Julia The Groomer

03/03/2025

What a spectacular winter season!! How lucky are we to experience the full spectrum of seasons this planet has to offer??

I’m in constant awe of this place we call home 😍🥰

02/11/2025

Did you know that non-veterinary pet care professionals in Canada are NOT regulated?

Your dog groomer, dog walker, doggy daycare, dog trainer etc are not required to have any education, training or qualifications to work in pet care.

Folks who have been criminally charged with animal abuse, folks without any insurance, folks without any pet first aid, behaviour or physiology education, are walking training grooming your pets - because there is absolutely no one checking in on them

Facilities have no safety requirements - you could easily be leaving your pets at a facility with no trained staff, no insurance, no fire sprinkler systems etc. There are no safety or cleanliness standards for facilities

Thankfully, the city of Toronto is reviewing this deficiency, which could lead to some form of regulation that the industry desperately needs

Tomorrow, the city is holding a meeting to discuss, and you can participate! Register at the link below to listen in and even contribute if you have anything to say

Can’t make it to the meeting? That’s okay - they’ve made a survey to collect your thoughts and concerns! You’ll find it under ‘how to participate’ in the link below!

Let’s stand up for our beloved pets who don’t get to tell us what they experienced when we pick them up. Let’s take all of the footage of abuse that we see online seriously, and take action. Let’s stop this industry from being the wild-wild-west, with regulation!

The City of Toronto is reviewing the business licensing and zoning rules for pet establishments that work with and/or keep live animals on their premises. This could include businesses that offer grooming, training, daycare, or the overnight boarding of animals. Reviewing these rules will help estab...

12/12/2024

How cute are these new Groomer Humour button badges!!! 💜

12/11/2024

I know what you need because I’ve been there. After over a decade of grooming, I’ve gone off the rails and become a full-time marketer, and I’m here to help YOU market your business with better branding!

Stand out online and in your neighborhood with a variety of customizable branding and marketing services at affordable rates

You can check out my work at www.giuliabotanica.ca or on Instagram .and.marketing

12/11/2024

I know what you need because I’ve been there. After over a decade of grooming, I’ve gone off the rails and become a full-time marketer, and I’m here to help YOU market your business with better branding!

Stand out online and in your neighborhood with a variety of customizable branding and marketing services at affordable rates.

You can check out my work at www.giuliabotanica.ca or on Instagram .and.marketing

12/11/2024

Oh cr*p! 😳

11/21/2024

08/22/2024

✨ What to look for in a groomer! ✨ Please help me in my mission to raise the standards of pet care, by SHARING this post!

👏🏻 When pet owners know better, pet owners will demand better 👏🏻

It’s a pet care professional’s responsibility to educate, certify and insure themselves. The industry is unregulated and there is no one policing or watching groomers, and there are no requirements to enter a career in pet walking, boarding, daycare, training or grooming.

It is a pet owner’s responsibility to vet their pet’s care professionals, follow their advice, and stay on a humane grooming schedule so their dog is accustomed to the groomer, accustomed to the process, and does not develop any matting that can cause discomfort, pain and even injury.

Your groomer should be an expert on canine hair styles and techniques, but we know that humane and qualified handling, safe products and a clean environment are of more relevance than the hair style or styling techniques.

Please choose a groomer who is qualified and compassionate, over a groomer who delivers fabulous hair cuts but has no education in canine behaviour or handling.

You may have to commute far when you find the right groomer for you, and that’s ok. You chose a dog that needs hair cuts, and this is what that looks like. Monthly trips to a great groomer!

Know that being educated, and working with dogs from an up-to-date-scientific approach, is new age in the pet care industry. In the pet grooming industry, continuing education is more often limited to hair cut style and technique, with little to no emphasis on health, handling, cognition and behaviour.

Fortunately there are so many online and in-person courses, seminars, and certifications accessible to pet care professionals including groomers, so finding a groomer who is qualified and continues to engage in education is difficult but not impossible!

Everyone’s views of what humane treatment of an animal is, exist on a sliding scale - find pet care professionals who’s approach to working with your pets aligns with how you feel animals should be treated 🫶🏼

11/16/2023

Good morning from this great lookin fella!

10/31/2023

I haven’t posted in awhile and this seems like the perfect post to break a long streak!

Please do not email me casually saying that no one else will groom your dog because ‘they say he needs to be shaved with a 50 blade and it’s not safe’, and ask me what I’d charge

I am of the unpopular opinion that sugar coating reality does a disservice to the dogs we pledge to prioritize

I don’t hesitate to use language like ‘severe’, ‘unsanitary’, ‘inhumane’ and ‘neglect’, because these clients are adults who made irresponsible choices

How many times is a customer told they need to get their pet groomed more often, before the situation shifts from ‘they just don’t know better’ to ‘they’re not choosing better’?

Always criticized for prioritizing the dogs and not holding back in being honest with clients…this is my caring face 😚

10/12/2023

Two weeks ago, we suddenly lost our sweet and salty boy, Greazy (aka Sucky Boy aka Bad Boy aka Little Bastardo)

Our home lost a big personality. I lost my little man

I’ve finally started to shift from anger to acceptance, and am able to look back over our lives together with gratitude and love

I never wanted cats, and here I am all f*cked up over a cat 😅🥹

10/11/2023

ISO one, just ONE way that de-matting a dog, benefits *the dog*…

*crickets*

So, why ya doin’ it?