10 SepEpisode 24 | Let’s talk about in-home dog grooming with Ani Corless
Ani Corless is a dog groomer and the owner of the NYC-based business Luxury Groomer. Unlike most groomers, Ani goes into her clients' homes to groom their dogs. Annie and she discuss her path to becoming a groomer, some common mistakes that well-intentioned dog owners make when grooming their own dogs, and the various ways that in-home grooming can benefit dogs, dog owners, and groomers alike.
Subscribe: iTunes
Podcast Episode 24: Let’s talk about in-home grooming with NYC dog groomer Ani Corless
Transcript:
Annie:
So today I am interviewing a groomer. Her name is “Annie” like me, although she spells it, uh, Ani where I spell mine, the more, the more normal, boring way. And Ani is an in-home groomer in New York City. She goes to people's houses. I'm really interested in in-home grooming this concept of a groomer who comes to you for a variety of reasons, some of which we will get into in this episode. But the main reason is I think it can really be the most dog-friendly way to have your dog groomed. I think a lot of dogs get stressed out going to the groomer and you don't know exactly what's happening to them at the groomer. And the longer that I do dog training professionally, the more respect I have for groomers who really take the time to be thoughtful about how they're handling dogs during grooming and how the dogs are responding.
You know, I used to think about a groomer kind of the same way that I think about like a shoe repair person, like, I just would bring my dog in, kind of like, I bring my messed up shoes in and then they would fix the dog. Like they fixed the shoes and I would pick them up and all would be well and I didn't really need to know about what went on in the interim period. But the fact is that grooming can be really traumatic for a lot of dogs. So I give a lot of credit to groomers who not only put in a lot of time and effort to acclimate dogs to the grooming process, but also who are willing to be transparent about it and if you have a dog groomer coming to your house, whether or not you're actually involved in the grooming process, you can at least be there to make sure that your dog is feeling comfortable.
And if your dog isn't comfortable, the good news is grooming is usually not something that has to be rushed. It's something that can be done over a period of times, whether that means a groomer showing things that you can do to help your dog get better or feel better about grooming or having the groomer come again. But, it doesn't have to be a one stop process. And at School for the Dogs, we are encouraging our owners, our dog owners, from the time the dogs are puppies really, it's something that we, we try to drive home in Puppy Kindergarten to think about husbandry as part of training, to think about how you can make your dog feel comfortable around the equipment you're going to need to use with them or other people that are going to need to use with them from a very early point and to get them used to being handled. I think it's a really, really big favor that we can do to our dogs.
So high five to all the in-home groomers out there. I would love to share information about good in-home groomers throughout the country with my listeners. So if you have an in-home groomer that you recommend, please go to our Facebook group, which is facebook.com/groups/schoolforthedogs and share the info there. Or you can go ahead and send me a direct message on Instagram. And I would love to try and compile some kind of list ,Luxury Groomer is Ani Corless’s company. There are a few other in-home groomers in New York City that I know of, and I will link to them in the show notes. But I am excited to share this little peek into the groomer’s life.
Ani:
So my name is Ani Corless and I'm the founder of Luxury Groomer, which is a luxury house call dog grooming business in Manhattan area.
Annie:
And how long have you been doing grooming?
Ani:
Uh, I don’t want to age myself but we're coming up on a good 20 years.
Annie:
20 years! So how did you first start getting into grooming as a business.
Ani:
As a business? Well, I started grooming when I was younger, after working at vet clinics and I started in kennel work and then as a vet assistant and when deciding whether or not to become a tech or groomer, I thought about grooming school and gave that a shot. And after three years, I actually opened a salon in St. Louis, where I'm originally from and I had that for five years and then I moved to New York and started doing house call because here, I ended up liking that a lot better.
Annie:
When was that?
Ani:
I moved here in 2010. I worked for some salons around the area for awhile, I got to know the industry got to work with some really incredible people and founded Luxury Groomer, started doing some house calls on the side in probably 2013. We got our LLC in probably 2014. And been doing that solo ever since.
Annie:
So tell me a little bit about the process of training to become a groomer because I think it's something that a lot of people don't know a lot about, and I understand it, it involves quite quite a bit of an education, is that right?
