PetEdge Grooming Showcase: Dramatic Dog Transformations

Welcome to another edition of the PetEdge Groomer's Showcase. This week, we're proud to share with you the work of two talented groomers.

We loved to see how Sabrina gave a rescued Lhasa Apso mix a new lease on life by getting rid of her heavily matted coat, and we were happy to see how Anneliese was able to rekindle her love for grooming by encouraging her clients to go with new, more flattering cuts.

 

Sabrina Van Asveld
Playful Little Paws
McKinney, Texas

Sabrina writes: "I specialize in special needs dogs, such as blind, deaf, 3-leggers, diabetes, etc. I am also very involved in rescue and groom shelter and rescue dogs on a regular basis.

"I was asked by Sheree's Dog Rescue to clean up a young Lhasa Apso mix female who had just been picked up from a local shelter.

 

Before...a matted mess

"She was so horribly matted that her coat was a solid shell. My biggest challenge was to avoid razor burns and cuts.

"I first shaved her using an Andis AGC 2-Speed Clipper with a 10F blade on her entire body, except her legs and tail, which needed a 30F blade to remove extremely tight mats and using Top Performance Clipper Cool to clean and refresh my blades.

 

During...the mats are coming off

 

 

Now on to the head

 

Afterwards, I bathed her using Top Performance Oatmeal Shampoo and dried her using my Double K ChallengAir Extreme grooming dryer.
 
"I shaved her a second time to smooth out her coat and I scissored her using Fromm 6.5" curved shears. I trimmed her head, giving her a teddy bear head. I spritzed her with a Pet Effects cologne as a finishing touch."

 

Finished! A new look for Jada

"Under all that dirt, grime and matting was a sweet little girl named Jada. She was a real trooper and was lucky to be adopted a few weeks later.
 
"Thank you for reading Jada's story."

 

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Anneliese Vaini
Chetek Veterinary Clinic
Chetek, Wisconsin

Anneliese writes: "I groom in a rural area. When I started here two years ago, my first goal was to cultivate a client list of people who bring their dogs in regularly.

"The first few months I did a lot of once-a-year shave downs. Last year, I was happy with my balance of regular clients and still new ones coming in every week and I turned my focus to creating a distinctive look to my work."
 
"I had kept a before and after photo album of my work in the lobby. People used it to pick out styles and soon, all the dogs in the book were looking the same. Occasionally I would convince someone to go with a more flattering style, then put a photo in the album and it would become very popular.

"I got impatient. So instead of thinking of the album as a portfolio, I turned it into a 'look book', showing photos of how I want to groom dogs.
 
Misty, the Shih Tzu in the photos, always came in for the same, unflattering clipper cut: #3 body, #3 on the top of her head, #5 on the rest of her face and head, and #10 on the bridge of her nose.

One day, Misty's owner was sick and her daughter brought Misty in for grooming instead.

 

Misty Before

 

The owner's daughter picked a photo out of my newly re-done look book.

I loved putting Misty into a new, more flattering style (see below)! The owner has requested it ever since.

 

Misty after! A new look

"In addition to updating my look book, I've been getting inspired by Japanese styling techniques (thanks, Petedge blog!) and starting to scissor faces whether or not the owner has asked for it. This has made a huge difference."

"My clients are happy and I'm enjoying my job much more than before! I'm finally able to raise my prices and refer once-a-year shave downs to a different shop."

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YOUR TURN: Are you ready to be our next Showcase Superstar? Email your before and after grooming photos along with a brief description of your grooming background, the tools you used and the challenges you faced to [email protected] Thanks and happy grooming :)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: PetEdge Inc. is a leading supplier of pet grooming products and wholesale pet supplies. We have over 17,000 products to choose from in our catalog and online at PetEdge.com, including grooming tables, tubs, dryers, shampoos, clippers, blades and other groomer favorites. Keep an eye out for our new September catalog, which will be arriving this month with hundreds of new products inside.

 

Comments

[Lila]

Sabrina is the best and sweetest groomer ever! My dogs love her, they always look beautiful and she has never hurt them while grooming them. Good job Sabrina!

[Suzi Jones]

Very nice I scissor a similar head and I am now going to go back to leaving the legs a little longer,I noticed today I was scissoring the legs a little too close.
Schone grusse
Suzi Jones
Hunde Salon Silbermond
Heidelberg Germany.

[Beth Brozich]

I am so happy for Jada! What a beautiful little dog and what an excellent grooming job. I hope he got a new home as well as a new look. Hiddenhillz