From Clippers To Class Rooms: Pet Grooming Education with Hound Therapy

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How Did Your Grooming Academy Start?

The leap from clippers to classrooms didn’t start as a dream. It started as a need. We kept meeting groomers with years of experience who were still missing core skills, and clients who expected consistent results without understanding the craft behind them. So we built a curriculum and a culture that treats grooming as a profession, not just a trade, and the difference shows up in safety, quality, and respect.

We walk through what standards really mean in a pet salon. Yes, AKC patterns shape our technique, but most dogs aren’t headed to a show ring. They’re seniors with sensitive skin, puppies learning table manners, or couch companions with busy owners. That’s why we teach judgment alongside scissors: when to modify a pattern, how to prioritize skin health over style, and how to balance client wishes with humane care. Standardized education raises the floor for salons everywhere—clear sanitation, behavior protocols, drying safety, tool choices—and gives groomers the language to explain pricing and set boundaries.

If you’ve ever thought grooming was just puppy cuddles, we lay out the truth. The job is physical, time-pressured, and often thankless. We talk about standing all day, handling difficult dogs with calm hands, and keeping your cool when clients minimize matting or training gaps. Professionalism is more than a smile; it’s clear intake, honest assessments, documented conditions, and the courage to say “not today” when safety is at risk. We share how we broke down our own muscle memory into teachable steps, created a flow that students can rely on, and built a pathway for new groomers to grow without picking up bad habits.

By the end, you’ll understand why education isn’t a luxury but the backbone of better salons, healthier pets, and sustainable careers. If you’re exploring grooming as a career or you’re a pet parent who wants the best care, this conversation offers a transparent look at the craft, the standards, and the human skills that make it work. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves dogs, and leave a review to tell us what topic you want next.

To learn more about Hound Therapy visit:
https://www.HoundTherapy.com
Hound Therapy
3509 E Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
469-367-0009

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_03 (00:03):
Welcome to Tale Talk Grooming Chronicles with House
Therapy, the podcast where wetalk all things pet grooming,
daycare, academy, and more.
Hosted by Shannon and Tanya ofHouse Therapy, serving pet
owners across North Texas.
We're here to share expert tips,hilarious pet stories, and the
inside scoop on keeping yourfurry friends happy and healthy.

(00:26):
Our motto, humanity over vanity.
And don't worry, we don't fight.
Let's get started.
Who let the dogs go?

unknown (00:37):
Who let the dogs go?

SPEAKER_02 (00:39):
What happens when groomers become teachers?
We're diving into the growingworld of grooming education and
how it shapes the nextgeneration of pet professionals.
Welcome back, everyone.
I'm Sophia Yvet, co-host andproducer back in the studio with
Shannon and Tanya, professionalgroomers at Hound Therapy.
Hi ladies, how's it going today?

(01:01):
We're good.
How are you?
I'm good and I'm great.
Um, happy to be back with youboth.
Now let's jump right in.
From clippers to classrooms.
Pet grooming education is such apowerful shift.
What inspired you to take yourgrooming experience into the
teaching space and start shapingthe future of pet professionals?

SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
Well, it started as a need um versus a want, uh, for
sure.
Um, I I will say that sogrooming is uh is uh it's always
been a trade.
It's now gone to from from atrade to a profession.
And uh I saw that firsthand um,you know, when we opened here,
trying to find groomers thatcame in that were in the trade

(01:46):
of grooming, but they were notprofessional groomers.
And so there's, you know, we'restill unregulated, we still have
so many things, uh,professionalism to teach.
There's so many things that justare are are un that are lacking
and and the profession, which isthe term that we use now versus
our trade.
And there's a little bit ofboasting in that.

(02:07):
So um we weren't seeing thestandards that that you know, 13
years, 14 years, and they didn'tknow how to do a standard
regular schnauzer pattern.
Um, that being said, you know,we do grooming.
So for for people who are notgoing to a show tomorrow, their
talk is sitting on the couch,uh, and they have specific
needs.

