In my younger days (I'm nearly 66 and have been grooming since 1971), I could groom 8-10 dogs on my own in a typical day. Nowadays, I've slowed down to 6-8, but I think I am putting out better work. We don't have pictures of the old days, but here is yesterday.
DOG #1 - TOY POODLE
This little guy was brought in by his foster mom to be groomed to go to his forever home this weekend.
There were a couple of problems. He has a very roached back and he has a penis problem where the "pink thing" (my term) is not totally retractable into the sheath. I had a fix for the topline, but not for the pink thing. What I did for his penis was to very carefully clip all of the hair from the opening of the sheath. This problem can become medical, but if the hair is not allowed to fold back into the sheath, it is usually manageable. So I contradicted my aesthetic impluse to allow the hair to cover the "problem" with a very careful tidying up. YUCK.
His other problem was fixable. The client had said to clip the body short and scissor the legs, but I discussed the possibility of his looking a lot better if I left some hair on the back so I could do a topline correction. She agreed, and was ecstatic over the result. Check this out:
The topline correction is very easy to do. I simply scissored the humpiest part first to make the topline level. Then I chose a clipper blade length that would leave me enough "fill" in front and behind the roached area. In this case, it was the Andis #3 3/4 blade. Voila! I was sorry to learn that this dog's forever home is in another part of the state. He was very good to work on. He even laid down and gave me his foot to clip. Some groomer in Yuma, AZ is going to be lucky to get this dog to groom!
P.S. Don't look at the "pink thing". Uh oh... I caught you. I said DON'T LOOK. (Poor guy, with his most private part on public display 24/7.)
DOG #2 - MINIATURE POODLE
Well, isn't this just a poodley day! This is Sarah, a regular 5-6 weeks dog and a favorite of mine to scissor. Today I used a #4F blade on the body and scissored the legs. This groom is rather labor-intensive. It's my own fault, as the owners like her a little shorter, and I like her a little fuller. I had done a total scissor cut last time, so this time she was VERY bushy. Her coat is very dense. I could easily spend two hours on this groom, but didn't have that kind of time to give today. This was my result:
DOG #3- BICHON FRISE
Ah, the Bichon du' jour. Since Bichons are one of my specialties, there are one or two nearly every day. This is Devi.
One time, I took the client to the grooming room and showed her how hard it was on Devi for me to comb her out. "Oh no, I could NEVER do THAT!" she asserted, as if home combing was going to be torture for her pet. Arghh! I could not get through to this person. If you have a bichon, the choices are simple: a) Maintain a grooming interval where the coat does not mat; b) Home maintenance to keep hair from matting; c) Short clip to allow a greater interval between groomings and less home maintenance. The consequences of not doing the above are: a) Shaved pet or, b) Extra charge for dematting, and hardship on the dog.
Even after my demonstration of what dematting forced little Devi to endure and my clarification of the above choices, the owner waited another three months between groomings. When she brought my favorite little bichon in the next time, once again matted to the point of being "pelted", she handed her to me and said: "I don't want her clipped, I don't want her hurt, and I don't want to pay any extra." I handed her the dog back and said, "You are going to have to look elsewhere, I'm sorry, I can't continue to work under those terms." It was a very sad day.
Here we are ten years later and I am again Devi's groomer. We've got her on Angels' Glow and her staining is starting to clear. This owner is in clear partnership with me, as she has never owned a dog before. At this appointment she asked my advice as to whether she should seek cataract surgery or get the teeth done. I voted for getting the teeth done. Severe dental disease is more life shortening than are cataracts. The owner actually LISTENED!
DOG #4 - MINIATURE SCHNAUZER
"Miniature" is not exactly an accurate characterization of Tramp. Not only is he huge for the breed, but his coat is soft and curly. He is also not very tolerant. Today he was just a bath and tidy, but his behavior was a significant stress factor in my day.
DOG #5 - COCKER SPANIEL
Of course where there's a Tramp, there's going to be a Lady. Here she is. We've blogged this beautiful girl before, as she is one of my favorite subjects. Lady and Tramp come every two weeks. I do a full groom on one and a bath and tidy on the other, alternating each visit. Today Lady got the complete groom.
