Grooming Pet Blog
Pet Grooming tip – A Calm Stress-free Environment and Patience
My name is Theresa Pettet and I am the proprietor of a pet grooming business called Professional Pet Grooming which I opened in 1986, after receiving my certification from The Canadian School of Dog Grooming. Predominately I work with dogs and cats but occasionally groom rabbits and pet farm animals. I Have loved animals since I was a small child and find the grooming business to be rewarding both emotionally and financially. Marko, the Admin on Pets.ca thinks grooming tips would make great blog posts so I thought I’d give it a try with this brief intro tip.
Since every pet is an individual with likes and dislikes the most essential tools you can bring to the table are patience coupled with a calm, stress-free environment. If you the groomer are anxious the dog or cat will pick up on this and it often makes the grooming harder. Of course having the grooming done in a very quiet area of the home will also help ease the nerves of anxious pets. These 2 things along with kindness go a long way to eliminate anxiety and fearfulness in even the most difficult pet and help to develop a raport between the two of you. Firm but gentle handling will establish who is in control and help eliminate unwanted behaviour and is fundamental in gaining the trust and confidence in your client.
In future articles I will be happy to offer my ‘tricks of the trade’ that will make the grooming experience rewarding. Next tip – Location and what substitutes for a proper grooming table and necessary constraints that work for those without the parlor set-up.
Theresa Pettet is a professional pet groomer covering the Perth area of Lanark county in Ontario, Canada. She can be reached at 613-269-9140
3 Responses to this Article, So Far
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Hi Theresa – thanks for the great article… I think that finding a peaceful location in one’s home isn’t usually too difficult, but staying calm oneself as a groomer is definitely easier said than done, in my opinion. I guess it just takes practice…?
Also, what city is your business in? Do you have a website? I looked up “Professional Pet Grooming” in Google but that’s a pretty generic search term so your business didn’t show up
Looking forward to your follow-up articles!
Hi, Theresa. Are you still operating your business in Perth. We recently rescued a little Cairn terrier who is about nine months now. We live in Carleton Place and I am interested in taking her to a quiet place. Hope you are still around.
Hi Theresa,
I introduced my kittens slowly to the brushing sessions until they got used to it first with a soft babybrush just for the fun and the nlater with the real ones and then towards the next type of brush, the vacuumcleaner! This is a great way of getting yr pet used to that scary and noisy thing!
First when the machine was not yet turned on, so without sound of the vacuum cleaner, each in their own pace and time, first let them sniff out the brush and brush them “dry” then with low noise level on. In the end they got used to it, one sat on my shoulder when working to see what I was doing loved the brushin sessions and now one of my cats literally follows me around the house when vacuuming and wants to be brushed with itall the time when the cleaner is on ! He loves it and turns on his back to do his whole body and gives it head kisses. I can vacuum around all my cats now, litterally lift their legs to vacuum underneath and go on. It is just a matter of a lot of patience and then you get relaxed cats allways.