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06-02-2009, 08:05 PM | #1 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Fairfield, Ohio
Posts: 832
| Groomers Please Read!! Ok so I'm looking into going to school to be a groomer. Now this may sound like a dumb question but I was wondering if you needed a license to be a groomer. I talked to the school today and it's more like a community college, but I can actually afford this place and they didn't offer much information, the lady was kind of rude so I just got off the phone with her. Anyway I do know that i'll get a certificate at the end of the program but I wanted to make sure that was what I needed to become a groomer. I just need information and I'm at a loss lol, so any info anyone can give me would be great!!
__________________ Ashley & Bandit |
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06-03-2009, 12:12 AM | #2 |
Don't Litter Spay&Neuter Donating Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: So Cal
Posts: 9,874
| I just got a certificate to hang on the wall in my future pet spa. Which reminds me, gotta go shopping for a frame.
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06-03-2009, 05:51 AM | #3 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Fairfield, Ohio
Posts: 832
| ok, thanks for answering!! I wanted to make sure that's all I was supposed to get from this school. It's so cheap I can't pass it up. School starts in September. What I want to do is take the course and then volunteer at a shelter that a friend runs and I will take before and after pictures of every dog and kind of get a portfolio started so that way when I go to get a job I have something to show, and customers will see the kind of work I do. And it will make me feel good doing something for the shelter animals, I'd say it will help them get adopted out if they are clean and groomed. And then after all that I want to open my own shop. Me and my DH are going to be buying a house either this fall or early next year and we plan on getting a few acres and we will build a building that I can run my shop out of.
__________________ Ashley & Bandit |
06-03-2009, 07:07 AM | #4 | |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Abbotsford, BC
Posts: 2,060
| Quote:
I would recommend, if you can, visit some grooming shops and talk to owner/operator groomers, not places like Pet Smart etc. You want the opinion of a groomer that has their own business and been it minimum 5 years. I did that 17 years ago now and what I asked them is where to go for training so that I can come out of it knowing how to groom. Unfortunately, like most things today, things are not regulated. If you are just wanting to learn a bit about grooming your own dog, likely the Community College might be ok. If you are looking to become a groomer, check around first. Bona fide schools are not cheap. Having said that, not all of them can turn out a groomer that can tehn go work in a shop. I was referred to a guy that had his own shop, had groomed all breeds for about 20 years, had St. Poodles that he showed and breed in dog shows and I was told, if he takes me on as a student, I will come out knowing the business and won't have trouble finding a job. The advice was correct. I worked in shops for about a year, the second year I worked PT in shops and started my mobile. By the end of that year, my mobile was too busy so I quit the shops and worked for myself ever since. Grooming is not what you might think it is. It is hard work. | |
06-03-2009, 07:10 AM | #5 |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Abbotsford, BC
Posts: 2,060
| Forgot to mention, I never had a certificate from the guy I took the training. His name was all I needed to get jobs and work, he was well known in the area i lived in at the time and had trained others who had their own businesses after they finished their training. Training is ongoing once you are done with your training in that from there, you learn as you go. It takes a minimum 5 years experience and more to really learn the trade. You are going to learn how to handle equipment, how to make a dog look cute, how to handle a dog especially the difficult one, and handling owners is no walk in the park either in some cases. |
06-03-2009, 07:44 AM | #6 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Fairfield, Ohio
Posts: 832
| Thanks for the great info. I haven't signed up for the classes yet, I can't until July, which I figured gives me enough time to figure out if that is where I should be going. There isn't really many options for grooming school around where I live. most the schools are about 2 hours away at least. I have a full time job working in an office right now and I have to work while going to school, I can't leave here until I have a job as a groomer that will pay decent enough, so I will have to do it all part time until then. I know it is going to be very hard work and that's actually what i'm looking forward to. Like I said I work in an office and I sit on my butt all day, I've been doing it for 3 years. I'm always bored. Well before I got into office work every job I had was physical. I worked for Meijer in their layaway department, and let me tell ya, you can't be a slacker and do that job, I also unloaded trucks. I went to Cosmetology school in 2003-2004 because I was pushed into it (that's why I didn't finish it). I need a challenge, and working with dogs would be a challenge and a reward. i love animals so much, I always said when I was little I would have my own no kill shelter lol well I think this is a step in the right direction. This just feels right to me. Anyways I've said enough for now! Thanks for the info!!
__________________ Ashley & Bandit |
06-03-2009, 10:59 AM | #7 |
Don't Litter Spay&Neuter Donating Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: So Cal
Posts: 9,874
| Groomers don't need licenses or need to take tests like hair stylist. All that my certificate states is that I went to a grooming school, trained to be a groomer & took the pet hygenist & certified groomer courses. Also pet cpr. It will look nice framed on the wall of my future pet spa...but really when it comes down to it, it's how the dogs turn out...& word of mouth. Right now in the state of Ca, grooming scgools don't need to be regulated but do meet minimum state requirements. Lorraine gave very good advise.
