PIck-up and Communication: A Reminder

As spring gets into full swing, grooming salons become a busy place! The increase of muddy yards means a lot of dogs need frequent baths. Dogs who are left a little longer for the winter will start to come in for those short spring hair cuts.  As soon as the stay-at-home orders lift, everyone will want to get their pets in for a good clean up! Groomers might be stretched a little thinner than normal trying to accommodate owners and pets alike.

Since we run a very small salon, we have a very limited space to hold onto pets after their grooming has been completed. We just wanted to take a brief moment to remind you that we ask you to be here within one hour of receiving the call letting you know your pet is ready to go home. Our day is a tight dance. We are counting on Fluffy going home so we can clean her kennel and use it for Bob who is expected to arrive shortly after Fluffy leaves. If Fluffy is still here when Bob arrives, we might not have a place for Bob to hang out!

If you know you might be a little late picking Fluffy up, just let us know! Let us know when you make the appointment so we can have an extra kennel available just in case. We do have crates at our homes for our own dogs we are happy to bring in if needed. If something comes up after you have made your appointment, give us a call or shoot us a text message to let us know. We will do our best to accommodate or we will let you know if it would be best to reschedule for another day.

The same goes for dropping off early. We ask that you arrive no more than 10 minutes early for your appointment so we have time to check Fluffy out and clean her kennel. If Bob arrives too early, we might not quite be ready for him! Again, communicate your needs and we will let you know how we can best accommodate them!

We understand things come up. You might not know until the day of your appointment that you need to drop off early or pick up a little later. Just let us know a soon as you can so we can figure something out! Communicating also eliminates the worry factor as well. We do genuinely worry about our clients when they do not show up on time! Was there an accident? Is there a traffic jam? Did someone suddenly become ill? Did the doctor appointment not go well and someone now has to be rushed to St. Louis for specific testing with a specialist? Your groomers are definitely two “Worst Case Scenario” worriers! Let us know what is going on so we don’t stress your pup out!

We anticipate being busier than usual once we are able to reopen.  If you can, please schedule your pet's grooming appointment on a day and at a time where you are not likely to be busy during their service.  This way, you can be ready to come get them as soon as we call.  It is looking like we will be completely booked for at least a few weeks when this is all over.  Help us keep things running extra smoothly so everyone can get the services they need as quickly as possible! Thanks! 

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!

How Often Should I Have My Dog Groomed? Grooming Frequency Explained

How often a dog should be bathed is a hot button topic in some circles. There are those with the opinion that dogs should be bathed as frequently as possible, sometimes two to three times a week. There are those who say dogs should be bathed no more than twice a year. There are even folks out there who say certain breeds should never be bathed at all unless absolutely necessary!

So what is the truth? Is there a standard time frame for bathing a dog? Well, there is and there isn’t. It really depends on your dog, their habits, their health, and the products you use.

As we have mentioned before, a dog’s skin regenerates every 21 days. The dead skin cells are then shed off. By bathing your dog every 21 days, you can ensure that all the old cells are being fully removed, keeping the surface of their skin as healthy as it can be. Does this mean you need to make an appointment for your furry friend every three weeks? That depends on you and your dog. If you are confident you can bathe, dry, and brush your dog properly at home, go ahead and bathe them at home! If you need a little help, give your groomer a call to set up an appointment.

21 days is a guideline but it is not set in stone. If you bathe your dog after 19 days or wait until 30 days, that is also just fine. While timing is important for maximum benefits, the products you use are arguably more important.

There is an astonishingly wide variety of shampoos available for dogs and cats these days. These products range from low-cost concoctions available in grocery stores to high end, higher cost, more natural products available through only specialty sellers. Along side these shampoos are a more important product: conditioner. While just about any shampoo specifically formulated for dogs or cats will remove all the dirt from their coats, it will also remove the good oils from their skin. Using a conditioner will not only moisturize their fur, it will help to replace those good oils.

By using a good quality, non-drying shampoo and conditioner combo, it is possible to safely bathe your dog once a week. If you have a dog who delights in playing in the mud and water (Looking at you again, Noodles!), sometimes weekly bathing is hard to avoid! Ask us what products we recommend if you need to bathe your mud puppy frequently. We will be happy to help you find something that works!

Another situation that might require frequent bathing would be if your veterinarian has prescribed a prescription shampoo to help with a skin problem such as a bacterial or fungal infection. Some of these shampoos can be extremely drying. While you should always follow all of your veterinarian’s instructions, you might want to ask if you can follow up with a light conditioner to avoid damaging any healthy skin.