Ani:
It does. So it can happen- and it's a really multifaceted thing, like, I think like anything you do with your hands, where for one, you never stop learning, but you can start two different ways. You can either start in a grooming school and take that, they generally last 12 weeks or so, sometimes there's some more advanced schools that you can go to for some further education. But you start either in a grooming school or you start as a bather somewhere, an assistant, and then just hope that they kind of teach a little on the side as you go. A lot of people really do both. You kind of come out of grooming school still needing a lot of education, so you'll then hopefully get to work in a salon or some more experienced people, and then kind of apprentice for a long time. Similar to hairdressers but the schooling, our start off schooling is a lot shorter than say people that do human hair, ‘cause I think they go to school for a year, maybe two before that apprenticeship. So we start off, you know, learning the very, very basics in the grooming school and everything else after that is self-education cause there really is no requirements as far as state or federal on dog groomers. So it's up to you to learn from either your bosses or doing your own self-education. There’s seminars and things and, of course, nowadays with the internet, there's tons of resources, but it is a hands on thing. You're gonna keep your hands on dogs and be around people that do really great work and there's multiple different ways to do that. Um, but it's just a lot of…you got to go for it yourself and do lots of education.
Annie:
I mean, there's so many different kinds of breeds that have specific cuts and you have to learn how to deal with each of those. Is that right?
Ani:
Yeah, of course. And then of course within that, you know, it's when you're doing, uh, if you're not doing show haircuts and it's about what the customer wants, so you kind of learn how to, just like people have your human hair, you learn how to listen to people and work with their particular dog's particular coat or particular personality. And that's why, in my opinion, it's one of those that takes a really long time to get really good at and the end of the day, you never stop learning. That's the biggest thing.
Annie:
Now I think in-home grooming is…there's a real need for it for a variety of reasons, but I'm curious what appeals to you about going into people's homes rather than having dogs go to a facility?
Ani:
Well, they just, I think at the end of the day, they're always more uncomfortable in their own space. And so for me as a groomer, what I realized was instead of, from my experience, instead of being in a salon where you might be in a room full of dogs that maybe barking or this and that, and you're kind of…you kind of have to do a certain amount of dogs a day to kind of pay the rent and pay, you know, your commission and pay, you know, all that stuff. This is a lot more one on one, a more intimate experience for the groomer and for the dog. It's just chill overall, you know, versus a salon. Even if it's a really, really relaxed salon, you do have to do a certain amount of volume and there are certain amount of dogs going in and out of the environment and the phone is ringing and the door is going off and you know, that kind of thing and this is just so much more quiet and one on one and relaxed and it really, you know, and it makes me relaxed, it makes the animal relaxed. And it's just after doing this for so long, it's nice to be relaxed instead of such a kind of fast and furious environment.
Annie:
Right. And also it seems to me like, it must be nice that people can stick around while their dog is getting groomed, which isn't usually not an option if you're bringing your dog to a facility. Right?
Ani:
Yeah. And it's not an option at facility, well, there's the ones that have the windows where you can generally look in, but usually the whole reason that you're not allowed to stick around is for safety. So for even an in-home, we totally allow you to stick around, but we kind of have our boundaries because it's about…we're working with sharp instruments and anything that you say or do or move the, dog's gonna want to see what mom is doing or dad is doing or whatever's going on and that's going to make them flinch and Twitch and those little things and we need them to stay as still as possible while doing hand scissor work near sensitive areas and things like that. But you are allowed to be in the room, you just have to sit still and be quiet and that sort of thing. So, yeah. And then of course people have nanny cams and things like that if they're not home, but they're totally able to see what's going on throughout the whole process. Of course.
Annie:
Yeah. I mean, it seems to me like dogs could get really stressed out in grooming situations if they're dropped off somewhere. I mean, first of all, they're being handled by someone they don't necessarily know. They're being handled in ways that might be totally new, most people don't do training specifically to condition their dog to feel good about being bathed and being buzzed, etc etc. And then on top of that being, you know, brought into a facility and put into a cage, it seems like a whole lot of stress. It's amazing. I'm always amazed with how well my dog does with it because I think he must not even… I guess at this point he figures I'm going to come pick him up, but a lot of dogs might look like, “I'm being left forever.”