__________________ Last edited by mimimomo; 06-03-2009 at 11:02 AM. |
06-03-2009, 11:44 AM | #8 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Fairfield, Ohio
Posts: 832
| Thanks!! Yes she did give very good advice and I am going to take that advice and do my homework before I make any moves. I don't want to end up going to a school that will do me no good. Thank you both for replying!!
__________________ Ashley & Bandit |
06-03-2009, 12:03 PM | #9 |
YT 1000 Club Member | I've been thinking of getting certified to groom myself. There is only one groomer in my town that I know of at the moment. I take Roxie there and I do like the groomer alot. She does a great job with Roxie. She's so booked she's not accepting new clients right now. This makes me think I wouldn't be stepping on her toes if I started up my own. How long does it take to get certified and how much hands on training do you get? Hope it's ok that I jumped into this thread with these questions?
__________________ "My sunshine doesn't come from the skies, it comes from the love in my dogs eyes" |
06-03-2009, 12:19 PM | #10 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Fairfield, Ohio
Posts: 832
| No I don't mind you jumping in at all!! Well the only school that I've found close to me is Great Oaks, and for the two courses (they split it up into two) it costs a little under $400, but I've heard others on here that say it's expensive, one even said somewhere along the lines of $2600, so I think the course I would be taking isn't going to be reputable, but i have to find that out first. I think you starting a shop would be a good idea if there is only one and she's not accepting new clients, that sounds like a dream come true to me lol. Oh forgot to add, the school i'm looking into is 14 weeks long and 42 hours, the first course is 3 days a week and the second is only 2 days a week.
__________________ Ashley & Bandit |
06-03-2009, 12:24 PM | #11 |
Don't Litter Spay&Neuter Donating Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: So Cal
Posts: 9,874
| Ugh, my typos! Maybe you can do an apprenticeship under her & she can train you. You can start off as a bather & at the same time be helping her work more efficiently. A classmate was from Dakota & she said the same thing, that the groomer in her town was always booked & she'll go back & ask her if she can work w/her. I think it's a great idea. I attended a grooming school that was only 5 wks long & cost about $2800. We started working on real dogs on the second day, totally hands on. I started a mobile grooming job as soon as I got out of school.
__________________ Last edited by mimimomo; 06-03-2009 at 12:27 PM. |
06-03-2009, 02:19 PM | #12 |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Abbotsford, BC
Posts: 2,060
| I did two months training under his guidance in his grooming shop. I apprenticed for another 3 months or so at min. wage at that time $6/hr. Then when I worked in a shop where I was hired, going rate was 40% commission, eventually got to 50% before i left. Some pay by the hour, wage or commission will depend on experience. That you would want to check out as well, how much your area pays for a groomer. It is hard work and in the first years until you get experience behind you, you don't make much money really. After the first year, I found I didn't like working in shops, launched my own mobile business and never looked back. Now I work for myself and have done since 1992. |
06-03-2009, 03:40 PM | #13 |
Donating YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Fairfield, Ohio
Posts: 832
| One question, what kind of shop do you suggest i try to get an apprenticeship with....like a more franchised one or one that is like owned by somebody that just started their own?? I know I will NOT go to Petsmart, I hate them!! They will never touch my baby again. One more reason I want to go to school, I don't really trust other people with my baby lol. I want to provide people with quality not quantity like Petsmart does.
__________________ Ashley & Bandit |
06-03-2009, 05:02 PM | #14 | |
Donating YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Abbotsford, BC
Posts: 2,060
| Quote:
You don't want to go to a place where someone just owns the place and hires groomers to groom for them. Those places are like Petsmart which you already experienced are not good. There would not be anyone there to train you anyway as no really good groomer would stay there for long, some might for short term to get onto a better shop. I prefer my own business but not until you get enough training and experience and that takes time. | |
06-04-2009, 04:55 AM | #15 |
YT 1000 Club Member | Great info!! I know there is a school in a town about 20 miles if that from here. I'll have to give them call and see what I can find out. Last time I took Roxie to her groomer she had someone in there working on dogs too. She seemed to be coaching her so maybe she already has an apprentice. Not sure I'll ask next time I go. Little thing I want to add....the state of Illinois has now decided to add sales tax to dog grooming. I just wonder how this will affect the dog grooming business with the economy like it is. So many have already cut back on having dogs groomed but now this will hike the price up just that much more. Has or does anyone elses state do this?
__________________ "My sunshine doesn't come from the skies, it comes from the love in my dogs eyes" |
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