Grooming Smarter

Welcome to the Future of Education for Groomers!

 

Recently, I was approached by Mary Oquendo about being a part of an exciting Educational opportunity and I could not say yes fast enough! 

Mary, myself and 14 other top members of our industry will be offering webinars to the public. I am so excited to be part of this adventure.

Each one of the people involved is a speaker, a blogger or someone that is well known in the industry and we will offer our own specially produced webinars on topics we are passionate about beginning TODAY!January first 2012.

Many of you cannot get to shows and if you do yoyu still sometimes miss topics. Some topics (like my Wet Shaving) are not offered very often and as a result you may never be able to take a class on it. Shows that you can get to may be so far in the future that you cannot wait to take courses. Webinars are the solution to your problem! Many will be available on demand, pre-recorded so that you can watch them at your leisure.

Now these webinars will not take the place of trade shows, hands on classes or travelling teachers, but they offer options that until now were not available to many groomers in this country as well as around the world.

My classes will range in price from $19.99 to $49.95 per class depending on the length of time the class runs and whether or not it is live or recorded. That keeps the classes affordable for everyone! 

I hope you take this opportunity to heart and use it for what we intended it to do. EDUCATE! 

Happy New Year and may this be the year you make yourself a better groomer!

All I want for Christmas is my OWN DOGS BACK!

_O

_{Oh my gosh! They abduct kittens too!}

I was married once a lifetime ago to a wonderful man with whom I had three children. At some point, about 12 years after we were married, he changed so drastically, virtually overnight that I always said aliens came down and abducted the man I married and replaced him with this other person. We could not live together and I am actually surprised that we have not killed each other yet.

NOW It is happening with my dogs, and I want MY DOGS BACK! 

Case in point: Minnie, the Chinese Crested mix we have used to be content to go outside and play in the play yard and would stay all day long, pouting when she had to come in. She loved it outside! She also would sleep in her kennel with no issues. Had a blanket and bed she adored and had to be pulled out of in the mornings. Now, as I type this article she is curled up as close to my legs as she can get almost pushing me off the recliner. She refuses to sleep in a kennel anymore and sleeps in the bed pushed against my legs or my husband's back. If you have to put her in a cage for any reason she screams and will get out of most any cage we have tried. Dog forbid you close the bedroom door with her on the opposite side than you are, because she will tear the wall down to get out. I know this because I have had to replace sheetrock in my bedroom and tile as well in front of the door after she got accidentally locked into the bedroom one day.

Aliens are the only explanation. Nothing else makes sense. 

_{Huh! Cows.....who would have thunk it?}

Then, there is Pixie, my rescued maltese who was neglected severely before she came to my house. I have placed her three times and end up getting her back every single time. She always despised people and would rather be with dogs than people. and really enjoyed being dirty. It usually takes three people to get this 4 pound dog groomed. WELL the aliens took her too! They left me with a puppy that shadows my husband, climbs in his lap while he is watching tv and demands to be petted all the time. Ignore her and she will bark and scratch your legs to make you pay her attention. Last weekend she got her monthly bath and I was able to shave her face (her eyes drain horribly) and get her feet and nails done by myself! She is currently curled up in the chair next to my husband and looks perfectly content to be there.

I have also decided that they are stealing client dogs. I have no idea what they are doing with them, but their owners as well as myself would like their dogs back!

_{Watch your dogs! They lure them away and then replace them. This is your proof!}

"Charlie" (name changed to protect the abductee) has been coming every two weeks since he was 12 weeks old. He has always been a great dog to work on! WELL since his abduction, his replacement is a wimp! He fights being bathed, brushed, touched, dried...OK he hates the entire process! His mother says he is becoming "needy" at home and since he hates being brushed she no longer does it. He also is very picky in his food choices now and will not eat if he does not get what he wants. He also refuses to go into the kennel at home. 

We have no idea where he was when he was abducted, but obviously he was!

Then there is "Murphy" and "Lola" (names again changed to protect the abductees) who are almost evil when it comes to touching their feet or trimming their nails. In fact, sometimes nails just don't get done. Mom and dad will tell you that they cannot touch their feet either and that they will bite you if you try. They have always kept them away from their grandchildren as well. They were replaced with some of the nicest, easiest dogs I have ever worked on. Overnight. Last visit before today they were unfinishable. Today they were perfect. Turns out that the grandchildren were allowed to play with the dogs for the first time ever last weekend!

To be honest, we do not mind this type of abduction and replacement. We truly enjoy those in fact. We do wish there were more of them!

Some of my clients were replaced as well. Clients who never tip have been replaced with ones who tip large amounts routinely and ones that were high maintenance are now so easy going it is not really possible to understand. Ones who did not care are now extremely picky! 

