The things people do not realize about the corporate grooming industry would boggle your mind!
So let's do our part in the grooming world for Team Disclosure....Now this is NOT to get political!!!
I'm stating this as a foundational fact that greatly impacts your pet's grooming experience!!!
I'm stating it emphatically!!! Because as "employees" of said businesses, we are not allowed to disclose these lengthy discourses to you as to "WHY" things are the way they are.
It's 2017 and if you have not yet awakened to the hard, cold reality that - what you don't know makes someone else money... lots and lots of money...... its ALL about money..... then you really don't even have a reason to keep reading this.
Now, to the Check In.
When you bring your pet to a corporate grooming salon, there is a check-in process.
This process often frustrates people because it takes too much time. Especially regular or repeat clients who see you take notes the first time (or ten!) and don't understand why you have to do it every time you come in.
Here's the premise:
- Things could have changed with your pet since your last visit.
People get preoccupied with life....
People get preoccupied with having to be somewhere else by a certain time....
People get irritated or flustered by crowds, noise, or busy-ness...
People forget things.
➻Also, people censor information based on their own personal analysis. People often don't see a reason that you should have to know certain things, so they don't tell you. They don't know or understand the full grooming process or animal psychology at all, and don't grasp the impact a certain bit of information might have on the experience.
➻People lie. If they tell you that their dog has a heart condition and could very well die from the stress of grooming..... but their dog really needs grooming..... and if they can't get you to do it they don't know where else to turn.... They're gonna lie!
If a dog is a matted mess and the client is afraid it will cost more for grooming this time... They will lie!
They will lie about vaccinations.
They will lie about age.
They will lie about breed.
They will lie about temperament.
They will lie about their availability to be able to pick their pet up, or how quickly they will arrive if they are late or forgot their appointment.
Face it! We are ALL conditioned to lie!
If things have changed with your pet or your situation since your last visit to the salon, your groomer needs to know. And the only way to get reliable information is for the groomer or person responsible for checking your pet in for the appointment to asks all these questions every time you check in!
This is straight up legit protocol... For any salon.
- Grooming Notes & Instructions
No experience, no love for animals, no common sense required!
These people don't know how to take notes - No one ever taught them!
These people usually hire in as "bathers" and don't even know how to groom - no one ever taught them! If you don't know how to groom, how can you ask the right questions and write the right notes!?
A lot of the people they hire are academy trained groomers who were taught horribly (by people who were taught horribly, by people who were taught horribly.........) or left to their own devices and not really taught anything at all! BOTH of these scenarios are the case with corporate salons! I've NEVER seen a corporate salon academy grad who knew shit! And what they thought they knew, was wrong.
The people they hire are just not trained period. People with NO people skills, much less animal knowledge, no customer service skills, no natural talent for helping and assisting people..... They screw shit up ALL THE TIME! With little or no consequence! Because no one in the entire corporate salon structure knows enough about the true ART of pet grooming to know when something is being done in a horrible manner but CAN BE FIXED!!!
Software glitches are REAL! A lot of times your best groomers will painstakingly make impeccable notes only to have the computer not save them, or "lose" them at a later date. I'm here to spill the beans on the whole charade, so I wouldn't add this if it were not a painful truth. It frustrates good groomers to no end. But it is a thing, it does happen. Often.
➻So what kind of groom do you want? Yes, even YOU can change your mind "this time"! We need to know, because there are SO MANY FACETS to pet grooming that only well trained and experienced pet groomers are aware of.... If these "T"s are not crossed and "I"s not dotted.... You'll bitch!
Now good groomers do not mind making adjustments for good clients! But a good groomer also knows how to nail good notes at check in so that most of the groom is easily translated to the pet and things are spot-on the first time.
And NOOOOOOOO! All groomers are not the same! All "grooming schools" are not the same! All salons are not the same! All terminology, and "style" names do NOT transfer across the board!
There is very little consistency in the grooming world. Which is why it is more accurate to refer to pet grooming as an Art form, rather than a "job" or "vocation" that you can just take a few classes and learn to do. Can anybody take art classes? Absolutely! Does art class make you an artist? HELL NO!
