Does Grooming Suits You?

November 5, 2009 / Misc / 1 comment

If you really are up for earning some money and pay your bills here is one occupation which is more than suitable for that. Taking care of animals is more rentable these days than taking care of humans, not to mention children who live on the edge of the poverty. Some people give more money for styling up their dogs than someone earns during the year. Not that I say that people should stop loving their pets, but maybe they should start loving and people around them. But not to get into discussion about those things, I was up to show you what job is the best one for those who really love dogs or if I may say for those who like to earn money from those people who love dogs.

Our job of the day is groomer: That is the person who is bathing and hairdressing your dog, not to mention that he/she is also styling up your pet. And now the great question is how to become one? First of all you must consider a professional grooming school that can provide you with a foundation of skills needed to become a successful pet groomer. The next step is working as an assistant or trainee at an established grooming facility to obtain hands-on experience. This is a great way to learn proper grooming techniques and pet health habits. Decide what type of grooming you want to perform. General care, bathing and nail clipping will require little experience. On the other hand, if you want to work with show dogs or perform specialized hand scissoring work, you will need more time and dedication. And after you learn all you have to learn and get to know that animals love you will decide if you want to work as assistant or open your own pet grooming place. And after all that your day will look like this: An animal groomer spends a typical workday grooming many animals. The workday starts early in the morning during which time the groomer makes sure the grooming area is clean and all the supplies are in order.

The majority of the workday is spent shampooing the animals’ coats, washing inside the ears, cleaning the teeth thoroughly, trimming the coat neatly and as specified by the animal owner and making sure that the animal is fully groomed.

The groomer must also supply the animals with plenty of water and make them feel comfortable while they are under his care. The groomer has the responsibility to take care of the animals until the owners return.
If you think that this is an easy job than you should try it. I just find that it is a shame that that job is more and more performed by people not loving pets but loving money. I don’t know how do you feel about that, but my opinion is that if someone is loving the animal which he has as a pet than he wants to give the money to someone who cares for that animal, and not to someone who is just willing to take money from you. I am not sure that that amount of money is ok for paying to someone, not even for babysitting is played as much. Does that imply that pets are more loved than children?

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cass lambert

An article you may be interested in featuring about the challenges of being a groomer with a disability. Please feel free to contact me to publish it or for more information- an excerpt:

I have several medical illnesses that have required me to endure chemotherapy treatments and surgery many times in the last eight years. Many of them are auto immune related and all of them are incurable. The second last treatment for just one of my conditions caused me to gain over 90lbs in less than six months on my slim 120lb frame. The side effects of all these treatments can be more dangerous than the illnesses they seek to control causing weight loss, hair loss, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, heart and liver damage and even seizures that lasted 11 months and caused the loss of my drivers licence for over two years. Working is very important to me as it provides quality of life during a difficult time and of course I need the benefits for my expensive medications. My most recent treatment, which I had to stop in the last few months due to loss of benefits, caused the opposite problem which was to loose all that weight in only a few months. I am also more susceptible to colds, flu’s and other illness. Due to my bowel condition, even taking an antibiotic for one day risks my life and unfortunately causes me to miss work. My clients seem very patient however and simply reschedule. Many of them are persons with disabilities themselves so are very understanding.

At the end of the second most recent chemotherapy to control just one of my chronic illnesses my Specialist decided that to continue to try to treat one of my illnesses was simply too dangerous, and as a result I was referred to a Palliative Pain Specialist to control the debilitating pain this illness causes. This occurred with in a few months of me returning to work at a large pet store chain. Unfortunately my original position was not available and I was very interested in attending grooming academy so very thankful for this opportunity off I went! I was very surprised at how hard it was! See I have worked with many different species of animals and non animals throughout my entire life as a trainer. I have trained everything from hamsters to cows (and of course dogs!) as I study animal ethology or how animals learn as a lifelong hobby and am even working towards my BA.
Animal ethology is defined as being the scientific study of animal behaviour, especially as it occurs in a natural environment. I have always held a particular interest in aggression as a behavioural process rather than in a particular animal group and often study one type of behaviour in a number of unrelated species. I find understanding how animals think and learn crucial to being a successful and humane groomer. I also share my home with a number of pets including (current at the time of publication only) 5 cats, 3 dogs, a hamster, a rabbit, a tank of vicious fish (including Jack the homicidal Cichlid) and a horse.
See when I had watched groomers work in the pet store I used to work at, it always looked so easy to me, although it did not always look “fun”. I had no idea the hours and hours of studying required, both in the classroom and around the grooming table. Not only to make a pet look and feel great, but to do it as safely as possible for everyone involved. Dogs are sharp at five out of six sides after all! A bite from a cat can literally end your career.

The greatest challenge I face as a groomer with a permanent disability is coping with the daily and sometimes hourly changes of my condition. I have Severe Pelvic Nerve Neuropathy. How this was explained to me was that I had been in such severe pain for so long it caused severe, irreparable and incurable damage to the nerve endings in my pelvis. The bad news is there is no cure and my doctors are not even sure how to treat it and only know that it may end in my complete reliance on a wheelchair or worse with in a few years time. The worse news is it appears to be spreading and is affecting my ability to control my bladder and bowel function. I was on many medications for chemotherapy to control the severe and debilitating pain of this new incurable illness and have a very limited strict diet that I have to adhere to daily.