(02:27):
So being able to know that uhand being able to do that are
two very separate things.
So we started school here out ofa need, uh out of uh a need of
professionals who wanted to stepout of the trade world and work,
walk into the professional worlddoing a trade.
Um, the lack of standardizing ingrooming, uh, it's just

(02:50):
education, yeah, we it needs tochange.

SPEAKER_00 (02:52):
It has like something at some point has to
go.
Like you have so to me, you havea lot of un not really
uneducated, but just groomersthat don't know how to do it
improperly.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (03:06):
And it's, you know, if you're teaching um a step
that is not, you know, in ahandbook somewhere, and there
are not very many handbooks.
There's we have an AKC standard.
That is what grooming standardhas been for the last 50 years.
Yeah.
Um, but we're not in a show.
Our standard is very different.
Uh, we need to have a standardof professionalism, and and we

(03:28):
don't.
You don't have that across theboard.
Uh, and it's just it's propertraining elevates our pricing,
it helps the the the quality,uh, it helps get and earn
respect when you look at aclient and you're like, look,
I've been, I'm professional.
These are all things that weneed to have.

SPEAKER_00 (03:46):
And I will say if you walk into those
unprofessional salons, like youknow it pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_01 (03:51):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (03:52):
I mean it's night and day difference.

SPEAKER_01 (03:54):
Yeah.
The business of education is awhole separate um business of
than than dog grooming.
So it's uh, you know, we're doggroomers and now we're we're
educators.
So it's which is an odd shift.
And there's been groomers thathave been teaching grimmers for
years and years.
Um it's the we have to take astep back on what they've been

(04:16):
teaching and what you've beentaught.
I was taught AKC regulations umwith a a slight twitch to make
the client happy.
So I was taught the AKC standardway, but I was also taught by
somebody who's very professionaland worked in the professional
world of dog grooming uh forshows.

(04:36):
So we just have that lack.
There's a there there became adisconnect for sure.
And um it's really difficult tofind that fine line.
Um so yeah, there's a lot uhcoming up with a curriculum, uh,
you know, as a as a dog groomer,like what to teach, how to teach
it.
We've we've got a really goodflow now.
It's written down and it's youknow, it's on papers and books.

SPEAKER_00 (05:00):
Teaching everybody your every little mm minuscule
move for the five.

SPEAKER_01 (05:03):
It's fun.
Yeah.
Um, but that's kind of how westarted.
Uh it it was more of a need.

SPEAKER_02 (05:09):
So my next question for you is what are some of the
most common misconceptions newstudents have about crew me?

SPEAKER_01 (05:16):
Oh gosh.
That it's fun.

SPEAKER_00 (05:18):
Or that it's easy.
That's the that's the best one.
Or I love this, I can do it.
Uh you some people just don'thave it.
Like some people have it, andthen some people you have to
really work for it, and othersjust the the disconnect.

SPEAKER_01 (05:33):
Yeah, well, I would say the m the myth the one the
number one thing that I thinkpeople do not understand is that
what we do, and I just said thisto a new um student coming in,
it is unappreciated.
Uh, the work that we do with theanimals that are here, um, the
ones that appreciate us the mostuh are the dogs that are

(05:54):
difficult and their owners knowthat they're difficult or
they're old or they've beenturned down.
But these big dogs that come inthat, you know, people they're
they live in a very privilegedhousehold.
They're overfed, you know,they're they're they're the
babies.
We get zero.
And it is a lot of work to trainthese dogs to stand on a table,

(06:14):
to blow dry them, to brush themout, physical work.
We stand all day.
We do not eat, we do not have ascheduled time to eat.
We are working on somebodyelse's schedule all of the time.
We have dogs jumping in ourface, uh, anal glands squirting
all over, nail clippings, youknow, hair in your eyes.
Nobody at the end says, Oh myGod, thank you so much for

(06:35):
everything you're doing.
Yeah, we don't get that.
You don't get that.
They get, oh, you know, Dozerlooks amazing.
Fluffy looks great.
Thanks, guys, but they're not,it's not a whole lot of things.