Ani:
Well they’re totally across the board. I mean, there's some dogs that can't wait to get to the groom shop and -cause I've worked in both, you know, and it was always lovely to see the dogs that are running in the front door and they're really excited because some of them, I guess, otherwise I'd just be sitting at home sleeping or whatever. So attention is attention and there's other dogs there, maybe they want to play with the other dog. You know, there's some dogs that enjoy it. Um, I don't know too many that actually enjoy the bath -hey just put up with it. But you get a few of them that’ll jump in the tub and this and that, uh, are perfectly fine going to a groom shop and they sleep most of the time they're there and this and that.
Then there's the others that don't do well just in an environment that's not known to them or even just smelling a bunch of other dogs or hearing too many noises. It's just like people, you have some that are a little more anxious. You have some that are wild and fun and all that stuff. So it's always going to be a place for physical groom shops. Not only that, but there's things that we can't always do in a home safely. Um, but there's definitely a spot for housecall as well. There are dogs that are night and day difference in how they can get groomed at home and they were sort of ungroomable in a groom shop because the stress level was just too high. And it also works out well for dogs with certain medical issues like, when they have a tendency towards seizures, which can happen out of excitement, whether good excitement or bad excitement, a groom shop can trigger that. And then you have dog that might seize, whereas at home they might not get so wound up. And even if they do get wound up, they seem to calm down from it a lot quicker because it's not so long, it's not such a long process. You know, sometimes you have to drop them off at the shop, they’re there at least a couple of hours, where usually at home is pretty quick, depending on the groomer. Our groomers run between, uh, an hour and a half to two hours for a small dog hair cut, but usually the minimum at a groom shop is three hours just depends on how they run.
But even after walking there, then they're walking home and there's so much excitement that they seem to kind of stay wound up for a little bit longer, so if they do have a medical issue, um, that comes into play a little bit, but you know, I come from Missouri, which is home of the puppy mills, unfortunately, which also means it's home of the rescues. So I have a lot of experience working with rescue animals as well and this has been a big benefit to see how different it is to groom them inside their home, even if they're still in foster care, they just kind of take to me handled a little easier when there's not these other sensory factors going on, you know,
Annie:
Do you find that people have different, uh, do you find that people have different needs or desires as far as having their dogs groomed in New York City versus there?
Ani:
Um, I think it just depends on the individual because dogs are always…it's about how they fit into your lifestyle, right? So that's the same in New York as well. Um, where it's, you know, do you like get a dog to be able to swim all summer and play in the woods, then you probably get them groomed this amount of time and get their hair cut like this. But do you like them to look really nice and be clean all the time and you probably get them groomed this often and they look like this. Yeah. So it's just up to the individual for sure.
Annie:
I mean, I guess people would have the assumption that because it's New York city and here you're called, you know, “luxury” that people want like fruffy kind of haircuts for their dogs here as opposed to, I don't know, just like kind of, cut them short-leave them be. Would you say that's not true?
Ani:
I would say overall, yes, people maintain their dogs a little more here, but it's for a myriad of reasons. And one of them came be asked of you, it's just people having the resources here to have the luxury of keeping a dog clean because clean in New York city is the A-number one concern because we're talking about the streets of New York, right, and the dogs walking on the streets or maybe going to daycare. So it's not like say in suburbia and Missouri where they're just letting them out into the yard and when they say they're dirty, it's just some physical dirt and New York it's like street filth, right? So, if people have the means and have the luxury to be able to keep their dog clean, that's usually the first and foremost concern that I hear. So if I have once a week clients or twice a week clients, it's not because of, you know, some reason that they want it to look like a show dog-it's usually because they want it clean. Um, and then beyond that, I would say it's 50 50 if I do fruffy haircuts, I would say, honestly, the style right now is not too fruffy. Like the most popular breed coming up right now is Labradoodles and everyone tells me, “please don't make it look like a poodle.” So I think actually kind of shaggy au natural is what's popular right now, but that still takes quite a bit of maintenance.
Annie:
Um, what are your prices like compared to bringing a dog to a facility in New York City?
