Over these many years moving clients, friends and family ask me things like.. “How do I find a reputable grooming salon? What do I look for?”. These questions I know are ones every pet parent askes at some point during their pet relationship. You could be moving to a new area or your family lifestyle has changed causing you to reevaluate your expenses or even most commonly you have experienced something causing you to reevaluate your current relationship of services with an existing groomer or salon. The purpose of this is to aid in answering how to look for that service provider to suit your grooming needs.

We all love our pets, these days more so than in the past I think. We, as a society, find ourselves treating our beloved pets more like family members. This shift in relationship interactions causes us to seek the best treatment from the service providers who help us with their health and wellness care. Now there is a lot that goes into caring for your pet. I’m only going to address the topic of grooming services and how you can find one who suits your needs.

Now years ago, before technology,  when I entered this industry the only ways a pet owner could find a groomer or salon were by word of mouth from trusted friends, family and neighbors and a paper telephone book. For a groomer or salon these were how they grew their client base. I admit word of mouth in many parts of the world still holds to be the best advertisement any business can have. It now has another form which I’ll be getting to. The Second way was the phone book. It was a very small investment to be listed and in some cases free even. During the time I reference, groomers were small one man shows and there were no big box shops unlike now. Now you have lots of choice and that is the issue. How do you sift through all this choice when this industry has no governing licensing or standardization you can research? 

I'm sure you will admit technology has made things very convenient and easier in many cases. It is an integral part of our everyday existence almost to a fault. This technology, alone with personal references gives us access to a huge pool of feedback when looking to research something in the form of referrals and ratings. Likewise in the replacement of phone books. Search engines give us the access we need for research from the comfort of our homes. 

Now it is important these days to realize and remember that larger companies can have teams or persons devoted to their technological footprint of their company brand. Smaller family owned  sole operated businesses may or maynot have a single toe in the technology pond.

Like the word of mouth referral the reviews and ratings of a shop or groomer will give you a broad brush view of how they perform their services. You can see from the reviews and ratings the positive and negative. Admittedly we all look at the negative ones first to see what the issue was. From these dwe can see how the company or groomer respond, if at all, which I must say if very telling.

Now as I continue I feel it is very important to bring some things to your attention and consideration. Remember the industry as a whole is not governed or licenced by any overseeing agency, it's considered a self regulating industry. Some states have guidelines that all businesses must adhere to and most states do not even address this industry at all. So it's up to you to “trust” who you do business with and with your beloved pet. Most all the people you will encounter in this industry are “animal people” not “people people”. This is an important fact you need to consider because you may experience personality conflicts in your search. These service providers prefer the company of animals over people so some customer service experiences might be lacking. Don't fault them rather try to understand pets can be consistent in their interaction, whereas as people, let's be honest, people can suck.

Now that you have a general personality consideration that you may deal with, lets get back to your issue of selection and your concerns.

So you have searched and discovered a technological footprint and gathered your references to narrow your options to consider. Now you're looking to answer a few questions. Questions like “Do they know what they are doing and can they do it safely?” “Will they treat my beloved pet well and with kindness and love?” and finally “ How much will it cost me?” You want to believe that the first two questions mentioned are your sole driving force and they are hugly that, ultimately it becomes the last. Cost is seginfitaly a larger determining factor for everyone due to everyone, including a business, is operating on some form of budget.

Check out your choices in person or call them to feel them out. Being in person you can accomplish many things all at once. You get to enter see the facility and its grounds, if any, which can aid in you determining if you are comfortable with the setup. Setup matters in how they conduct business, like in any business. You can see if it is clean and maintained well. Mostly you get a face to face interaction for your questions and feel them out on a personality level. Now remember my earlier consideration in this. You most importantly can ask questions, you also can do this over the phone only you get to experience the body language first hand unlike over the phone. 

So what to ask you might be wondering. How do you ask about things you don't even know to ask to be concerned with? Here are a few to help you along:

• How long have you been in business? 

  • Knowing if they are new or established can be helpful in understanding their knowledge level.

• Do they have any official training, certifications, awards or go to any industry expos? 

  • The answers can let you know if they invest in continuing education. If they are interested in keeping up on and evolving their craft and tools of the trade. This also lets you know the extent of their knowledge.

  • You can also subsequently ask if they are well versed in breed standard cuts. This knowledge will be directly related to how they will groom your pet. 

• Ask if you can tour their facility or see the grooming area.

  • This might not be possible depending on the individual business insurance coverage. If not permitted don't be upset about it they are not usually hiding anything from you.. Remember you're not allowed in the kitchen of your favorite restaurant for similar reasons. Business insurance doesn't cover patrons in certain areas. So it's really for your own safety that you are not allowed in.

• Ask for a consultation of your pet. This also can be done over the phone if not already offered.

  • By requesting in a consultation you and the groomer get to see first hand what's being dealt with. You get to witness the interaction with your beloved pet and they get a preview of the work they will encounter. You may get a more accurate quote of cost. They get to experience establishing a baseline for their future interactions.

So you can see there are lots of variables. And each salon or groomer conducts their individual business differently. Big box stores have things structured differently than a small independently run shop. You most likely experience a warmer feel and interaction with the small shop opposed to the corporate big box setup. Regardless of the orientation of the service you seek just remember it’s also a business and it and its people truly care about what they do and your pet is their client and first consideration in what they provide.