Raggy Rascals

14/01/2025

Last but not least are Sasha and Gus.
Sasha has a poorly leg so she us groomed on the floor on a Yoga mat and Gus is the biggest softie going.

14/01/2025

Having completed his Puppy Introduction to Grooming course Obi had his puppy groom today and he was a super star pup!

14/01/2025

Please take some time with a Cup of Tea or Coffee to listen to my Friend and Colleague Vanessa explain what Holistic Grooming is and why it can help so many dogs.

I had the pleasure of meeting Elyssa late last year to record a podcast in her series, "This Place Our Voices."

She assured me I didn't babble like a child, but I suspect she was just being polite! Well, here it is—it's dropped, and this is where you can find it.

🎧 Available on all major podcast platforms, or listen directly here:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../this-place.../id1771951024
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4DOn9UTIeuGLxVLoSHk8CK...
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/.../c2b6f3.../this-place-our-voices
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/show/1001288801
Podcast Index: https://podcastindex.org/podcast/7035710
Podcast Addict: https://podcastaddict.com/.../this-place-our-voices/5412023
Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/.../this-place-our-voices-5848968

14/01/2025

This is Marley and its his 1st Birthday today. Marley came for his Meet and Treat, all new customers to Raggy Rascals are booked for a Meet and Treat first. This enables me to meet you and your dog and enables the dog to become familiar with my grooming space.
Marley was very happy and is now going to complete a re introduction to grooming course after a negative past grooming experience.
I know he is going to be great after seeing his interactions at his Meet and Treat.

14/01/2025

14/01/2025

Consent based grooming enables me to get to know your dog, their character, welfare needs, emotional needs and physical needs, grooming is adapted to each dog I see...
But this also means I get very attached to your beloved pets because working this way and seeing them every 6 to 8 weeks enables me to teach them to trust me and that my space is a safe space, so when you loose your beloved pet I also feel the grief.
RIP Jake you amazing little dog, you will be grately missed by everyone that loved you but you had a very long happy life.
(Jake had just had his bath and is wrapped in a warm towel, his owner was present and assisted Jake and reassured him while he was groomed. Jake is happy to lay on the table and is held in his owners arms to be groomed because of his ailments)

08/01/2025

This gorgeous boy is Hank, he has been coming to me now for about 12 months, in that time he has went from being scared of the clippers and the dryer to this! He runs in the door and hops onto the table. Hanks owners are very supportive and have worked hard at home and he is always accompanied by one of his owners for his groom, this makes him feel more safe. As you see the table is lowered so hank can leave if he wants to have a break. Consent based grooming and positive re inforcement.

08/01/2025

Guess where my logo came from!
The original Raggy Rascal! Harvey

07/01/2025

Milo's second Session of his Puppy Introduction to Grooming course. We worked on desensitisation with the small hand dryer and Scissors as well as introducing nail clipping. Positive re inforcement and training games are used to ensure puppy's have the most Positive experience.

07/01/2025

Please spare 5 mins to read this written by my amazing friend and colleague.

For fear of showing my age, the world has changed dramatically since I was a child. No more waiting for mum to get off the phone before I can use the internet, I can order literally anything online and nine times out of ten have it delivered to me the next day (if not the same day) - even McDonald’s can be brought to me at the click of a button.

Holiday photos are no longer printed off and put in albums to share with friends and family. There’s no eager anticipation for the film to be developed to find out if you got the shot. Instead almost all the holiday photos are staged and retaken several times to make sure it’s just right. And god forbid it’s still not perfect we can always apply a filter right?

Gone are the days of saving for that special purchase. If we want it, we get it right now - that’s what instant decision credit cards are for right?

People don’t want to wait for anything anymore. They don’t want to work too hard or spend too much but they still require perfection. Our houses must look like clinical show homes at all times without a thing out of place or else we must be lazy, unorganised or dare I say it “a failure”.

Whilst there are absolutely some benefits to the world of today, such as a raised awareness of mental health in humans and environmental impacts I worry that for so many, life has just become some kind of show reel.

We are becoming more and more detached from society, choosing to be with our online family over our own. Prioritising how something looks rather than the way it makes you feel and the thought that goes into it.

The dog grooming world has increased dramatically in recent years. Not because children aspire to be groomers, but more because people see it as a quick and easy money maker. Dogs are used as a canvas to showcase artistic talent and those that aren’t co-operative are cast aside or deemed as “spicy” or “naughty” dogs.

Dogs are thousands of years behind us in terms of evolution. They are still very much instinctual and have very little knowledge or want for our fast paced, no less than perfect way of living.

A groomer who chooses to break a groom down, send a dog home unfinished or with only one leg groomed is villainised and made to feel as though they’re no good at their job. They are called “snowflakes” and ridiculed for putting a dog’s emotional feelings before their physical.