Ani:
So the facilities vary quite a bit in prices as well, but I would say that we're at least, we're probably definitely more expensive because in a salon that you say, you know, depending on the groomer, six to 10 a day, where we do like three to four, cause we're commuting and we're just doing one on one. So also in salon, you might have one dog in the dryer or with a bather, while you're trimming another ones that you have that kind of ability to do more than one at once, but, you know, we're coming just to you doing your dog straight through. Um, so that cuts down. So of course it costs a little bit more. And, of course, we made sure to hire only the absolutely most qualified groomers because they're one-on-one, inside your house. So they have to be fully, fully trained and with the you know, highest quality so that they can be alone without a manager or so, you know, they're not still apprenticing or anything like that. So yeah, I would say, I would say we're more, but I would say it's fair.
Annie:
Can you talk numbers or are you not comfortable doing that?
Ani:
Oh God. So our small dog hair cuts started at $200 and I would say a salon if you're uptown is probably around 130/40, whereas downtown can be as low as $60/75. The last I heard. So it just kind of varies.
Annie:
And you bring all your own equipment then, right?
Ani:
Yeah. So normally all we require from the homeowner would be a towel. That's just, you know, we can't carry a bag of towels around with us, but everything else we bring unless they have a little bit larger dog and then there might be some other things that we would need from them in the house that we just can't carry around town with us, but we do mostly small dogs. We just groom them in the kitchen sink and groom them on the adjacent counter top and just, kind of, cleanup after we're done. And it's easy peasy.
Annie:
I've seen these like mobile grooming shops, uh, do those exist in New York?
Ani:
They do. There's a couple of vans I've seen, I think there's one I heard about recently-it's downtown. I've seen at least one or two uptown as well, which I surprised, cause I don't know how on earth they've worked that out with the tickets and the driving, but that was that's where you bring the dog inside the van and they got kind of a whole mini groom shop in there.
Annie:
What do you do about dogs who are really stressed out about grooming? Do you ever work with trainers to try and reduce the stress? Have you ever had a situation where you've just had to say, you know, I think this dog can't handle this right now.
Ani:
Yeah, of course it's happened in the past. Like I said, you know, with my former path of working with a lot of rescues I kind of have a soft spot for that. Um, but the first thing first is a lot of times the trainer will recommend they get done at home. Um, and then you just work with them from there. You just take it really, really slow and easy and you don't push anything. And each one of them is a little different, but a lot of them just need you to go slow and take your time. And I think that, especially with house call, we have the most ability to do that versus a salon. Sometimes in the salon, you don't have the extra time to take because you’ve got other dogs coming in, you got the schedule, they gotta be into it, gotta be out. Sometimes we have a little more spacey time to get them to space to be relaxed, you know, and take it slow. And sometimes, yeah, there's been instances where you can't fully finish a groom, but its just because you can't force everything, but you can maybe come back and finish it later. And then maybe next time you get a little further down, you get a little further down. The biggest thing is just not to force anything.
Annie:
Is there anything you think people can do to keep up grooming or should maybe be doing a better job of in general to keep up grooming between having a professional groomer work with their dog?
Ani:
Well, I feel like groomers might as well be like dentists where every groomer wants to say brush and comb your dog in between, you know, like brush and floss, but it's not realistic for a lot of people. We have people that are great at it and you know, we call those unicorn people, like the dogs, perfectly brushed and combed out. More often not, people may attempt it and they think they do a good job brushing, but as not a professional, they don't realize that they haven't gotten all the way down to the skin. And then we still have to say, I'm so sorry your dog’s matted.
So the biggest advice I give people, if you don't think you're a professional with brushing and combing your dog and just keep it in a haircut, that's a maintenance level that matches your lifestyle. And if you want, a lot of people like to bathe their dogs in between and water actually causes and tightens mats, and knots. So the biggest advice I can give people is if you just can't go without bathing their own dog in between, then I suggest keeping it short because if you do bathe it without brushing it properly, your groomer will tell you, your dog is matted and you end up in the back and forth about either dematting or shaving and all that other stuff. We're not making it up-if they get in the water and it's not brushed properly, especially these curly breeds like the doodles that are so incredibly popular right now- even just one time in a good rainstorm or in a pool or in a bathtub, if they've got enough hair can mean that they have to be almost shaved the next time. So I would say the best thing people can do is just listen to the groomer and come up with a haircut that matches their lifestyle, realistically, you know. If you're not going to brush your dog, fine, totally fine, just keep it on the shorter side so you don't have to worry about it, you know?
Annie:
So do you think most dogs then don't need regular baths? Even if they're, you know, regardless of the kind of hair and fur that they have.
