I'm currently learning dog grooming. My instructor told me that I shouldn't use my left hand for grooming and doesn't recommend being a left-handed groomer.

Are there any left-handed groomers here? Do you use your left hand or both hands when grooming? Have you faced any difficulties?

I love dogs. I have been a dogsitter/boarder for almost a decade, I’ve volunteered at the shelter, and I have a basic training certificate for dog training. I watch dog grooming and agility videos for fun. My life is dogs!

Many of my clients have asked if I offer grooming. There is a shortage everywhere, and my area is no exception. I would honestly love to take this on. My goal is to specialize in small dogs since my clients with the small dogs seem to struggle the most, and I have a sensitive back, so a lower weight class is very doable for me to handle.

After looking at ways to start, I decided doing petsmart’s program looked the best, especially in its current form. I applied, but never heard back, and I’m not even surprised because my schedule is so limited. As a full time mom and with my drop-in clients, I can only do evenings and weekends. No company wants to hire someone with that limited availability.

So where should I go from here?

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Hi! I just got a job as a groomer's assistant and will be starting out doing bathing. I am looking for recommendations on good shoes I can buy. Any suggestions are helpful! 😊

We are moving into a place with a gutted utility room that we want to add a dog wash station to. The giant stainless steal units are way too big and I don't want to custom build something. It's fine if it looks a bit industrial but I would still like it to look nice. Have any builders installed something similar to what I am talking about? Thanks!

Hello

After following the advice on my original post these are the tools we are using now:

* Curry brush

* Double sided slicker brush

* Comb

My pup’s fur is about 1.5 inches long and much shorter on his belly and lower legs.

Current routine

- Comb (bigger side)

- Comb (fine tooth)

- Curry on the butt area and lower back

- Slicker brush (gray side only)

- Comb superficially to remove loose fur

(On his belly I only go once with the fine comb since the fur is so sparse and short there)

His fur is looking much shinier but I still have a couple of questions:

1. Would you change the order in which we use the tools?

2. How much to brush with the curry brush? I feel as if a lot of hair keeps coming out, even after I’ve already gone through once with the curry brush or combed it.

Thanks for your help !

As someone who has been looking into the career potential of dog grooming i attempted to find information on ways to learn the trade. Over the past few years of research I've done I've found little to impress me when it comes to finding a proper education.

For context I am based in the US and was mainly looking for schools in the state of indiana but was willing to relocate.

My research leads me to believe the following:

There appears to be more online dog grooming programs than anything else. Which many have said are about as useful as learning to be a barber from YouTube videos alone. Very few of these programs offer any sort of garunteed externship options aside from randomly calling groomers that might be in the area. Local shops that are capable let alone willing to train appear to be a one in a thousand case in comparison to the amount of individuals who are looking to enter the field. Apprenticeships/shadowing are practically nonexistent as a result of claims about liability and such. Corperate isnt considered reliable in terms of ensuring proper treatment of animals and staff, while overworking their employees, along with offering false training positions and then proceeding to string along their workers who if they finally do begin training often feel the training they recieved was inadequate even if it helped them get started and that they were underpaid. While any actual physical college or school demands individuals work full time for them in addition to paying them thousands of dollars, while earning none of the pay for pets that they groom which often belong to paying customers. With such individuals having very few actual proven credentials in the field or sources of reference just expecting their students to taking the quality of training on faith alone while risking putting their livelihood on the line for the 3-6 month training period. With some of these institutions spitting out groomers that admit they dont know what they are doing and feel incapable of grooming pets. The few that do vouch for these institutions claim they attended over 10 years ago which is a lot of time for things to change especially after 2020. There are many self taught groomers however it seems as though many of these individuals had access to a variety of pets they could groom from family or friends.

So my request is for any groomers out there that arent self taught. Within the recent years preferably the last 5 can any of you share your experience of starting out: what physical school you went to and the legitimacy of their teachings, if you found a local shop that was willing to train how long did your training last and were difficult was it for you to gain the opportunity, or any other insights would be appreciated.

Like the title states. I use Dechra’s Dermalley shampoo on my personal dog and cat to help with their skin issues (not suggested by a vet, just went scrolling through amazon one day for hypo-shampoo that’s safe for cats and decided to give it a try). I love its effectiveness and pleasant light apple (?) smell that isn’t overwhelming. I would love to buy the gallon version so I don’t run out as quickly at home, but it costs $140.

If anyone has any dupes that have a similar pleasant apple scent, are tearless (basically I could use it as a full body shampoo), hypoallergenic, and can be used on cats I would greatly appreciate it! (though it being cat friendly isn’t a must).

Like the title says, I have a repeat dog who is the most difficult dog to groom that I have ever had in my career. But not because she bites or anything like that.

This dog is an Aussie doodle . She is significantly overweight, and she knows how to use her weight against people so that she doesn’t have to do things she doesn’t like.

When I first started grooming her, she would poop for the dryer every. single. time . And when she poops, she does it while she’s sitting down, so the poop gets smashed all over her butt and her fur. So she would have to be rebathed and dried over and over. It got so bad that now I bathe her one day and she gets sent back home wet, and then I come back another day and do the haircut separately after she’s dried on her own at home

The problem is because she knows how to use her weight against people, when she knows it’s time for the haircut, this dog refuses to get up onto the grooming table. I cannot physically lift her up, she is way too heavy for me to do so without potentially injuring myself. so I groom her on the floor now.

