07/18/2026
Why consistency and kindness matters
The photos are of Ms. Hera at her first and most recent appointments with me. I just had the pleasure of meeting her 8 weeks ago, and had a history of being very uncomfortable with the grooming process, and panicking. But she was also seeing a lot of different groomers each appointment, and every groomer has their own process and order of things. It was not an issue of bad groomers, all are fantastic at what they do.
It may not seem like a big thing, but just like people, each dog is different, and there are an infinite amount of personality quirks we can all possess. Some dogs handle multiple groomers with zero issue, and love meeting new people and handle minor change with little to no issue. Some adjust quickly within the appointment, and some take a while to gain trust and confidence with a single person. And everywhere in between and to the extremes.
There are two main differences between the 8 week photos. 1. The body language 2. The quality of groom.
Our first appointment was spent mostly on building rapport, focusing less on perfecting the haircut and more on building a relationship and trust. By our second time around, she was feeling much more confident, was jumping in/out of the tub and on/off tables on her own, didn’t flood us out with drool, and stood, tolerated, and happily allowed everything to be done with her, and knew what order to expect things next. A great groom is always the goal, but my #1 priority is the safety and wellbeing of a pet in my care. Part of that is having a deep understanding of dog body language, since my clients can’t speak up for themselves. Knowing when to stop, give them a break, or change to a lesser service and work on other things.
Some people laugh when I tell them that I can’t brush anymore today, because their pet is upset and can’t tolerate it anymore. They tell me that as long as they’re not screaming or biting enough to hurt me, to continue. They won’t tolerate shaving, because then their dog will look ugly. Some people get angry, cuss and berate me, call me lazy and a bad groomer, but I’m just trying to advocate for the dog, and they’re trying to advocate for themselves and/or their feelings. The only thing I have to offer is my word and photos, explaining things they can’t or won’t try to understand, and the dog can’t back me up.
We have 2 completely different perspectives, and there is deep validity to both. But there is a huge disconnect in the grooming industry between pet parents and pet groomers as far as understanding the others perspective. Most people’s impression of pet grooming is playing with cute, cuddly puppies all day, and that it’s a very easy, low skill, low education job. But it’s back breaking work, has a very high mental load, is much much more than just a haircut, and comes with a lot of heartbreak and stress. I can also understand the disappointment, and sometimes defensiveness to being told your pet is very matted and will need to be shaved. The aggravation at being told it will cost more than expected, especially in today’s economy; while the groomer often feels the same on their end, with having experienced the hours of hard work and frustration, even sadness, exhaustion, and questioning their career choice in some cases. And the general life stresses that have been for many the last several years. It’s all human nature, and just requires patience and kindness to overcome, and considering other perspectives on all of our parts.
If you took all of the time to read this, thank you
Sincerely, an exhausted heart