Ani:
Oh, I think it totally depends on the lifestyle because you know how dirty your dogs get and how much you feel they need to be bathed. It's just, if you feel it needs to be based once a week, but you want to keep three inches of hair on it, but not brush it, then you definitely need to call your groomer to come over once a week and do that. Or you need to just keep it short so you could throw it in the tub once a week and not worry about it. And this time of year what's popular too, is going to the beach and going to the swimming pools so a lot of people can have maybe a summer haircut that works for the family during the summer, and then you can grow it out and have a little longer and shaggier in the winter and do it that way.
Annie:
Conditioner isn't going to help or some kind of..?
Ani:
To be honest with you, it's technique. And honestly, it's harder than it looks. And it sounds silly, it's harder than it looks. I've been trying to train clients to brush dogs for 20 years. And like I said, it's, most people just don't do it properly. Um, but in fairness, you know, when we train even a bather, they spend a few months before they hand me a dog that's properly brushed out and they're doing it all day for a living. So it is much harder than it looks, especially with these curly-haired breeds or these thicker coated breeds. So I'm not faulting people at all. They generally usually give it a good shot and don't realize that it hasn't been done properly, unfortunately, that matting all happens down by the skin where they've missed it and if they don't get that, then it doesn't matter what part was brushed out or not- the dog might have to be shaved or dematted. And we don't do a lot of dematted at Luxury Groomer just for ethical reasons. So usually it would be a matter of saying, you know, it's gotta go short. Uh, so that's the biggest advice I can give people is if you're going to have it get wet often without having a professional in between to brush it, I would keep it on the shorter side. But the groomer can always assess that with the customer, there's dogs that have hair that are totally fine, they don't mat up as easily. They're, you know, some of the terrier breeds can do basically whatever they want and stop by the groomer every number of months and just be fine. So it just depends on that dog. I would just say, you know, consult with your groomer and come up with that maintenance schedule that works best for the lifestyle, for the dog and for your aesthetics.
Annie:
Do you have a specific kind of brush that you like?
Ani:
I mean, kind of a classic slicker brush person.
Annie:
What's a slicker brush?
Ani:
Slicker brush is the one that has a little metal tines that look kind of crookedy and they look kind of torturous, but they're actually not. They have that little bend in them. Um, but groomers vary differently on their tools. But I would say that's a really classic tool and that's one that I recommend to clients. And the big… the other two that recommend super highly is a comb. You want to get a slicker brush and you want to get a comb, ‘cause the comb is what lets you get down by skin and find if you actually have them all the way brushed out. Uh, if you use a brush without a comb, you're just not doing it right. So you want to use that comb and get all the way down to the skin and see if you can get it all the way out that's how you’ll know.
And usually the hardest places to brush are the most important to get to. So maybe the armpits and the chest and the belly and the insides of the legs, wherever they might wear a harness that rubs on their hair is definitely important to get to. A lot of people tend to kind of just kind of go down the back, like petting a cat and then everything else is a mess. So you'll want to really get in there. And one of the suggestions I have for trying to brush at home is, uh, do like we do. So if we come to your house and we put the dog on a counter and say, okay, when you go up on this counter, now it's time to be groomed and it's, um, you know, “down to business time”, then do that, you know. Put your dog on the counter or put it somewhere raised that the animal knows when I'm up here, this is when we get down to business. And sometimes it's a lot easier cause I know that they're sometimes kind of combative and wiggly and all that stuff for maybe mom and dad at home, whereas the groomer comes and they're just totally fine. And a lot of it has to do with that. They've never been asked to really do this before and behave for this. So sometimes putting them up in a certain area that lets them know when we're here, we're you know, getting down to business and this is what we're doing. Sometimes they behave a lot better.
Annie:
That makes sense. What's that kind of brush? I suddenly forget what it's called that kind of like a rake-like brush with very, very fine teeth. Do you know what I'm talking about? And just get off a ton of hair? Um,
Ani:
Oh like the,the brand name that's most popular is the FURminator
Annie:
Ah, that's it! The FURminator. What are your feelings about the FURminator-that thing gets gets tons off, huh?