The owner commented that Lady was soaking up quite a bit of urine into her skirt, so I cut quite a bit away from between the back legs. When I took her outside for a potty break, I noticed that she peed a large volume. To me, she does not seem to be feeling as good as she used to. We've been attributing that to her arthritis, but I fear there is more going on, with this large volume of urine. Lady is 13 or 14. I hate to add stress to people's holiday season, but I felt obliged to tell my client that I was concerned. The woman said, "You know, she's drinking a lot too." Before I could even state that this was a confirmation of a possible kidney problem, the husband piped in with a denial, "She's always peed a lot, she's not incontinent." Clearly, he did not want to acknowledge that there might be a problem. This comes from being attached and not being able to face Lady's aging and decline, not from being cheap. I understand. Nevertheless, the wife and I had full eye contact and I nodded to affirm my original statement that we needed to stay observant.
DOG #6 - BEARDED COLLIE
What can we say about Redford? He comes every two weeks, has tons of coat with undercoat that mats, romps in the desert between grooms and gets VERY dirty feet, and he's a good-natured pain-in-the-butt. He usually comes in at 2 pm and leaves at 4:30. He barks constantly, so much so that I can't be on the phone while he is in the shop. On the table, he is good about brushing and combing his body, but not so good about his legs. Although he is not at all mouthy (thankfully), he uses his weight to break my grip and can pull his elbows into his sides more forcefully than any dog I've ever groomed. On his rear, he sits. I could not groom this guy without my LIPS support system with flank strap holding him up, and even with that support, he leans all his weight onto my hand as I hold a leg to groom it. Bottom line, he hurts my back, my arms, and my ears, but he's good natured and the owner is very reliable. It's rent money....
DOG #6 - BEARDED COLLIE
What can we say about Redford? He comes every two weeks, has tons of coat with undercoat that mats, romps in the desert between grooms and gets VERY dirty feet, and he's a good-natured pain-in-the-butt. He usually comes in at 2 pm and leaves at 4:30. He barks constantly, so much so that I can't be on the phone while he is in the shop. On the table, he is good about brushing and combing his body, but not so good about his legs. Although he is not at all mouthy (thankfully), he uses his weight to break my grip and can pull his elbows into his sides more forcefully than any dog I've ever groomed. On his rear, he sits. I could not groom this guy without my LIPS support system with flank strap holding him up, and even with that support, he leans all his weight onto my hand as I hold a leg to groom it. Bottom line, he hurts my back, my arms, and my ears, but he's good natured and the owner is very reliable. It's rent money....
Recently Redford was showing some itchy rash areas on his hind legs. In addition, his whole coat was seeming "not healthy", dry, brittle, matting etc. In discussing the problem, I learned that Redford's diet consisted of chicken tenders that the owner cooked and salami. Why? Because this was all the dog would eat. The dog is six years old and has never eaten dog food.
He's never had any source of calcium, no minerals, no fatty acids, other than what is available in chicken breasts and salami.
Did I mention that I sell pet health foods? Why have I not talked to this man about nutrition before now? I know the answer: because I am always so exhausted from grooming the dog, and Redford barks and carries on so that you can't have a conversation in his presence. As I think about it, however, there's more of a reason. At some point I made a conscious decision to disconnect the grooming from the health food businesses. Silly me, I know. But I was uncomfortable "pushing" the health food onto my grooming customers. I vaguely remember one grooming client confronting me about this with some comment about his "coming here for grooming not to be lectured about nutrition."
Redford's owner is convinced that the dog will become ill or die if he holds out on feeding him what the dog wants and tries to force him to eat dog food. I sent home a can of Merrick's Wing-a-Ling chicken, which is good enough for ME to eat, but the report was that Redford "stuck his nose up" at the gourmet product. Some of my lecture seemed to have sunk in, however, as the owner has added salmon oil and spaghetti to the diet. The skin is doing better.
SUMMARY & CONCLUSION
There you have my day for December 2, 2005. It was a fairly typical day, maybe a little heavy on the fluff drying, and not much easy money. There were some important health related consultations with clients and one remarkable transformation, so I could live up to the name of my business, Transformation Pet Center. It was a satisfying, but quite tiring day for this ancient one. For my groomer friends, who are infinitely curious about prices, here is how this day looked for income:
Toy Poodle - $40 - Table time: 40 minutes.
