10/21/2023
This is a long post but one that we felt was necessary after some recent issues.
Just a reminder. WE ARE BOOKED SOLID. If you miss your appointment, I'm not being petty, or being mad at you, when I tell you I have nothing until late December of January. Brianna and I are at capacity. We start at 8am and usually don't get done until 4 when she has to leave, and sometimes 5pm. We don't sit around, we dont get a chance to take a break or to even stop to eat something. We barely get a chance to use the bathroom.
I love my clients and appreciate every one of you, but there are some basic guidelines that we ask of you as Brianna and I each have family lives and responsibilities outside of the shop.
Please be respectful of the following:
1. I open at 8:30am on Tuesday as I have to drive from Duluth, weather can impact this. I open at 8am Wednesday and Thursday. While I may be there early, I don't open until those times unless I have discussed it with you previously. Brianna is there most Mondays doing assigned dogs, doing laundry, and deep cleaning.
2. I have 3 drop off times 8(8:30 on tues), 9 and 10am. You are more than welcome to drop off earlier than your slot but that doesn't mean your dog will be done sooner. I may not be able to get to your dog until it's appointed time, it depends on the schedule and types of dogs we have that day.
3. We would love to have everyone's dogs done by noon or 1pm, BUT that is not physically possible when we are doing 13 dogs a day. Some clients may not be done until 5pm. If you feel i should be doing every individual dog start to finish, then some will be here until 9pm so let's not go there! We do the dogs in 3 stages, hence the 3 drop off times.
YOUR DOG WILL RARELY BE ABLE TO BE DONE IN 2 HOURS.
4. If you have a dog that has a more elaborate trim, a ton of hair, or a large dog, they take longer to dry and finish.
5. If you bring in a matted dog, I will give you one warning and explain how to maintain the coat properly. I will demat the dog, unless it is extreme, but be aware it will cost significantly more. If it comes in severely matted again, I will shave it. This does not pertain to minor tangles.
6. Having lots of hair is a privilege, not a right, that requires home maintenance. If you dont want to do the maintenance, then I am more than happy to work with you to develop a trim that will make it the number of weeks between grooming. Do you have your dog shaved? Still some maintenance. Please brush its ears, beard, and tail regularly.
7. Dematting is extremely painful for both your dog and myself. I have had sessions where my hands are numb, my back is killing me, and my arms are dead. The dogs can be screaming and even trying to bite because it hurts. And this all has to be done before we can even bathe them. I want your dog to tolerate being groomed, not hate it, or me, because all I do is demat it.
8. Many don't understand I had a full schedule of existing clients when I added in Tim's to my schedule. My previous clients can not always be the ones that get done last in the day because previously you may have been used to being done by noon. I try to work with everyone on a pick up time, but with the numbers we are doing, I would rather call you when they are done than give you a time I couldn't possibly have the dog done by.
9. PLEASE DONT COME IN BEFORE YOUR DETERMINED TIME OR I CALL YOU. Unless I call you, I can guarantee that your dog is not done. Coming in before I call you, or the pre-determined time, makes it exponentially more difficult to finish your dog and makes it more dangerous as well. We are using extremely sharp tools around your dogs head and body. Them knowing you are there distracts them, and everyone else, and makes them a moving target on our table, and ends up taking extra time to calm them back down to then finish them.
10. I work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in Virginia. I will return calls at the end of each of those days if you call the shop. I do also work Monday, Friday, and Saturday in Duluth, or am off on weekends(and sometimes whole weeks) at dog shows as a professional handler. I do not take my books to the shows so will not answer calls or texts pertaining to the shop until I am home on Monday. Just because I have given you my cell number doesn't mean I will respond after hours or on weekends. Yes, I have had people contact me at 10pm on a Sunday. If you call, leave a message. If you text and i dont respond right away, i'm not mad or ignoring you, i am busy with the other part of my life. You can try again on a Tuesday, Wed, or thursday.
11. If at all possible, please make your next appointment before you leave. Calling me in 6 weeks to get back in is not possible. If you are a snow bird, please contact me 2 months before you are heading back to make sure I can get you in the schedule.
12. Occasionally I will have to reschedule appointments based on one of my girls due dates. Unfortunately this is unavoidable, but usually I have 2 months notice.
13. I will always tell you the truth about your dog, good or bad. It is to help us have a better relationship with your dog, and make its grooming experience more pleasant.
Brianna is being trained as a groomer, not just a bather and dryer. As she becomes more proficient at certain types of dogs, I will have some of you schedule with her moving forward. She likes the big dogs! This will help alleviate some of the time schedule. She is fantastic at what she is doing and is an extremely fast learner.
She is already capable of doing Springer and other medium size shave downs, is becoming very proficient in doing shave down doodles with fluffy heads, ears, and tails or variations of those, and I have started her on Poodles of all sizes and small dog shave downs. She can do bath dogs with scissored feet as well, including golden strip outs and trim ups.
We thank you for your continued business and we hope, that with this more indepth understanding, moving forward we will have a long relationship. Never doubt that we care about all of your dogs and these guidlines are to keep everyone happy.