Ani:
Yeah. So that would just be about using it on the correct breed. Right? So you're not going to use a FURminator on a Yorkshire terrier or Shih Tzu, you're going to want to use it on a dog that sheds and you want to be gentle with those ‘cause they do have a tendency to, if you’re rough enough, they can cut the skin. So I do tell people to kinda let the brush do the work, don't put too much pressure, but you can used that on something like a Labrador or even gently on say a French bulldog, something that kind of sheds that little bit of hair, but you wouldn't use it on a dog that just has long hair, you know, no poodles, no Yorkies and no Bichons, you wouldn't use it on that kind of hair, but yeah, they definitely work.
Annie:
Um, and I groom my dog myself, often I just kind of buzz him down as short as possible because he does like to swim and we travel a lot and I figured he kind of looks cute no matter what, so if I could just get his hair real low, but so I wonder, do you, what kind of equipment do you suggest to someone like me who is just looking to get a good, a good shave down? Does it, can you get like a cheap buzzer? Does it make a difference if you get a more expensive one, what's your opinion on that?
Ani:
I would say definitely go more expensive. I mean, I'm always nervous to tell anybody to groom with their dog at home. Uh, but if you're going to do it and I have to give you recommendations that I would say definitely invest in something that's considered professional ‘cause I’ve seen a lot of those, even made by the professional companies, so say Andy's for instance, comes out with a home grooming kit and I think because they're so cheap and the blades are a little weird and the attachments that go onto them, I actually find them quite dangerous. So I think you'd be better to get a professional clipper with a professional blade, like a groomer would use and you know, you can have somebody advise you on what blade they would use for your dog and maybe watch a little tutorial and have them describe how to do it, but those ones they sell in stores are really, really strange. And the most time I’ve seen people including myself before I became a groomer, uh, there really, um, really kinda incidence of cutting the dog skin. So even though it's going to cost a little more, if you're going to do it, I would definitely get the more professional equipment. It would be a lot safer.
Annie:
And what about the whole trend of what's it called? Like creative grooming? Um, where do you fall on that? And actually maybe you can explain a little bit what that is to the uninitiated.
Ani:
Sure. So what creative grooming is is it's when a groomer does really interesting cuts on a dog, it usually involves a lot of hair dying. They can sculpt their hair into crazy fun shapes or story themes. Uh, they also, what's popular now or gaining popularity is using even a little bit of Swarovski crystals and, you know, decor in their hair. And, uh, lots of really fun, funky braids, even involving some hair curling and straightening and things like that. I think creative grooming is super cool. I know a lot of people it makes them really uncomfortable to look at a job that has had a lot of dye put on it and had these really crazy cuts because they're immediately thinking, what did the dog have to go through to have this done? But people do it on dogs that tolerate it, meaning they actually enjoy being handled for that amount of time.
They sit on the table, they're usually falling asleep. And you know, if anyone remembers seeing a little girl and having someone to play with your hair, they're usually the dogs that feel like that about it. And as far as the dye goes, which is a big concern for a lot of people, the dye’s all super duper animal safe. It's like the Crayola stuff. A lot of it washes out. Some of it takes a few weeks to wash out, but it's all, you know, vegan, toxic-free, animal safe dyes that is no different than putting shampoo on a dog and letting it sit for 10 minutes, that's the only process it goes through. There's no crazy chemicals. There's nothing like that about it. So I think it's fun. I think groomers have a lot of fun with it. They can really bond with these dogs and they do some really fun, funky stuff nowadays.
Annie:
Have you done any of that kind of work?
Ani:
When I first started, I got interested in it and was playing with it a little bit and had some fun with it, but now, especially that I'm doing house call, I don't have anyone really asking for it so I haven't had an opportunity to play with it, but of course I follow all these people that do it on Instagram ‘cause it's so fun to see. It would be kind of messy in someone's home, but I would love it if somebody asks me to,
Annie:
Well maybe this year for Halloween, we can have you and do some of that.
Ani:
Absolutely.