They’re faced with a choice - charge highly to allow a slower paced, one to one environment but be called a rip off or extortionate. Price low but then feel pressured to get the job done and the dogs in and out the door as quickly as possible to earn their daily quota.

Or the other option is to charge highly and have several groomers working at the same time, offering “upgrades” that appeal only to humans but have no real benefit for the dog.

I have to fight every day to prove I’m worthy of investment, simply because I don’t want to restrain a dog or force them through long grooming sessions.

I invest thousands in training and equipment. I stay up to date with scientific advances in both behaviour and animal care. But I can’t offer you a guaranteed end product - something today’s world just doesn’t find acceptable.

So the question remains… can you stick to your ethics and values and have a successful business or do you have to adapt to the ever changing world and offer what the client wants no matter the cost?

05/01/2025

Puppies!
In the next few weeks I will be explaining why a Puppy Introduction to grooming course is so important.
How cute are these two please!

02/01/2025

I can't wait to attend these awards and support my HGA friends who have made the finals!! Such an amazing achievement for them and the HGA.

17/12/2024

Just a polite reminder that I am closed from Saturday 21st at 1pm and not open again until the 2nd of Jan.
Any messages or emails will be answered on my return from a well earned break.
I also intend to have complete rest from Social media.
Thanks for your support, have a lovely Christmas.

17/12/2024

The reality of consent based grooming

There’s a real lack of consent based groomers, and the ones who do take the leap often end up giving up soon after.

But why is this? What stops more groomers working this way?

Firstly, there’s the cost involved. Regardless of the methods you use, being a groomer is expensive. Training, equipment, rent, products, treats - the list goes on and on.

Pricing. This is a big one. Consent based groomers, especially those who choose to take on behavioural cases can only groom so many dogs in a day. It’s not just the time the dog is in the salon but the work behind the scenes too. Writing reports, researching ways to help each individual dog, networking with other professionals. It has to be financially viable and so they’re often more expensive than a traditional salon in order to make ends meet.

Hand in hand with pricing is timings. We have no idea how long it will take a dog to be comfortable being groomed, we can give a rough estimate based on previous experience but each dog is individual and it wouldn’t be fair to put a set time line in place. Because of this, it can be hard to plan financially and logistically. You may end up with hectic periods followed by very quiet ones.

Expectations. The grooming industry has been around for hundreds of years and the expectation has always been that you took your dog to a groomer who would bath, dry and style their coat ready for you to collect. What consent based groomers are trying to do is put more of a focus on the dogs emotional welfare as well as physical. For that reason, they can’t always guarantee a “finished” groom. Whilst some guardians are completely on board with this, many are still stuck in the mindset that the dog should just accept what’s happening and the groomer simply needs to get on with it. It’s often this reason that guardians don’t want to pay the more expensive prices as they don’t quite understand what the end goal is.

Awareness - on the other hand, for majority of guardians they simply have no idea that this is an option for their dog. Due to the lack of consent based groomers, most guardians whose dogs are struggling being groomed will reach out to a behaviourist, which although is definitely the right approach, a lot of behaviourists don’t know what happens in a grooming salon so it can be hard for them to support - especially if the groomer is unwilling to follow the training plan that’s been put in place!

It takes its toll on your body even more so than traditional grooming, and so unless you’re willing to offer training and education it’s unlikely to be a long term career. You can of course prolong the duration by taking regular breaks, investing in a good physio and doing core strength exercises such as yoga or Pilates.

The heartbreaking thing is, some of the most incredible and passionate consent based groomers have hung up their scissors for one if not all of the above reasons.

It’s not an easy profession, it’s often met with negative comments that we simply don’t know how to manage dogs or that we’re just inexperienced. You have to be mentally strong as well as physically.

And yet, there are some of us still desperately fighting to be heard. Why? Because the reward of earning a dog’s trust and knowing you are putting their needs above all else is second to none.

I am proud to be a consent based groomer, and although yes it is extremely challenging and there’s been many a time I’ve considered walking away, I’m here to stay, for as long as I’m needed.

If you are interested in becoming a consent based groomer, even in just a small way to begin with then please don’t hesitate to get in touch and I will do my very best to support you ❤️🐾

17/12/2024

Pleased to announce our raffle winners from Saturday are
120 - katie
5 - Mark
55 - Kelly

I will be in touch today to arrange how to collect your prize.

Thanks you to everyone who bought a ticket for little smudge.

15/12/2024

Last chance to buy some raffle tickets before I draw this on Monday 16th.
£1 a strip and 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes are amazing.
Thank you to all of you who donated prizes.
Comment if you wouldnlike to be in with a chance to win.

15/12/2024

14/12/2024

Eeek!!

Join us tomorrow 10am- 2pm
For the
Doggy Christmas Extravaganza Fair

FREE ENTRY
Here at Marsden Road Community Centre