“So if I can bathe my dog at home anywhere from every week to once a month, when should I bring them to the salon for grooming?” Once again, it depends on you and your dog! If you like to keep your long haired dog in a longer style or if you live with a short haired breed that sheds buckets every day, you might want to consider appointments every 4 weeks. This will help keep the long hair fluffy and tangle free and that shedding hair to a minimum. For dogs with shorter styles or fur that doesn’t shed quite as much, visits to the salon every 6 to 8 weeks will keep them comfortable and in style! If you find your dogs hair tends to grow faster, the seem to tangle and mat, or they become stinky faster, we can easily adjust their grooming schedule to keep them and you as happy and comfortable as possible!

Waiting too long between groomings can lead to uncomfortable situations for both long haired and short haired pets. They can develop mats and impacted undercoat, both of which will block the airflow to their skin. Their skin may become dry, flaky, or greasy. Yeast and bacterial infections can start to develop. They can get hot spots or other sores and wounds on their skin. If you notice any of these things, it is best to first consult with your veterinarian then think about how you can revamp their grooming schedule!

All Dogs Need Grooming

When we think of dog grooming, we tend to think of show dogs with their beautiful, flowing fur or their perky poms and top knots. Poodles and Shih Tzus immediately pop into most peoples’ heads as examples of grooms. Scruffy terriers with their carefully hand stripped coats might join the mix. And who can forget a perfect Schnauzer cut too?

Grooming goes far beyond styles for the show ring. It even goes beyond hair cuts in general. All dogs need to be groomed. Even short haired and hairless dogs will benefit from a bath, brush, and deshed treatment. Why? It is pretty simple!

Just like humans, dogs shed their skin cells in a 21 day cycle. The new cells form under the skin and mature over this period of time. Once they reach the surface, they hang around for a while before dying and shedding off, revealing healthy new cells underneath. The process happens in a never ending cycle starting the day they are born. It happens with humans too! Unlike humans, the skin surface for a dog is under a layer of fur. This can prevent those old cells from sloughing off in a timely manner. Dogs may develop itchy dandruff, flaky patches, yeast infections, or a host of other problems if they are not able to shed this skin.

Shedding hair can become a problem for even shorter haired pets. All dogs shed. Even so called “non-shedding” breeds like poodles and bichons shed. They simply shed less since their hair has a much longer growth cycle. Their kinky fur also tends to hold that shed fur in, potentially creating mats if it is not brushed out on a regular basis. Any dog with hair longer than an inch or two in length is at danger of developing mats. The longer the hair, the more easily it tangles. But even shorter haired dogs can have shedding problems. Their shed fur can impact into their coat, creating a thick, tight, hard to remove layer of fur and dander.

The good news is that grooming helps to solve both the problems of proper skin overturn and shedding! A proper bath with quality, pet specific shampoos and conditioners along with a good blow and brush out will help all the excess skin cells blow away. The shedding hair will come out as well, preventing any mats or impacting. You pet’s coat will be softer, shinier, and brighter after a bath. They will feel amazing too! Regular appointments will help to keep their nails in tip top shape as well!

Even hairless dogs and cats will benefit from a good scrub. They might not have as much hair to shed, but their skin is still prone to build-ups. They can develop black heads and zits. A moisturizing bath and an exfoliating scrub can greatly reduce the problems!

Help even your short haired buddies feel their absolute best by getting them on a regular grooming schedule. They will absolutely adore all the attention they receive in the salon and at home afterwards too!

What sets us apart from everyone else? "Small Spaces"

Our next series of topics will deal with what makes us special. 

Things that help to set us apart from the rest!

One of the biggest things that sets us apart from some other salons, 

especially from big box corporate stores, is our size! If you have 

been into the building, you know that TLC Pet Services is small! 

When you walk in, what you see is pretty much all there is! We 

have a small area behind the wall that is about half the size of the 

grooming room where we have our tub, drying table, kennels, and 

furnace. We can comfortably keep 7 dogs in our kennels. With a 

little wiggling and setting up crates and x-pens in the grooming 

room, we can house a few more. Since there are only two of us 

here, odds are there will be no more than 6 dogs in the building at 

any given time (not including Lucky the shop dog of course!) 