Annie:
I think what's neat about it is, I went to Hershey, Pennsylvania, every year they have a big grooming conference. Uh, I went to one once where they had people doing the creative grooming and, and I thought it was sort of an interesting creative outlet and it did seem to me like the dogs didn't seem to mind it at all. And in fact it seemed to me like maybe they or I'm sure a lot of them enjoyed the attention they were getting from looking, you know, so interesting. But also, I find a lot of times when people put their dogs in costumes, I think the dogs are actually really stressed out being put in costumes that are, it can be prohibitive and uncomfortable and strange. Whereas with the creative grooming there…they are only wearing their natural stuff. I think it's, kind of like, for Halloween or something, it's sort of an interesting… it could, I wonder if it could catch on as a way to celebrate those holidays and do something fun with your dog, that's not forcing them to wear a costume that they're uncomfortable with.
Ani:
It could, it could, I mean, creative grooming is usually quite involved process. So it does depend on whether the dogs tolerate it, but there are things out there now like, um, little stencils that you can use those Crayola blow pens on and at least just give them a little stencil maybe on the rear or something like that, that's kind of cute. There's simpler things as well. Or you can even just put a really crazy bandanna on them or whatnot, but like what you saw in Hershey takes weeks and weeks of preparation and hours of grooming in a moment. So, you know, for the average average dog, that's probably not going to happen. Uh, and if you look at it too, in the creative grooming.. for the dogs in Hershey, most of those are poodle breeds, uh, and poodle breeds are working dogs. So they do like doing a job, which in that case is standing there and, you know, behaving and getting their body worked on and then walking around and showing everybody, uh, but they take really well to it. They're eager to please, they’re working breeds. So it might not seem like the job they were meant to do, but that's part of why sometimes they take so well to that sort of thing is they're still doing a job. So in fact, it is working their mind cause even just standing there and focusing on standing there and being still and being good is working their mind. And so they do actually enjoy that. And then they walk around. They don't necessarily know. I think that they look any different, but they are getting a lot of reactions from people after that. And they just feel really proud of themselves after that.
Annie:
So one of my goals with this podcast is to encourage people to think about different jobs that they could do…, encourage people who love dogs, to think about different jobs that they could do beyond, uh, perhaps being a vet, which I think is, you know, any kid who's interested in pets, that's usually the first thing anyone will say, well, do you want to be a vet? Um, but of course I see so many different kinds of fun, interesting things within the pet sector that might appeal to people. What would be your pitch to someone who's looking for a new career? And has thought about grooming. How would you sell it as a job that is worth the time and investment?
Ani:
Sure. So for me, grooming, combined a couple of things that I really, really love. You get to play with puppies all day, first and foremost. Um, secondly, the creative element, you know, I, on the side, I play music, I do photography, so I tend towards a lot of creative things and this gives you a lot of creativity. You are hand scissoring and sculpting each and every one of these animals and saying versus a vet, even though groomers definitely have a more difficult dogs to work with and you might end up with rescues or an upset dog or whatever the case may be overall, the dogs are happy to be around you. You know, you're doing something relaxed and nice versus in the vet, usually they're having something done that they're not so happy about. Or you see a lot of, kind of, you know, sad things, I mean, you're in a medical facility. So for me, it was.. one of those where I could have a job working around dogs that wasn't necessarily as sad as sometimes working in a vet clinic was and involved a lot of that creativity and is, you know, usually a relaxed environment, at least that I have with, with a house call. It's a really relaxed environment. So for me, it's the best fit.
Annie:
Interesting. And have you found it hard to hire groomers? You have one, one employee, is that right?
Ani:
I have two right now. Yeah. So, um, is hard to hire very, very qualified groomers. I think, especially with house call, like I had mentioned before, they have to really be top level because in a groom shop, you're still working around people. So you can still learn from other people and there might be multiple levels of experience going on there, but everyone's, you know, they're together. Whereas once you send someone solo into someone's home, they have to be fully, fully, fully top level qualified because there's no one else there to learn from. So, um, I think that's harder to find. But I've been lucky enough to find some people that are of that level.
Annie:
Is there like Harvard of grooming schools, if someone's looking to get into it, that you would suggest that they go to.
Anil
There's some pretty serious schools over in Japan, they take it pretty seriously over there.
There's some schools that I would love to go to over there, even though I've been doing this so long. But really what grooming….
Annie:
How long are those kinds of programs?
