On The Road With Jodi and Danelle
August 19, 2012
Last year at Groom and Kennel Expo Danelle German and I had dinner together. We laughed about the fact that I don't groom cats and she doesn't groom dogs and how fun it would be to do something together. Since I'm a mobile groomer, Danelle and I thought it would be fun to go on the road together for a day of mobile groomining.
Cat grooming is foreign to me. I have never been a cat person. I like cats and absolutely love my cat but I just felt that you really need to feel comfortable handling cats in order to groom them. So I choose not to! Danelle, on the other hand is a "cat person". She is definitely more comfortable handling cats than dogs. In fact, when we were on the road I was trying to pry a leash out of a golden retrievers mouth in the van and she was a little nervous that I would get bit. She didn't realize how common it is for Goldens to love to carry things in their mouth. It's amazing how differ our comfort levels are.
Danelle came to New Jersey and I scheduled a day with three of my regular client dogs. Since I don't groom cats I had to "round up" some cats. I asked a local mobile groomer, Patty Mitchell, to help me out. She lined us up three of her client cats to groom that day. We spent an entire day grooming cats and dogs together. I was able to drill her with questions that I had about cat grooming that I'm sure she felt were elementary. In return, she questioned me about dog grooming in the same respect. This day on the road was a learning experience for both of us.
The day was going pretty smoothly and I was feeling more comfortable with the cats. She made it look so easy. At one point she asked if I could help her scruff a cat while she stepped away to turn on the dryer. I was thinking to myself "do you really trust my scruff?" One fast move and I'm sure that cat would have been dancing on the ceiling! So I said "You scruff, I'll turn on the dryer!".
By the end of our day on the road Danelle was feeling pretty confident that she could help me with the Golden Retriever. I had her scissor the feet and she did pretty good for the first time! Although I remember when she was working on the long haired cat I asked her if she was going to scissor the feet nice and pretty and she said "NO! You never want to scissor toe tufts!" OK so why does she want to scissor my Golden's toe tufts? That's not fair! We had so much fun doing this DVD together and I'm sure you will all enjoy it as well. Danelle's camera girl even snuck in a blooper section which I'm sure will make you all chuckle (at our expense)!
We discussed so many important topics throughout the day including, routing, scheduing, pre-booking, the importance of regular grooming, handling techniques, client relations, educating clients and so much more.
This full day on the road with Danelle and I is available in a two dvd set.
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