Thedustydog

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About Us

I’ve worked as a secondary school PE teacher for 10 years in Gloucestershire, then as a Principal Lecturer delivering teacher training at the University of Gloucestershire for 18 years before seizing an opportunity to pursue a career that supports my love of dogs (and cats – we have an 18-year-old cat too!).

Whilst on holiday in Greece 10 years ago I went to a charity fund raising event called ‘Scrufts’ where I saw Ollie (who was then Dusty) being carried into the Taverna as he was too frightened to walk in on his own. He turned to look at me and I realised he had damage to his face, resulting in only one eye. For some reason we connected, and I ended up adopting Ollie… to return 9 months later to pick him up and fly him into Gatwick airport. His hair was long and dirty. We bathed him and, after having his eye removed properly by the vet, had him groomed and he looked like a different dog. Ollie was my first dog as I’d always had cats. I think then my interest in how a groom can make a dog look and feel so different began. We took Ollie to Rose – dogs by design (no longer opened as she has retired from grooming but she has also kindly helped me on the journey to opening my own salon) as Ollie needed a quiet individual groom as he was very introverted, so Rose was just right for him!

As time went on, we thought Ollie might like a friend to keep him company, and after several years of looking we stumbled upon another Greek rescue called Healing Paws. Scrolling back through their page I found Skye, a tiny pup who also had a lot of damage to her face – she was found with her siblings in an olive grove. After much deliberation we took the plunge and adopted her. That was April 2018. She was 6 months old. Her and Ollie are very different both with special needs because they are nervous, so when an opportunity arose to make a career change we decided I would take on the challenge to re train as a dog groomer which would enable me to follow my dream of working with dogs and also to work from home and spend more time with the dogs – particularly as Ollie is getting older!

With the support, knowledge and expertise of Ollie’s ex and current groomers (Rose from Dogs by Design who has now retired) and Jo from The Dog Cabin in Churchdown I started to explore the skills and business of dog grooming. Through my teaching contacts I found Victoria Clasper who owns All About Dogs in Newent (Vicki is also a trained PE teacher) and she kindly offered to train me professionally prior to starting my grooming qualifications. Working with Vicki has been fantastic and given me the hands-on experience that I couldn’t get by just going to college. Working together has been such a success that Vicki and I have decided to continue to work together to support each other in both salons.

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