I again will say the only explanation is aliens. I have no clue where they came from or why they are doing this. I just know that sometimes they do good things and other times they really mess things up. I feel for the aliens that have the bad dogs at this time. I feel sorry for us that have the bad dogs now as well. Maybe they ARE dogs! Alien dogs or cats for that matter! That makes much more sense now that I think about it. 

I know that aliens most likely did not abduct any of the people or dogs in my life, I just have no other explanation for the changes in their personalities. It is puzzling to me that overnight a dog (or person) can change from nice to mean, or vice versa, or independent to totally dependent.

I need to know how this is possible.

So I blame aliens. That's my story and I am sticking to it! 

 

PS. Its been a long month, and this is my way of relaxing. I hope you enjoyed this article, as it is your Christmas Present from me! Merry Christmas Everyone!

Spray, Spray the Dirt Away!

I have a confession to make. I detest bathing dogs. Seriously detest bathing dogs. I refuse to bathe dogs without a bathing system in fact because it kills my wrists and hands as well as I feel like I am wasting shampoo when it is in dilution bottles. I feel like I spill as much shampoo down the drain as I get on the dogs! 

Now, that is off my chest I have another confession to make. I have a full grooming salon at my home except for a bathing system. I even remodeled my kitchen last year and put in a large, single basin sink with a high profile water faucet with hose for rinsing. I have a folding table with an arm that I keep at home and my backup force dryer stays here as well. I only have to bring home my shears and I can groom anything that I feel like doing here at home.

That being said, since I really detest bathing dogs, so I do not use the equipment very often! Today was one of the days I did use it. I bathed sixteen of my own dogs, 12 had Face, Feet, Tummy and tail done along with a bath and brush and 4 got a full groom.

On my way home from my shop this morning taking care of my boarding dogs, I decided to bathe my guys so that they would be clean for the holidays. I usually take 2 or 3 a day to work with me and get them done there because it is easier (and my staff will do them for me) but not this time. I stopped by the Dollar General to get some baby shampoo (I use it on faces) and I decided to find something I could put diluted shampoo into for ease of application. I didn't find anything however and was about to check out when I remembered reading somewhere that you can apply shampoo with a garden sprayer that you use to apply chemicals with, but I didn't have one. I did however find spray bottles at Dollar General.

I bought three spray bottles that had dilution ratios marked on the sides of the bottles and mixed up flea shampoo, General cleaning shampoo and a highly fragrant holiday shampoo that I bought for the shop. I also bought one of the net bath pouf sponges that is used with body wash. I thought if the spray bottles failed then I would put undiluted shampoos onto the pouf and wash that way. 

I used the shampoos at 10 to one ratio, labeled the bottles and got the sprayer set to where it applied enough to wet the dogs thoroughly and quickly.

I decided Toto would be my first victim. I wet the pouf slightly and applied baby shampoo and washed his face without wetting him down, using only the water on the pouf, and I misted him with shampoo, again, while he was still dry, and I used the pouf over the body to lather the shampoo, adding water as needed to the pouf, not to the dog. 

I was completely surprised at how fast and easy the shampoo lathered and how little was needed to get him clean. Because there was very little shampoo used the rinsing was fast and easy and the dogs were CLEAN as they could be. I was so excited! It had WORKED! 

I dried him and brushed him out then went on to the next puppy, Minnie. She was dirtier than Toto but I did the same thing to her and then after rinsing repeated the process. To my amazement she was squeaky clean and smelled great! She dried super fast which tells me she was completely clean. 

THe bathing and drying was going so fast that I just kept washing dogs! I had intended to wash about 8 and more tomorrow, but because of how fast this was and how easy it was, I was able to do 16 dogs, schnauzer size and under, in 5 and a half hours! All of them got the nails, feet face and bellies trimmed and 4 got full grooms, as I stated before, but I found the dogs were so clean they were drying in 5 minutes or slightly more on average. Amazing isn't it? 

Clean dogs dry faster than ones that are not completley clean and because the shampoo was applied to dry dogs it helped to cut grease faster and easier than if I had wet them first. The pouf allowed for easy scrubbing and it helped remove dirt and skin scales that were present on the skin and hair of my little guys. It was easier on my hands too becuase the pouf did the work for me that my fingers would usually do.

On top of all that, I used about 2 cups of diluted shampoo to bathe all 16 of my dogs! TWO CUPS! The dogs were all clean as can be. I was so surprised that that is all I needed to bathe them, but it is true! 

Come Tuesday morning when we reopen, my de-greasing shampoo and my flea shampoo will be in spray bottles at work as well. It is a time saver, a shampoo saver and an improvement in quality that I feel I need to be taking full advantage of.

If you do housecall it will save you time. You can preload one or two sprayers with the shampoos (and conditioners) you need and they will be less likely to spill too!

Mobilers, it will save you time. Because you are not pre-wetting coats you will save water. Because you use less shampoo you will rinse less as well, again, saving you water.