If you can grasp that, then grasp that the same is true of pet grooming.
A "Puppy Cut" in Ottawa is not the same as a "Puppy Cut" in Los Angeles, or Bowling Green, or Seattle, or Clearwater! It means different things to..... EVERYONE! It is not a style in a grooming academy book, it is not recognized by the AKC.
"Yes, I would like a Puppy Cut on my dog." And then when this lady comes to pick up her 2 year old Pomeranian and it looks like a Labrador puppy, SHE gets pissed off! Why??? It's a Puppy Cut!
NO ONE uses "style names" anymore. Maybe you have a long relationship with one groomer who has a style name for the cut your pet gets.... And that's ok. But don't come down here on vacation and drop that style name and expect anybody to know what you're talking about. And worse yet, is the groomer who writes that style name down and asks you no other questions!!! Guarantee you're gonna be pissed off when you pick up your pet.
Style names mean nothing!
There is NO consistency in the grooming world!
If you want your pet groomed correctly, be patient with your groomer's questions at check in!
- To Blindly Accept....
And THIS is why check in is sooooooo long. That groomer is ideally supposed to go out there with your pet, feel the pet's skin and coat, visually examine the skin and coat for mats, moles, sores, fleas, ticks, lumps, abrasions.... check for unusual odors, check the eyes, ears, mouth, paws, privates, and tail, check for anything that doesn't seem right, check their gait, and check for temperament. While doing this the groomer is supposed to have a conversation with you to recommend special products that may benefit your pet's specific conditions. The groomer also takes this time to inform you of extra charges that will not be optional such as flea shampoo, de-mat fee, special conditioners for bad skin or a challenging coat, AND to let you know of any issues that they are not allowed to deal with and refer you to a vet. All this on top of all the questions before the manual exam!
If any little thing is out of place when a pet goes home, despicable human beings can blame everything on the groomer! What's sad is that good groomers get blamed for stupid pet parents' stupidity even when they care deeply for the animals. If check in is done properly, a groomer will notice an existing condition, make a note of it, discuss it with the parent and not get blamed for causing it! But that takes so much time.....!
And a lot of times, good groomers trust people when they shouldn't. They get blamed for limps and squinty eyes and red skin.... When any idiot would've noticed their pet was like that at home.
Then the really awful "groomers" do horrible, careless things to these poor animals and people tip them and ask for them by name....!
(Look for other #GroomingStories to hear some of these tales.)
➻Why the long check in?
Well the answer you all want to hear is "Because they care that much about you and your pet!" But nothing could be farther from the truth in a corporate salon. In a privately owned salon that could well be the case... They have no pressure to perform for corporate shareholders so they are allowed to care more about you and your pet than they do about money. With private salons, all those recommendations are more likely to be of genuine value and not just an "up-sell". Usually.
But this article is about the corporates.... They "recommend" products to "up-sell" you. They interrogate you to cover their asses legally. Period. End of corporate story.
This is why they could care less who they hire and what these people do in the salon, as long as they're making quota, raising quota, and not getting caught doing anything that could get out to the public and merit a lawsuit.
BAM!
Welcome to Petsmart and Petco ladies and gentlemen!
It's ALL about money and lawsuits.
The Check In is all about covering their corporate ass to avoid lawsuits. That's why you have to sign the check in paper. That's why it seems like you're in a lawyer's office. You kind of are.
This article is to let you know about the Groomer's Check-In List.
Some do it for all the right reasons, others don't have a clue why they do it, and some just don't care.
Whether in corporate or privately owned salons, good groomers are born not just trained, and they care deeply! They care more about animals than anything in the world, by my experience!
Educate yourself about grooming procedures that you don't understand. Ask your groomer questions then google their answers at home. You'll find great answers for both sides of any argument. Ultimately, you have to follow your own heart and intuition, and make your own decisions.
I live in a world where blame has no place.
Personal responsibility is the only rule anyone needs.
Love the animals!
