Groominators Pet Salon

02/17/2025

We are without power due to the high winds. I thought I would take this time to tell you a little about my grooming career and how it got started.

In summer of 2011, started a job at private mom & pop grooming salon as a bather. That is where I truly learned how to properly bath a dog as well as nails, ear and brushing. The owner had gone to a well known grooming academy in New York many moons ago.

The following year I moved and the drive was too long to keep my bather position. I started a job as a bather at Petsmart. In my interview I said, “I am not interested in becoming a groomer. I am in college through Penn Foster College for a Vet Technician.” About 4 weeks later the manager comes to me and says, “We have a grooming academy starting in 2 weeks. Are you interested”? I said, “sure, why not”.

I worked there as a certified groomer from Jan. 2013 to Oct. 2015. I learned a lot and still have friends from there today. I am not going to lie. I was done and burnt out. I went to work for my dad with his race horses for a few months and did a few internships as a vet assistant.

A little back story. I grew up all around horses. I have a few family members that show horses or race horses. I was going to be a horse trainer, I had no doubt about it. Well… I don’t care for being on the road a lot or being away from home for long periods of time or teaching lessons late at night. As an adult it wasn’t the lifestyle I was looking for. I was working at a horse breeding farm before I took the job as bather. I was just looking for something different and wasn’t really sure what that different was yet.

I really enjoyed the internships I experienced. However, for whatever reason I enjoyed grooming more and unfortunately never finished my vet tech degree.

In spring of 2016 I started part time as a groomer in a doggy daycare. Within 6 months I was full time. Best decision I ever made! At this point the only grooming experience I had was through Petsmart. We were never encouraged to take continuing education classes. This business did and I learned so much. It made me into a groomer that I didn’t know I could be. I was introduced to one-on-one grooming and mobile grooming. I was able to use be best products and equipment on the market. As well as trying new techniques for a haircut, a behavioral issue and we strived for a quiet environment. I am still friends with them to this day.

As life happens things change. My husband and I lived in Lancaster. The area was becoming more congested and wasn’t where we were looking to stay. Especially now that we had a 1 year old. In Nov. of 2021 we moved to Shippensburg.

My mom, Gayle was also a groomer at this time. She had grooming in this area for almost 10 years. We opened the salon in October of 2021. She has retire as of 2023 but you might sometimes see her and daughter running around.

Today I continue my education as much as I can every year. We truly love our little grooming salon and could not be more thankful for our wonderful clients that have trusted us. 🐾❤️

02/13/2025

When a hair cut makes you look skinny again. 😆🐾

02/11/2025

If you saw my post from last week about continuing education, this post will kind of piggy back off of that post.

Here is a topic that can sometimes be controversial; EAR PLUCKING.

To clarify, ear plucking is the process of removing hair from the inside of ear.

Often times if you ask a groomer, veterinarian or a breeder you will get 3 different answers. I will explain what I do with each dog and how I got here.

In my early grooming days as a bather (2011) there was this white powdered we would put into the ear. This gave us grip on the hair, then we would proceed to pull out every hair in the dogs ear. If our fingers didn’t work we would use tweezers. Then clean the ear after pulling hair out.

My corporate days was the same teaching. However over time I stopped using the white powdered. I found it drying to the ear and skin. At times I felt like I couldn’t get all the powder removed from the ear. You never really knew how far down the powdered had gotten into the ear. For years I continued to pull out all the hair ears.

As time went on I kind of just stopped pulling hair out of ears. It did not seem beneficial to me. The dogs hated it. Many still had bad reoccurring ear infections. Especially in poodles and doodles.

At a class at Hershey expo,
quite a few years ago, a veterinarian said that pulling hair out of the ears was doing more harm than good. Hair is meant to be in the ears for protection. Forcibly pulling out the hair was exposing and open poor in the skin. Now that ear was easily open for infection. Among other issues, such as itchy or dry, flaky ears.

For today in my everyday grooming I do pull hair out of the ear that wants to come out using only my fingers. Once a strand of hair is full of wax, it will easily pull out of the ear, causing the dog no pain. In some dogs, I will use a small comb to make sure all the hair is straightened in the ear. I will then cut any long hairs to the base of the ear canal. This leaves a nice clean look and feel to the dog. Finishing with an ear cleaner to make sure the ear is clean on the inside.

Let me know if you have any more questions about ears or ear concerns. 🐾🐶


02/05/2025

I know I have mentioned this in the past but a reminder never hurts. The grooming industry is currently an unregulated industry. I feel with time a form of regulation will come but one never knows when that will be formed. There has been talk about it since I became a bather in 2011 and a groomer in 2013 thru Petsmart. Some states such as CA, AZ & CO do have some regulations.

I get asked occasionally: If you have been grooming for so long why do you still go to expo’s and take classes? If your schedule is busy why take additional educational classes?

I will tell you, I am not the same groomer I was at Petsmart that I am now! I left the corporate environment in 2015 because I didn’t care for how they ran the salon. I knew there was better way for me anyway. That is when I really started digging into additional education. From that education over the years my grooms have changed, I understand skin & coat in a more in depth way, sanitation practices and many more. 

I truly believe this is an industry where you never stop learning. Sometimes that is listening to podcasts or watching webinars. Technology can be amazing for that purpose. My favorite is grooming expo in Hershey for sure.

Many of my certifications are hanging in the salon that my babysitter’s husband did an awesome job making. I didn’t get most current ones framed yet. Not all classes have a certificate, actually most do not especially if they are only an hour class for example.

I often wonder. What does a client or dog owner want to see from their groomer? Let me know if you have any thoughts. 🐶✂️

01/24/2025

A quick reminder of a few a foods that are not pet friendly. 🐾

01/16/2025

01/14/2025

I have an opening for this Thursday, Jan. 16 at 9:00am if anyone is interested!

**Call or text**

12/02/2024

Happy Monday! I have had a few recently dealing with dry skin, ye**ty ears, hot spots and recurring skin folds. Unfortunately the only way to get ahead of these issues is consistency. Here a few products that I have recommended and work well.

This is not an ad and I do not receive a commission.

11/22/2024

From start to finish. 🐾🧼✂️

11/16/2024

A few pups from this week.🐾❤️

11/08/2024

Doodle Day!🐾❤️

Doodles are one of my favorites!😀

10/29/2024

You can drop off any time (please call or text before hand) or at your next appointment.🐾

10/28/2024

The more you know!🐾

10/28/2024

It sure was a week of Doodles!🐾❤️

10/22/2024

Monday dogs.🐾