Those without a bathing system, it will save you time. It will save your body wear and tear and it will make bathing a lot easier.

TIme is money. Shampoo is money. Water is money. Add to it that the dogs are cleaner and dry faster, its even MORE time and more money. 

Who woulda thunk it? A simple $1 spray bottle could do all that?

Leave Paw Prints on Their Tree!

I offer each pet a toy off my tree, but I like to do something for the paying client as well! This year I wanted to do something different than I usually do, and I was looking around for ideas when I found a lot of frames at a Dollar Store. I cleaned them out (and the other three Dollar Trees in town as well). I did not have enough, so I kept looking and I found more at craft stores, and other sources that cost anywhere from 15 cents to $1 each. Then I decided to make paw prints for their owners with the pets name on it. 

This project sounds like a lot of work but it is really very very easy

What you need to do this project:

• Frames. You can use foam kits that are really inexpensive or more fancy, real photo frames. The ones I got are all under or at $1 each. I was able to get about 20 different styles in fact to have variety.
• Paper. I used watercolor paper because it is heavy and very absorbent but you can use any paper that will take the stamp ink.
• Ink Pads. I used Non-toxic, NON PERMANENT stamp pads. DO NOT use permanent as they will not wash out. These are available in any number of colors. Red and Green will wash out easily unless you let it dry. 
• Scissors. 
• Baby Wipes. We use them to wipe the bottom of the foot before inking.
• Colored markers for putting the names onto the ornaments.

This is a step by step tutorial on doing this project:

We have found that using the back left foot works best for us and we do the imprint before the pet is bathed.

1. Shave the pads and clip the nails.

2. Pull back the hair as much as possible.

3. Wet the pads with a baby wipe or lightly damp cloth. We do not know why this makes the ink adhere better, but it does.

4. Place the non toxic stamp pad against the pads and make sure it is covered pretty well. If you store them pad side down they ink the pads better than if you are stored bottom down.

5. Press the paw onto a piece of paper that will fit inside the frame you have chosen. You can do it the way I am showing you, or press the paper to the pad. Either way works.

6. Then you have the print. If you need to, you can "forge" the print by dipping your finger in the ink and lightly dab the extra ink onto the existing print. This is great for dogs with "funny" feet or where the ink was not heavy enough.

7. We then dip the foot into a bucket of water that contains a wet cloth and wipe off any excess ink. If you are mobile, or if the dog is going straight into the tub, you can skip this step and simply wash the dog before the ink dries completley.

8. Write the pets name and year on the front of the print. Verify spelling first if you are in doubt. I was surprised how many spellings I DID NOT have correct!

9. Cut the paper to the shape and size that will fit in your frame and insert the print. Most of the frames I made had a piece of paper with the dimensions on it and I used it to draw the size around the print at first. We then used my sons paper cutting machine to cut templates for us to use. 

10. Give these to your clients and wait for the waterworks to start. I have had people cry. I really have.

On a sidenote, I was lucky enough to get my local Dollar General Store to give me the racks that the ornaments they are selling came on. They throw them away when the ornaments are gone. They are the white covered wire racks like you see in closet shelving. I use one of those at my table to hang the empty ornaments we are using and one at the desk to hang the finished ones to make it easier to find the correct ones when the pets go home. You might check that out if you need a collar rack, jewelery rack or any number of other things you can do with those racks. I would bet that many places who get in prepacked displays will be throwing them away and will gladly give them to you.

Deck the Halls part 3

_{My bow board done for Christmas.}

The bow board. I hear groomers all the time ask how to display bows that they have so clients an pick the ones they want. I have a one inch thick piece of strofoam that came out of something I ordered (don't ask me what it was) that I cover in wrapping paper to fit the season and then use a scrapbooking page to display the bows on.

_{From the back you can see how the paper folds over. Just like a package.} 

It's easy, fast and very versatile. You can hange it for the season, the month or just because you want to. Make it fit your design asthetic and it will serve you well over and over. 

I use double sided tape if the bows are in packages or sewing pins if they are not wrapped. The pins don't leave holes in the bows and make it so you can adjust them as needed.

My board sits in "front" of my computer monitor (or in back) facing the clients. I keep my fanciest and most expensive bows there for clients to choose from if they want to pay extra, but  you can do all of your bows to offer all of your choices if you like. 

Makes it easy for the clients to see what you have and choose the ones they want without having to drag out the entire bow box every time someone wants to see what you have for their puppy.

Mobilers or housecall groomers can do a smaller version that they can carry with them inside the home if they like. You can buy sheets of styrofoam cheap at most craft supply houses.  

Some clients do not care what bow you use, others are very picky. This helps take care of the picky ones easily and affordably. Time is money and this saves you time.

Next up: Pawprint ornaments.