SPEAKER_00 (06:45):
It's almost like a lighthearted, like not even
lighthearted.

SPEAKER_01 (06:48):
I'm I'm sure it's genuine, but like and today's
today's workers, today'sstudents, people that are coming
into grooming, they're they'reeither in the corporate world uh
and they're coming here becausethey want, they want to be
appreciated and liked, or theyhaven't felt that obviously
where they are, they're making acareer change.
Yeah.
Um, or they think that this iseasy work.
Um, or we get young people thatcome in thinking, well, I love

(07:11):
dogs, so you know, this is thenext, this is the regional step.
Well, all of those are great.
We clean on a daily basis.
I mean, we are maids, we are umhairstylists, we are uh
trainers, we are uh vet techs,we are, you know, the entry
gateway to all things that areum infectious.

(07:33):
Uh, we have to know how tomaintain and treat every dog's
safety in here.
We have to know, you know, whatgood things look like, what what
smells are behaviorists.

SPEAKER_00 (07:44):
We're behaviorists.

SPEAKER_01 (07:45):
We're everything.
We're everything.
So it's it is it is a verydifficult, um, time-consuming
job to know that and to be ableto do that with a professional
attitude when somebody is quiteliterally looking at you and you
know that they're lying to you,you know that this dog is not
trained, you know that this dogwas not brushed yesterday, you

(08:08):
know that this hot spot didn'tdevelop overnight.
And you look straight at thesepeople and they look at you with
a smell like, oh no, it, I justdid it.
It it and they're proud of it.
Or you should put that up.
I can see that that coat wasmatted.
Yeah.
They're like, whatever, I don'tcare.
I've got to, you know, they'rethey're busy about their day.
They don't care about the jobthat we do from point A to B,

(08:31):
not wholeheartedly.
They want to drop off theiranimal, they want to have good
care and be well maintained andcome home looking and smelling
good, but they don't want to do,and and I've asked many, I said,
come back, look, let's take alook at your dog together.
I don't have time.
Uh, I do I have to?
I'm not prepared for this today.
You know, I'm like, well, okay.

(08:51):
Then we're just gonna chargeyou.
And they're like, okay, great,no problem.
So it's more of a moneyconsumption um than it is uh a
thankless job.
So people come into thisthinking that it's this high
rewarding, awesome thing thatwe're gonna play with puppies
all day.
And that is not at all the typeof uh profession that we are in.

(09:13):
It is it is a very delicatebalance.

SPEAKER_00 (09:16):
That's not your day-to-day anyway.
Like, yes, we get to play withpuppies.
Yes, it is fun some days, butthat's not every day.
You have to love the chaos.
Yes.

SPEAKER_01 (09:25):
Um and embrace the chaos.
Yes.
And if you don't, it's gonna bea very difficult job.
Um, you've got to learn to leaveyour stress at home.
Uh, we're not a stress, we are avery high-level stress uh
profession.
Uh it's it's difficult to doevery day and see the things
that we see every day andmaintain a smile when you know

(09:46):
that um, you know, this dog isnot being treated like it should
be.

SPEAKER_00 (09:49):
Um and not lose your faith in humanity.

SPEAKER_01 (09:52):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (09:53):
It's hard some days.

unknown (09:55):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (09:56):
So hopefully that answers some of your questions.

SPEAKER_02 (09:59):
Oh, yes, it it certainly does.
And I could only imagine whathigh stress you both are
surrounded by on the day-to-day.
Well, Shannon and Tanya, thankyou for sharing your passion for
teaching and elevating thegrooming industry.
We'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_03 (10:20):
That's a wrap for this episode of Tale Talk with
Hound Therapy.
Ready to book your pet's nextgroom daycare stay or grooming
academy tour?
Call us at 469-367-0009.
That's 469-367-0009 to schedulean appointment or visit us
online at www.houndtherapy.com,serving North Texas with expert

(10:46):
pet care.
Until next time, keep thosetails wagged.