Ani:
Oh, I would have to see, I would have to see, I think they're broken up into different levels so you can choose how many levels you would take. Um, but I don't think there are years or anything like that. I think there's still in the weeks, but they're just, um, supposedly really, really great grooming programs. The things that groomers tend to do though, is go to a lot of these seminars and continue self-education and then they can actually get certifications through independent companies that do, you can get individual breeds certifications, and then you can get your master groomer. So you've done lots of certifications and lots of paper tests and this and that. So again, these are all just things that groomers do for each other, none of this is required by any state or federal requirements. I'd actually like to see that change personally. Um, but you can put yourself through these extra bits of education that can go on for your entire career. So it just depends on how committed you get and how serious you get into self-education.
Annie:
For someone who's just starting out in New York, is there a place or in the New York area, is there a place that you would suggest?
Ani:
Ah, to be honest with you, I don't know much about the schools here. I heard about a couple of them how they used to be years ago, but they're under different ownership and to be honest, I just haven't heard either way, so I wouldn't be able to recommend that. Uh, but you can always still find those groom shops that will take you on as a bather. I mean, I think any groom school is going to be sort of similar because I don't know any here that are, you know, very, very long programs. So I would sort of assume you're going to learn about the same amount of stuff in the same amount of time.
Annie:
How long are the programs usually?
Ani:
I’d have to look up to be sure, but a lot on average around 12 weeks. So you just have to see if there's this 12 weeks or maybe 16 or maybe eight, I'm not really sure because I haven't looked into that in a long time. So some people start with grooming school and then go to apprentice or some people go straight to trying to get a job as a bather and apprentice that way, I think either way is fine. To be honest with you, it's just about how much commitment you put into your own education and the place that you've gotten into to apprentice ‘cause, of course, if you're in maybe not so great shop, you're not going to learn a lot, you know?
Annie:
So if someone wants to find you, what's the best way for them to get in touch.
Ani:
Sure. Just luxurygroomer.com. Email info@luxurygroomer.com. Uh, you can also, a lot of people enjoy the Instagram, so you can find us on Instagram at luxurygroomer as well.
Annie:
Great. Well, thank you so much. Anything that we didn't touch on that you, that you want to mention,
Ani:
Just please keep the pet safe out there in this hot heat and hot asphalts.
Annie:
Yeah. What can people do about their dog’s hot feet? Do give suggestions on that?
Ani:
Honestly, the best thing you can do is test it out yourself. If you can't hold the back of your hand on an asphalt for more than five seconds, you’re going to burn their dog's paws.
Annie:
And soyou suggest shoes or umm..
Ani:
You could try shoes or just make sure to that they don't go out in that kind of extreme heat situation, You’ll have to find, you know, where you can set them on grass or whatever, but shoe’s would be best if you can.
Annie:
Thank you very much, Ani.
Ani:
Thank you.
**music**
Our Woof Shout Out today goes to a dog who lives right nearby School for the Dogs’s is East Second Street location. His name is Jimmy buckets. This is a dog who has a trademarked hairstyle. His owner keeps him in, I guess what you would call a lion cut. He's a Goldendoodle with a huge mane, the rest of his hair is cut short except for this beautiful mane area. And, uh, it's very cute. And he gets lots of attention. His owner says that people stop him on the street all the time and that he seems to really enjoy all the extra love he cuts, uh, from his do. You can find him on Instagram at Mr.Jimmy buckets.
Our fun dog fact of the day is that contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a non shedding dog. All dog shed, some dogs just shed a lot less than other dogs. It’s untrue that some dogs have hair and some dogs have fur, whatever you want to call it. It's all the same thing.
The thing is, every hair on your dog will eventually die and fall out and be replaced by a new hair. It's just that some dog breeds have hair that grows for a much longer period of time and to a longer natural length before it dies and gets shed. What's true is that dogs who have what we think of as hair, their hair sheds less and has a growth pattern. That's much more similar to our hair, human hair than dogs who have what we tend to call for care goes through natural resting phases and growth phases. And some dogs like humans have hair that spends most of its time in a growth phase up until it grows to a certain length, whereas the types of dogs who we think of as having fur our dogs who don't need regular grooming because their hair spends most of its time in a dormant phase, so it usually gets pushed out by a new hair while it's in a long term phase of not growing. And it also only grows to a certain length based on that dog’s genetics. So kind of interesting stuff. I will share a link to more information about this in the show notes. There's a great article in one of my favorite publications Whole Dog journal. If you're a dog nerd and you're not familiar with Whole Dog journal, check it out.
Links:
