Fluff That - Grooming by Aleesia

04/10/2024

My fluffin' schedule is closed for the spring! No more April appointments will be booked. Standing appointments for May will be confirmed roughly two weeks before the appointment date.

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04/01/2024

We're Fluffed! No Foolin'!

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03/28/2024

Westward, Fluffy Friend!

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03/12/2024

All fluffed and ready to head back into the rain! ☔👌

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03/07/2024

I fluffed that too!

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03/02/2024

TGIF!

Thank God I'm Fluffy!
.. With a bonus peeper!

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grooming

02/29/2024

Happy Humpday!

Sog got you down?

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grooming

02/21/2024

🌞🌞🌞🌞 Summer Schedule Alert!!! 🌞🌞🌞🌞
Dear Fluffy Friends,
The summer schedule will be developed over the next couple of weeks!

Due to personal commitments, I will unfortunately have variations in my schedule from April to July this year. This may see additional days off or shortened days.

I am 100% committed to fitting all of your appointments in, but will appreciate your flexibility in possibly booking secondary preferred days, or bumping appointments up or down a week from their typical timing.

Please submit any preferred dates due to vacations or otherwise as soon as possible!

❤️Your friendly neighbourhood groomer 💙
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grooming

10/24/2023

Good evening Fluffy Friends-

Do you want to hear a Super SpooOoky Halloween story?

Here it is:

Christmas booking is here. 😂It's overdue, actually. All regular clients (regular meaning you have ongoing appointments booked every 2-6 weeks) will have space accounted for them. HOWEVER, if you have any specific dates, times, dinners, photos with Santa, kids' pageants, or holidays to plan your groom around, PLEASE message me asap to get your requests in!

Happy Ho Ho Halloweening,
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Dog Groomer

07/15/2023

Hi Fluffy Friends! Do you ever wonder what I'm doing when I'm not grooming? Well, I don't wander too far off course.

You may have already met my team partner, PB. She is eyeless, but also the only dog of her breed with a Trick Grand Championship & the only dog of her breed with a Rally Obedience Master Championship. This is her normal.

In two weeks, "Blind, Deaf & Amazing", our first-of-its-kind seminar summit launches. This is a seven part event, beginning July 28th, all about living with, training, competing, and thriving with deaf and blind dogs.

We will discuss many topics of training & communicating with blind dogs, and will offer a Live Q&A to answer all of your blind-dog specific concerns.

Please share with any of your friends with Blind or Deaf dogs that we can help! Drop your questions below.

https://www.dogtalentassociation.com/blinddeafdogs
July 28th - Deaf, blind and Amazing! Intro
July 30th - Training a deaf dog
July 31st - Competing with a deaf dog
August 6th - Competing & Thriving Blind
August 7th - The Endless Possibilities of Deaf & Blind
Sept 11th - Living with deaf and blind dogs
Sept 23rd - Practical case studies

07/13/2023

Hi Fluffy Friends! Do you ever wonder what I'm doing when I'm not grooming? Well, I don't wander too far off course.

In two weeks, "Blind, Deaf & Amazing", our first-of-its-kind seminar summit launches. If you know anyone with a blind and/or deaf dog, please share!

This is a seven part event, beginning July 28th, all about living with, training, competing, and thriving with deaf and blind dogs.

You may have already met my team partner, PB. She is eyeless, but also the only dog of her breed with a Trick Grand Championship & the only dog of her breed with a Rally Obedience Master Championship. This is her normal.

We will discuss many topics of training & communicating with blind dogs, and will offer a Live Q&A to answer all of your blind-dog specific concerns.

Link & dates in comments, drop your questions below.
Will you join us?

03/31/2023

Need a little pood in your life?

03/08/2023

Your small businesspeople cater to you! We can only work if there's work to do! Remember to be as considerate as possible when moving appointments for non-emergency reasons.

Seen this on pro groomer network.. things to think about. Great visual..

02/25/2023

Hi Fluffy Friends!
With another cold snapcheaded our way, we'd like to remind everyone that short hair is better at keeping a dog warm than matted or unbrushed curly hair. Mats and curls create gaps in the coat, and trap moisture close to the skin, making the dog feel cold! If you are maintaining a fluffy coat over winter, be sure to brush, brush, brush, brush, or your pup would actually be more comfortable clipped short!

02/22/2023

Oh Poodle, My Poodle!

02/20/2023

Continuing to take over the world, one Coton at a time.

01/25/2023

Let's talk about puppies! This is my oldest resident, Mo, as a puppy! Isn't he the cutest? He turned six today, and was about 16 wks old in this picture. In groomer units - about three professional grooms old.

But let's talk about a different sweet little puppy that I saw for the first time last week. ("Hold on!" You say. "That's not fair, I was told your waitlist was full!" I assure you that you don't want to be the subject of this story.)

Last week, I was referred an adorable nine-month-old puppy for a sedated groom. Yes, you read that right. The puppy's mats had limited the range of motion in her rear legs and neck, (her head, and ear, and neck were all attached together by one mat). And while the mats had not yet caused tearing of the skin, there was definite stretching and scarring. This was on a nine-month-old puppy, who will have these scars for the rest of her life. One ear was matted shut. Additionally, because she hadn't had any professional grooming or training experience, she was terrified, and had no idea how to safely behave for this possibility painful procedure.