Respect your groomer because you KNOW they are respectable. If you don't know that, then keep searching.
But please don't blame them for corporate policies that are no different from every other inconvenience in the world created because of irresponsible people.
Don't be that irresponsible person!
Here's what a GOOD, Well Trained groomer should do at check in:
- A good groomer can tell if something is off and your pet doesn't feel well in general.
- They will socialize with the pet to see if there are fear or protection issues, or emotional instability that will make it difficult or unsafe and impossible to groom the pet.
- Once they're friended, the groomer checks for mats in pets with long hair by feeling the coat, behind the ears, and down the ears, around the chin and cheeks, tail, arm pits, legs, belly, and chest. If time permitted they would do this with a comb - because parents never seem to believe that their dogs are matted! Because they brush them....! (One of the biggest jokes amongst groomers!)
- They check the eyes for sores, goo, cherry eye or anything that doesn't look right.
- They check the ears outside for bumps, lumps, cuts or scrapes, and inside for odor, goo, crusty skin or any other abnormality.
- They check the mouth area and teeth for sores or general soreness or pain, which could indicate gum disease or infection - as opposed to just being a bad dog, or difficult to groom.
- They will check for food-mats or moisture mats and tangles on the face, eyes, and chin to assess how they can be dealt with. Some can be brushed, others must be shaved.
- They will check the paws for mats, nail condition, inner pad and toe mats for sores or debris that may be causing issues such as stickers, tar, gum....
- They will let you know if the nails would benefit more from clipping or grinding, or both.
- They will check the tail for mats or other issues.
- They will part the coat or brush it backward to see the skin. They are looking for fleas & ticks, redness, scabs or sores, moles. They will notice specific odors and should know what that means.
- They will check the privates for mats, discharge or other abnormalities. And they should check females for blood which indicates being in heat. Of course this question is asked, but people are often ignorant, don't know the pet's history, or they lie!
- A good groomer does recommend special products that may help your pet for specific issues. Unfortunately in corporate salons, what they recommend is limited to what is approved by the company and not what the groomer knows would be best.
- A good groomer will be honest with you about your pet's condition and what they feel should be done, whether its just a bath or full groom with hair cut.
- Once all this is gone over, if you're getting a hair cut for your pet, the groomer will go over each detail of just what you want.
Groomers who try to ask a client what length by referring to the blade number are also very very dumb! Clients do NOT know blade numbers!!! Not even if they think they do! They are not supposed to know blade numbers.
I have found that asking things like "half off", "more than half", "less than half" is a great, easy start to determine the length people want.
How long do you want the ears? This is for dogs with long hair. Other breeds have breed-specific ear styles that would require you to ask if they want the tips of the ears shaved, or the whole ear shaved, or a certain length down from the head shaved.
Do you want the tail trimmed and if so, how much? Or, if there is a breed specific style, do they want that?
When they ask for a breed specific style, Go over each step anyway to confirm what they think that means! Again, it's different everywhere you go!
If you don't think the nails should be clipped, because of the pet's temperament or the condition of the nails, or because of a past bad experience the pet had, or if the pet is a terrier and has long quicks and will bleed easily, recommend grinding. Explain your decision! Good groomers do NOT bleed pet's nails carelessly! People often confuse "long" nails with "sharp" nails. I may not be able to safely take off any length, but I can grind the sharp points off.
Depending on each unique situation, of course there will be other things to address and get crystal clear at check in.
Never take short cuts and never assume!
Get specific.
Do groomers actually do all this? Most times no, because in corporate salons they don't have time! They are pushed to groom too many dogs in too short a space of time! They are pushed to up-sell! They have to answer phones. Many times they have to deal with the incompetence of other employees, including the salon manager. They are stressed as HELL! So NO they don't have time to do things the way they would if they made the rules!
Be patient at check in.
Corporate salons SUCK! Most of them are horribly mismanaged at best and being short staffed or incorrectly staffed is not the fault of anyone on the lower end of the food chain!
Rules come from idiots and ass holes who file lawsuits.
Self responsibility is the answer.
Truth.
No Apologies.
