The Grooming Process: What People Think vs Reality

Have you ever wondered what, exactly, it takes to get a dog groomed? Or a cat? It must be such a fun thing to do! Playing with puppies and kittens all day long must be so easy!

The reality is that grooming is an extremely taxing process. Many groomers end up suffering from joint problems, specifically in the knee, hip, and lower back areas due to the long hours bending, twisting, lifting, and standing. Carpal Tunnel and Tennis Elbow are almost a guarantee from the repetitive motions. “Groomer’s Lung” can develop over time, leading to lung infections, chronic bronchitis, and difficulty breathing. It is caused by breathing in the dust, dirt, chemicals, and debris associated with grooming.

At any time, numerous injuries can occur such as bites, scratches, bruises, cuts, sprains, strains, and falls. Plenty of groomers have had their careers ended by accidents. It is far, far more common for the groomer to become injured than the pets! Some of these injuries can be caused by the pets the groomer is working with. Others can be caused by the environment. Still others can be caused by just a moment of inattention. Just about every groomer out there has cut their own fingers and hands with their shears! Many will laugh as they show you the scars and tell you the story!

Compassion fatigue is another huge, potentially deadly, problem in the industry. Most groomers care so deeply for the pets they are trusted with that seeing pelted, once-a-year grooms, dogs with poor skin and over grown nails, and cats so matted they cannot move begins to take a mental toll. Owners who do not properly care for their pets, make impossible demands, and then berate a groomer for doing what is necessary to keep the pet happy and comfortable can make groomers feel like they are worthless. They can’t do anything right. Depression and hopelessness can begin to set in. Compassion fatigue is a problem across the entire animal industry and beyond. Each year, many professionals take their own lives as a result.

So what actually happens in the salon? What makes it so demanding? For a normal, regularly scheduled maintenance groom, the process can seem daunting with all the brushing, clipping, bathing, and drying. For a pet that is not on a regular schedule, it can be even more challenging!

The typical groom will start one of two ways. After we give your pet a quick evaluation, we will either clip their nails or head straight to the bath tub. Long nails must be clipped prior to the bath as they could pose a safety issue, potentially getting caught on kennel grates or doors. If your pet’s nails are in good shape, the bath is started immediately.

A bath is a lot more than just soap and water! Very often, a dog will be washed two, possibly even three times. The first wash with a basic shampoo will remove the bulk of the dirt and grime. Their anal glands will be checked during this first shampoo and emptied if needed. Occasionally, if the pet is excessively dirty, they might get another shampooing with the basic formula but typically, we don’t need to. The second shampoo will either be another round of the basic shampoo or a specific formula picked for the needs of your pet. We might use Avacado for dry or itchy skin, hypoallergenic for pets who might be a little more sensitive, or whitening for those who’s coats could use a little extra help to shine. While the second shampoo is on the dog’s coat, they are often brushed with a rubber curry or a brushing glove to make sure they are clean down to their skin across every single inch of their body from the ears back. The shampoo is then rinsed completely from the dog’s coat and skin. But it doesn’t end there! Next, a high quality conditioner is applied to the dog. It is brushed in with the rubber curry or brushing glove. While it sits, the dog’s face will be washed with either a hypoallergenic or lightly scented face wash or a blueberry facial treatment. This face wash is then rinsed away. The conditioner is rinsed though we quite frequently do not rinse it away completely as a good conditioner is designed to keep a dog’s skin in tip-top shape.

The bathing process will usually take only around 15 to 20 minutes per dog. However, if a deshedding treatment is what they need, there are extra steps of brushing, combing, raking, and blowing that take place. A thorough deshedding process can take up to an hour to complete!

The drying process is the next step. The dogs are wiped down with super absorbent cooling towels. These wick a surprising amount of water out of the fur! So much so that we often don’t even need to use a regular towel afterwards! While in the tub, the high velocity dryer will be used to blow the bulk of the remaining water off the dog. Depending on the size of the dog, they will either be dried further in the tub or they may be moved to our drying table. How dry the dogs get at this point depends on how they feel about the drying process. Some dogs will not tolerate the high velocity dryer. It is pretty loud after all! We don’t blame them! A dog who tolerates the dryer will be dried until they are just a little damp. After this dryer, the damp pet will be placed in a kennel. Using either a kennel dryer or a regular fan, they will take a break while they continue to dry. We will then either work on another dog or take a brief break to fill out paperwork, return phone calls/text messages, or, if we are lucky, scarf down a little bit of lunch!

Dogs may receive another dry on the grooming table using our small, heated, Flying Pig dryer affectionately known as Dumbo. This little dryer is great for taking the last bit of dampness from a dog’s coat or for drying feet and faces. Some dogs will need this last dry, some won’t. Some dogs will need a sanitary shave which is generally done before brushing just in case there are any tangles in sensitive places. Paw pads will usually be shaved at this time if needed and the nails also trimmed and filed. After any prep-work, dogs will be brushed at this point. Longer hair is brushed with slicker brushes and medium and fine toothed combs. The dog is brushed from head to tail, paying special attention to legs, feet, ears, and tail. Small tangles are carefully worked out. Larger mats are brushed around and noted for removal. Shorter haired dogs might still get brushed with a slicker and comb but are more likely to be brushed with a rubber curry, deshedding rake, and a Sleek Ez to remove excess undercoat. No matter the hair length, this brush out process can take 15 minutes or longer. If a dog is getting a deshed treatment, this brush out can take even longer as we need to remove as much of the shedding hair as possible.

For bath dogs, this is pretty much where the process ends. They get to go hang out in their crates until their owners can come pick them up. For dogs getting a haircut, they are only halfway there!

Using clippers, blades of various lengths, comb attachments, and very sharp shears, fur is clipped down to the desired length. This is frequently the longest part of the process. The first pass over the dog’s body is to take off the bulk of the fur being cut. We don’t worry about getting perfect results on the first pass though it is nice when it happens! Using a brush or comb, the fur is fluffed up again for a second pass. This is a more careful clip intended to bring the coat almost to the final state. There will still be finish work to be done though. The fur is carefully combed and fluffed. Longer spots are trimmed down with shears. The tail is trimmed up. The feet are rounded off. The head and face are saved for last. Ears and faces are carefully combed. Cheeks are fluffed up. Fur is carefully clipped and trimmed to make the dog as cute as possible! All in all, the haircut can take up to an hour to complete. If the dog is at all fidgety or uncooperative, it can take even longer!

All in all, a groom can go as quickly as one hour for a very cooperative dog that doesn’t mind being bathed, dried, and groomed straight through or it could take three to four hours if the dog requires frequent breaks.

Cat grooms are a little different. Generally, a cat’s nails are clipped as soon as we take them out of their carriers. They get their brush and/or haircut before they get a bath simply because most cats do not like baths! Cats are immediately dried as much as possible with absorbing towels, regular towels, and our friend Dumbo. If they are resistant to the bath and dry, nothing is forced upon them. Cats can hang out in the kennels with a fan if they need to, however, we prefer to get them in and out as fast as we can. Cats are very prone to stress-induced illness. The longer they spend in the salon environment, the more dangerous it is for them. We try hard to have cats in, groomed, and out in two hours or less.

After repeating this process four, five, six, or more times per day, it becomes easy to see that grooming is not at all just playing with cute critters all day long! It is a very demanding job but it is one that we would not trade for anything!