Some of the larger corporate salons have literally dozens of 

kennels. 30+ is not unheard of in the larger stores. With a half 

dozen groomers and several more bathers, all these kennels can be 

filled all day long with dogs.

Sometimes, bigger is not always better. Many dogs become 

overwhelmed in such a large, noisy, slightly crowded environment. 

Who could blame them? The dryers are running. The bathers are 

bathing. Dogs around them are barking. Clippers are going. People 

are talking. Customers and coming and going. Other customers are 

watching through the windows. It can be very overwhelming! 

Nervous dogs then either shut down and just accept what it 

happening or they start to fight back out of fear. Some dogs might 

not like other dogs but they feel like they have no room to escape. 

They start barking in fear or frustration because they can see four 

other dogs and hear a dozen more. Even a good, well mannered 

dog who is used to the grooming process might start barking along 

if others are. My own Shaak Ti was well known for starting “sing 

alongs!” She would howl in her kennel and get all the other dogs 

barking and howling along!

TLC Pet Services is small. Very small. Purposefully small. Would 

we like a bit more room? Yes but what we have is pretty much 

perfect. By staying small, we can control who comes on what day. 

We can control the level of noise in the building. We can book 

nervous dogs on one day and the barkers on another. Does your 

dog do best when there are no other dogs around? No problem. We 

can book you first thing in the morning on a quieter day, last thing 

in the afternoon after the rest of the dogs have left, or even a day 

when we know we have a full house with only well mannered, 

quiet, non-threatening dogs. Maybe your dog doesn’t like other 

dogs but is great with cats. We will eventually have cat only days. 

Your dog might be a candidate for coming toward the end of a cat 

only day. We even have the ability to open on a special day just for 

a special dog if we really need to. Each day is tailored to the dogs 

and cats on the books.

Both Stacey and I came from a corporate back ground. While we 

are not here to bash corporate salons or their groomers (we’re all 

on the same team after all!), we did absolutely have some problems

 with the way things were done which influenced why TLC is TLC.

 The biggest thing we wanted to change beyond creating a quieter 

environment was eliminating walk-in services. Walk-in nail trims, 

brush outs, teeth brushing, and even nail painting seems like a 

convenient thing, right? It absolutely is! However, it can cause 

added and unnecessary stress to the dogs who have appointments. 

When a walk-in client walks in, the groomer or bather must put the 

dog they are working on back in a kennel while they assist the 

walk-in. After they have trimmed the nails, brushed the dog out, 

etc, they then get their appointment dog back out and continue their

 scheduled service. One or two breaks probably won’t make a big 

difference to that appointment dog’s attitude about the day. But 

once you hit three, four, ten or more breaks, that dog starts to feel 

just as frustrated as the groomer does! We don’t want that 

happening to our clients. That is why we decided that even nail 

trims need to be scheduled. It is all for the comfort of the pets in 

our care!

With up to a dozen or more people working in a larger salon, 

corporate or not, it can also be hard to know who is doing what on 

any given day. While this might not make a big difference in some 

areas like folding towels or sweeping the floor, when it comes to 

cleaning, it can be a big problem if things are not properly 

organized and tasks are not properly assigned! By being a small 

salon, we know exactly who is cleaning what on any given day. We 

have a schedule for cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing that we 

follow between each dog and at the end of the day. There are daily, 

weekly, and monthly tasks that we undertake so we know things are

 clean, tidy, and most importantly sanitary for your pets! With only 

two people, it doesn’t take long to figure out who washed the 

windows yesterday or when the floor was last mopped! We know 

with absolute certainty that the tub has been disinfected between 

dogs. We know 100% that the floor has been swept, vacuumed, and

 mopped. We’ll cover our policies and procedures for cleaning in 

more depth in the future too.

Most importantly, our small size lets you be confident that your 

dogs and cats know their groomers! Even if Stacey is their regular 

groomer, they will be familiar with Jess as well since she is the 

only other person in the building most of the time. Stacey will 

know if Jess’s regular clients have any little quirks such as needing 

to be in a bottom kennel or needing to “fly” for their nails. Regular 

clients will be familiar with both of us and can be confident when 

leaving their dogs in Jess’s care because Stacey is running a few 

minutes late. Personable and personal service are our goal! We 

never want to have a staff so large that you don’t recognize all the 

employees floating around!

We value the comfort, health, safety, and happiness of our furry 

clients and their parents! We want everyone to be comfortable in 

our purposefully small space!