or not we do need to make a living to pay our bills doing what we do. This isn't a hobby or a summer time job: it is a career with specialized skills and very detailed training. most groomers work no less than 50 hours a week, while the learning process never ends in the field of Grooming, there is always new equipment, new techniques, and various products evolving and changing the world of grooming every day. I have found that more and more people lately try to haggle me with my prices, like my shop is some kind of back alley flea market. nothing is more insulting than telling a quality groomer their work is not worth what they charge. You don't try to haggle the price of gas at the pump do you? I'm sure that you don't try and talk down your hairdresser on the price they quote you do you? do you ask for the multi kid discount when shopping for school clothes at Target? no, because you understand that the price of things is the price of things.....but for some reason dog groomers are not respected enough to be given that same honor you give to your hairdresser ( and I bet you even sit still for them too) let me break down for you where your $50 goes that you spend at the dog groomer (average price for small dog bath & haircut) out of that $50 your dog groomer will make about 50% to 40% and then from there have taxes deducted. so let's say your dog groomer spends two hours on your shitzu making 40% Commission and charges you $50 : 50.4 =$20 the groomer gets paid. let's say they get taxed at a rate of 22% that means out of that $20 they really only take home $15.60 for 2 hours of work that comes down to $7.80 an that they are bringing home, Which is less than minimum wage ( which is why a lot of groomers are very happy to receive tips on a job well done) in order to keep our prices Fair for the client and the groomer making Commission we charge a minimum set price for certain breeds of dogs. don't you think your groomer deserves to at least make a living off of what they do? we don't go into your place of work and tell your boss that he pays you too much, so don't try and haggle the price of your pets haircut ( and please stop asking for the multi-dog discount, I don't get any discounts from the electric company or my landlord so I can't afford to give you any. three dogs take the same amount of Collective time whether they all come in at once or individually, it still takes us an hour and a half to two hours per sm dog) 5.) Lastly a lot of pet owners do not understand the importance of maintaining their pets coat at home. we cannot undo 6 months of neglect in a matter of hours. if you wish for your pet to maintain long hair you must properly brush it a 3-5 times a week and bring your dog in for regular groomings every 4, 6 or 8 weeks ( depending on the coat type and how often you choose to brush). when the dog is not brushed or groomed regularly it can be very stressful for them at the groomer. the difference between a dog that gets groomed every 6 weeks and a dog that gets groomed every 6 months is that one thinks it's part of life and the other one thinks it's punishment. trying to leave a long coat on a dog that has many mats or Tangles or impacted undercoat is a very painful process for the dog and the groomer. dematting a dog is not fair to the dog having their hair ripped out and their skin pulled on, or to the groomer whose hands feel like they're about to fall off by the end of it. a lot of dogs that repeatedly get de-matted or come in poor condition on a regular basis learn to associate The Grooming process with pain and discomfort and usually become aggressive dogs for grooming. the only safe and humane way to remove the mats from a dog is to shave it down, to use a Clipper blade length that is short enough to go underneath the mat to remove it without pulling on the hair. I know you wanted fluffy to be left long for the winter, but you failed to brush out her Tangles every time she goes outside to play in the snow, and trust us, your groomer really wants to do an awesome adorable fluffy haircut for your dog, but not at the price of torturing the dog or herself. Please be kind and keep these things in mind next time you call to schedule your pets appointment

09.01.2022 Advice from vet's is that this year may be the worse season for ticks that they have seen in a long time. Please remember to have your pet's flea and tick treatment up to date

06.01.2022 Please keep an eye out if you live around Schofield/rouse Hill