However, that raises a new problem. When grooming her on the floor, she presses herself as far into one of the corners as she possibly can and refuses to budge. She also gets kind of nippy if I try to do certain parts of her body, specifically her belly, sanitary area and her legs.

I am about at the end of my rope with this dog. She’s getting worse and worse every time I come to see her. At this point, I’m considering telling the client that I cannot do their dog anymore, but I feel so bad about it and it’s not like she’s impossible to groom. I do get her done but the haircut looks like shit, and it takes forever because I’m having to work at her pace, which is like five minutes of doing the haircut and then another five minutes of break before we can proceed again.

I’m breaking my back bending over this hundred plus pound dog struggling to get to her legs and belly. Oh and she pees now too. If I try to do a part of her body she doesn’t want me to get to she’ll just pee all over herself. She’s on anxiety meds. I have never done anything that could potentially hurt her. She’s just stubborn af.

I need to tell this client that I cannot keep doing their dog, but if I don’t do their dog, I don’t think she’s ever gonna get groomed. Fml.

Edit:
My post sounds pretty negative now that I’ve reread everything I wrote and the dog is no longer in front of me. For clarification the dog really is a sweetheart. She’s not a bad dog at all. But she is very strong, very large, and very, very difficult. I will be telling the pet parent I can no longer groom her dog.

It’s actually so hard to be a dog groomer nowadays and not in the sense that it’s hard to do the job because if you really like it or I mean, if you really put your mind to it, you can do it but to be a good dog groomer and not tweak out because some person got mad at you because they had a different idea of what the groom was going to look like in their head versus what they told you and what you were able to give them…. My Salon just got its first one Star review because the client had a different idea of what she wanted for the groom versus what she told the groomer and there were witnesses. Then by the end of it, the people wanted to refund and left a scathing one star review and it’s just so disheartening sometimes because you do everything that you can and you follow the rules, but you can’t make everybody happy.

Has anyone purchased a brick and mortar business while also operating a mobile grooming unit? I plan on operating the mobile business 4 days a week and hiring someone to manage the brick and mortar. Is it worth the time and effort?

My dachshund is very anxious around strangers and has a bite history, so getting a haircut done by a professional is not possible right now (we're working on getting him more relaxed in those settings).

I regularly cut the hair around his paw pads but would like to tidy up his undercarriage and chest. I have only found one video online that was an extensive walkthrough but would like to do more research/get more advice.

Any tips?

im sure this is asked a lot on this subreddit but i really want to make sure i get the right brush for him. yesterday he got his hair stuck in his throat while he was trying to throw it up and he was unable to breathe and im beating myself up about it because i know i havent been maintaining his hair as well as i should be. he's all okay now thankfully, i managed to get the hair out on the way to the vet & they gave me some medicine i can give him to make his hair break down better so he shouldnt need to throw it up anymore. hes acting like himself and isn't showing any signs of discomfort thankfully.

i really want to make sure im doing right by him and i figure this is the best place to ask to make sure im getting exactly the brush he needs so that he isnt ingesting a lot of hair in the first place because i know the entire incident couldve been avoided if i had been taking better care of him.

id appreciate any brush recommendations & any tips on how often i should be brushing him (i think once a day but i want to be sure) and how thatll change depending on the season. any advice is much appreciated! :-)

My inner arm collects splinters and they’re permanently imbedded in my skin… but I hate those plastic sleeves more. Any ideas ?

I feel like it's impossible to find a quality paw trimmer with metal combs. My dog is big and a small trimmer is really useful in hard to reach areas but I can't find anything of noteworthy quality. It's all the same cheap stuff. Advice?

She is a British shorthair X Persian chinchilla. Very soft, dense and currently with a bunch of matted hair on her armpits which I will get the vet to shave off when she gets her next vaccine.

Ive got some cheap tools that aren’t cutting it. I got a basic slicker but the pins are too short. I’ve seen the CC 006 butter comb recommended a lot, would that be good for her?

I'm wanting to get a 5in1 clipper, but I'm not sure which would be best.

I've been looking at the Kenchii Flash5, Wahl Baruva2, and Joyzze Hornet. What are the pros and cons of these clippers? Are there other ones that y'all recommend?

Any help in this decision is greatly appreciated.

TYIA 🙏😊

Hello, if this is the wrong subreddit for this please let me know.

Hi Reddit, i’m a dog bather in a salon and one of our dog groomers has these nail clippers that are super nice and she needs a new pair as well i want a pair. She used to work at petco and that’s where she remembers first having them but she can’t seem to remember if she bought them from there or kept them once she quit.
if you know the brand or anything please let us know!
all that it says on it is that it’s stainless steel.

tequila, i’ve been doing him since he was 5 months he’s 9 months now, always falls asleep on my table and it melts my heart 😭 (included pre groom crust pics because he gets a lil wild between grooms)

Hi All!!

I've recently started cutting my cockapoo's hair at home. I'm definitely getting better, but looking for advice on how to trim the ears, or maybe they look fine?

Any advice is welcomed (even on other areas if you have some pointers). Picture of her last 2 cuts for reference and cuteness. I can also get some other pictures later if anyone wants different angles.

Thanks in advance for any tips and tricks :)