This is absolutely the normal sequence of events that occurs when a fluffy-coated breed is not properly attended to for a few months. The puppy's age, and the combination of layers on her mixed-breed coat likely contributed, but just four or five months of incorrect care can do this. Note, that I say "correctly cared for", not "uncared for" , because well-intended owners using the wrong kind of tools every day can also end up in a similar predicament.

Grooming a small dog costs roughly $80 per month (double+ for bigger dogs) , and might take you up to a half hour per day to comb out (double+ for bigger dogs). There are also lifestyle sacrifices, such as blow drying required after getting wet, and some types of grass being absolutely not okay to romp in. And while not *all* puppies require the skill set of being groomed, fluffy puppies do, and training starts with the breeder, but continues at 10 weeks with the owner and responsible groomer. If that time and money investments sounds unnecessary for your lifestyle, that's fair and true! And there are a lot of absolutely wonderful short haired or low maintenance light coated dogs who never need to stand still for a 60-90 minute groom. These dogs cost hundreds less per annum to maintain. In this way, grooming is an optional part of owning a dog.

But once you've chosen your fluffy breed puppy, regular grooming is not optional. Grooming every 2-8 weeks on your coated dog is not a recommendation. It is a requirement. Delaying, or not committing to, groom-training a young puppy because he doesn't like it, or because he is difficult for it, or because it's time consuming is not an option. Waiting four months to "grow it out" between grooms isn't an option. Not addressing tangles, or repeatedly allowing a dog to develop tangles because of how you, the human, like it to look is cruelty. That's right, I said it.

Sure, it's "just hair", but improperly caring for "just hair" has real lasting implications for the dog including but not limited to: scarring and tearing of the skin, limitations to range of motion, mildew growth, circulatory issues, concealment of parasites and dangerous foreign bodies, and pain. Try me- in 16 years, I've seen a lot of things matted into dogs including thorns, staples, and tapeworms.

After explaining all of this to the owner of the poor puppy described above, while full of remorse, was sadly, also surprised. In an ideal world, they would not have been surprised. Unfortunately there are a lot "breeders" getting our prospective puppy owners excited about hypewords like "non-shedding", "fleece", "rare", "hypo-allergenic", and not describing the reality that a fluffy coat is a commitment of time and energy, and is overall truly, a tick in the "con" column in more ways than one. I say this as lovingly as possible, as someone who makes a living on fluffy dogs and also has a homelife committed to a fluffy breed. 🐑🐑🐑 The reality is that having a fluffy dog is a lifestyle. And if the upkeep doesn't suit your lifestyle, then the dog doesn't suit your lifestyle. Unfortunately, with the field being a mix of responsible breeders looking out for their breeds, and eager sellers who glaze over the finer details, our puppy buyers just don't know where to start or who to trust.

The happy ending is that my new little friend was successfully, and safely clipped off without the use of sedation, using a combination of controlled breathing, my shortest body blade, and some surgical blades. Loss of/damage to portions of her ears was a concern, but was thankfully avoided. She does have skin damage, which will hopefully be covered up when her hair grows on. We will see her again next month.

We love fluff because it's cute, but cute has costs. And it's our human choice to keep a fluffy dog, so it should cost *us* in time, energy and cost, but it should never cost your puppy in pain, discomfort, or other injuries. Mats aren't "just mats". Tell your friends.

12/24/2022

And that's a wrap! My last Christmas groom is done, and I will return to the grooming table on December 29th!

Drop a message if we still need to book a makeup groom that we missed for weather. Happy Holidays and Stay Warm!

12/17/2022

Did you ask Santa for Oodles of Poodles for Christmas?

12/09/2022

All I want for Christmas is... Forgiveness? 😬

12/06/2022

My receptionist this weekend wasn't quite meeting my efficiency standard, but somehow, none of my clients complained. 🤔

12/03/2022

All I want for Christmas is another Coton...

12/03/2022

Christmas mode activated!

11/24/2022

I asked Santa for a tiny friend for Christmas. 😂🤩

11/14/2022

The end of the year is fast approaching, and I've employed my entire crew to help me with my final schedule adjustments. I've sent out ALL confirmations for December appointments, and my phone is blowing up with requests for final amendments! A tiny amount of wiggle room remains to change dates and times. Unfortunately, only PB has been awake to help, and she can't even see the calendar! Please respond to your confirmations by the end of this week, as my December list is on a count down to closing!

Happy planning!

10/29/2022

Nerd facts with your groomer! I have 28 grooms booked for this week- 12 of them are Coton de Tuléar, four are cats, three are Bichons, three are toy or miniature poodles, and the rest are everyone else. 😅

Every day is Coton day!

10/28/2022

Silly Linguistics magazine: A magazine for language lovers everywhere https://bit.ly/3CTPDaD

10/19/2022

I'll take a dozen.

10/17/2022

Poodle me this.