Mini Poodle - $50 - Table time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Bichon Frise - $45 - Table time: 45 minutes.
Min. Schnauzer - $25 - Table time: 20 minutes.
Cocker - $50 - Table time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Bearded Collie - $55 - Table time: 30 intensely physical minutes.
Total Income for the day: $265.00. Not great, I prefer to make $300-350 for a day.
Total Table Time: 5 hours and 15 minutes. The remainder of my eight hours was spent bathing, taking in and releasing dogs, chatting with clients, vacuuming, phone calls, and PHOTOGRAPHY.
2014 PRICE UPDATE:
How things change! Here are my current prices for this work.
Toy Poodle - $55.00
Mini Poodle - $65.00 and up
Bichon Frise - $65.00 and up
Min. Schnauzer - $55.00
Cocker - $60.00
Bearded Collie - $75.00
He's never had any source of calcium, no minerals, no fatty acids, other than what is available in chicken breasts and salami.
Did I mention that I sell pet health foods? Why have I not talked to this man about nutrition before now? I know the answer: because I am always so exhausted from grooming the dog, and Redford barks and carries on so that you can't have a conversation in his presence. As I think about it, however, there's more of a reason. At some point I made a conscious decision to disconnect the grooming from the health food businesses. Silly me, I know. But I was uncomfortable "pushing" the health food onto my grooming customers. I vaguely remember one grooming client confronting me about this with some comment about his "coming here for grooming not to be lectured about nutrition."
Redford's owner is convinced that the dog will become ill or die if he holds out on feeding him what the dog wants and tries to force him to eat dog food. I sent home a can of Merrick's Wing-a-Ling chicken, which is good enough for ME to eat, but the report was that Redford "stuck his nose up" at the gourmet product. Some of my lecture seemed to have sunk in, however, as the owner has added salmon oil and spaghetti to the diet. The skin is doing better.
SUMMARY & CONCLUSION
There you have my day for December 2, 2005. It was a fairly typical day, maybe a little heavy on the fluff drying, and not much easy money. There were some important health related consultations with clients and one remarkable transformation, so I could live up to the name of my business, Transformation Pet Center. It was a satisfying, but quite tiring day for this ancient one. For my groomer friends, who are infinitely curious about prices, here is how this day looked for income:
Toy Poodle - $40 - Table time: 40 minutes.
Mini Poodle - $50 - Table time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Bichon Frise - $45 - Table time: 45 minutes.
Min. Schnauzer - $25 - Table time: 20 minutes.
Cocker - $50 - Table time: 1 hour 30 minutes.
Bearded Collie - $55 - Table time: 30 intensely physical minutes.
Total Income for the day: $265.00. Not great, I prefer to make $300-350 for a day.
Total Table Time: 5 hours and 15 minutes. The remainder of my eight hours was spent bathing, taking in and releasing dogs, chatting with clients, vacuuming, phone calls, and PHOTOGRAPHY.
2014 PRICE UPDATE:
How things change! Here are my current prices for this work.
Toy Poodle - $55.00
Mini Poodle - $65.00 and up
Bichon Frise - $65.00 and up
Min. Schnauzer - $55.00
Cocker - $60.00
Bearded Collie - $75.00
For your expertise (I've only been reading your blog for about a week, jumping from entry to entry) and professionalism I have to say that I feel like you are under charging. You're worth a lot more for your time and compassion! I work for a company that has about 10 stores, so I'm not sure what your overhead and other costs are, but the groomers who are excellent in our company charge anywhere from $5 -$30 depending on the dogs. I guess prices probably vary, though, depending on your location, store costs, etc. I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell you I think you are worth more. I really enjoy your posts and have been bathing for an excellent groomer (20+ years experience) for more than a year so far.
ReplyDeleteMarge, thanks for your comments. You are right about the prices. The prices in this article are from 2005. I have raised my prices quite a bit since writing this. I'll go in and make an update.
ReplyDelete