Grooming Academy Showcase Pt 2: The Untold Reality of Professional Pet Care

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What is Life Like For A Groomer/ Grooming Instructor?

Ever wondered what really happens behind the scenes at a pet grooming salon? Shannon and Tanya of Hound Therapy take you on a wild, unfiltered journey through their daily reality as professional groomers and business owners serving North Texas.

The episode opens with a heart-wrenching yet ultimately uplifting emergency situation that unfolded that very morning. When Shannon stepped away for just one hour, the team faced two severely neglected poodle mixes covered in feces and matting "to the skin." What could have been a disaster became a testament to teamwork as three staff members carefully handled these elderly, at-risk dogs. The story takes a compassionate turn when they discover the owner had been hospitalized, prompting them to create a plan for ongoing support—perfectly embodying their motto "humanity over vanity."

Beyond this central story, Shannon and Tanya candidly share the physical demands and logistical challenges of their profession: "We don't eat or drink and there are no scheduled potty breaks." They discuss the constant interruptions, the chaos of managing a 3,500 square foot facility, and the delicate balance of training new groomers while maintaining quality and efficiency. Their honesty about business challenges offers valuable insights for anyone considering entrepreneurship in any field.

What shines through most clearly is their genuine passion for helping both animals and their humans, even on the most chaotic days. Their commitment to excellence is evident in their grooming academy's comprehensive training program, ensuring students receive 3-6 months of hands-on experience before working independently.

Want to see their expertise in action? Tune into their new weekly Facebook Live sessions every Wednesday from 1-2 PM, where they'll demonstrate grooming techniques and share more behind-the-scenes moments from their salon. Call 469-367-0009 or visit houndtherapy.com to schedule your pet's next appointment with these dedicated professionals who truly understand what it means to put pets first.

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 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Tail Talk Grooming Chronicles with Hound
Therapy, the podcast where wetalk all things pet grooming,
daycare academy and more.
Hosted by Shannon and Tanya ofHound Therapy serving pet owners
across North Texas, we're hereto share expert tips, hilarious
pet stories and the inside scoopon keeping your furry friends

(00:25):
happy and healthy.
Our motto humanity over vanity.
And don't worry, we don't bite.
Let's get started.
Who let the dogs out?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Who let the dogs out.
It's not just shampoo and bows.
Grooming is fast-paced,physical and full of surprises.
Shannon and Tanya pull back thecurtain on the wild, rewarding
and sometimes downright chaoticlife of a groomer and grooming
instructor.

(00:57):
Welcome back everyone.
I'm Sofia Yvette, co-host andproducer.
Back in the studio with Shannonand Tanya, professional
groomers at Hound Therapy.
Hi ladies, how's it going today?
It's good.
How are you?
I'm good.
Now let's dive into the reallife hustle.
What's the insane life of agroomer and grooming instructor

(01:19):
really like?

Speaker 3 (01:21):
I would just say, yeah, it's a lot Ins sure.
Um, I we've said this on one ofour other podcasts before it's.
You know we don't eat or drinkand we have to.
There's no scheduled pottybreaks.
You know we deal with a lot, of, a lot of different types of
personalities, both for humanand for dogs.
Um, today, for instance, we'regoing to give you a feel good

(01:43):
story.
I guess today was I had adoctor's appointment.
That's bittersweet but it'llend good.
So I had to leave and I Iusually help and kind of oversee
a lot of the harder, um, olderbite of your dogs, just because
I've had a little bit moreexperience here than than
everybody else.
But today I had a doctor'sappointment and we have dogs
that we've done before and I'mlike she left us, We've got,

(02:03):
we've got it, you can do this.
And I came in and everyone justlooked at the best way to
describe it is just frazzled.
They just looked like I've beengone for a week.
It felt like it.
It was at our doctor'sappointment.
I was there.
I was gone an hour.
Um, I'll let Tanya tell youwhat happened, I guess so.

Speaker 4 (02:25):
So, after shannon abandoned us for the day she was
only gone for like an hour wehad two dogs come in.
We, um, we actually said it acouple weeks ago that we hadn't
seen these dogs in a while.
Um gentleman is, you know, anolder um gentleman, and he has
two dogs.
Well, they're both poodle mixes.
He brought these dogs in andthey were in pretty bad shape Um

(02:50):
one significantly worse thanthe other, but still both pretty
bad matting, yeah, um and feces.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, they were in bad shape.
They were covered in feces.
It looked like they had beenkept in a kennel for a long
period of time and they hadsevere matting to the skin.
It looked like a junkyard dogis the best way to describe it
with hair, or it looked likethese poor things were living on
the roads for a long, long time.

Speaker 4 (03:18):
So I mean, our best case scenario is we do what we
can we.
They were saved best for thedog.
We will shave them.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
They looked like little bitty rats, but that is
what they needed they werehowling milky eyes when I come
in and you know there's threepeople on one little tiny I
maybe this big 10 pound dog, ifthat and I'm like happening.
I mean, I've only been gone foran hour so they were able to
get both of them shaved.

(03:45):
They let him rest, I washed one.
We were able to get all of theyou know gook and guck out of
their feet and their face.
And the long and the short ofthis is that you know the team
stepped up.
They were able to work togetherand get done what needed to get
done in a safely manner.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
They were afraid of seizures, the dogs you know one
of the older one had a strokebefore, so I didn't want to
stress him out too bad.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
So we, you know we did what we could do and by the
time I got here they were, youknow, a little stressed out.
So I went ahead and bathed one.
But I called the owner andexplained to him I'm like, look,
you know, this is, we're goingto have to like we've spent a
lot of time and effort on thesedogs and I've got half of my
staff, um, yeah, on one dog andthey're going to be on your next
dog's later.
So we're going to have tocharge you a little bit of a

(04:29):
handling fee.
And he was fine and then toldme he'd been in the hospital in
and out.
So, um, you know, we want tohelp him on the backend.
I mean, we're already spendingthe time and the effort now.
So we do have to charge him,for you know we're in business.
That said, he was totally finewith it and said you know, take
your time, do what you have todo.
And you know we did.

Speaker 4 (04:48):
And we are very good, very sweet.
They're just elder, they'rejust older dogs.
Yeah, so you just have to takeyour time and he knew they, yeah
.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
So I said if you get down this road, you know again.
You know, just call us, we'lleither we'll make arrangements,
we'll give you a discounts onyour grooming moving forward.
You know, if you know you'regoing to be in a hospital or
you're there and you can't getto the dogs, we'll try to make
arrangements or see, if we wereable to, to hopefully work
something out for him in thelong run.

(05:22):
Because it's hard, it's reallydifficult when you're looking at
your dog and you're like, ooh,that's sad.
That's just one of the stories.
That's just today.
I mean, that literally happenedthis morning.
We had another dog yesterdaythat had a little flip out with
the water and had to call theowner and say, look, you might
want to come get your dog wet.
We don't want to stress themout anymore.
We've got students that are inhere that are learning and you

(05:44):
know our students we don't dodiscounted grooms.
Our students are full-fledgedscreamers by the time they move
up to the front.
They've put in a good three tosix months of learning how to
handle a clipper and scissorsbefore they're in here, which is
more than I would say any bigbox retailer store allows
anybody before they come in andgroom.
So our students here are very,very good, but they're slow.

(06:07):
So for us it's like, oh gosh,we've got to deal with that.
We've got to constantly be.
We're on with the phones, I'lllook up and I'll walk from my
table to halfway to the back andsomebody's like called me four
times and I'm like, can I justhave to pee?
Can I answer it when I get back?
And I'll look up and I'm likecrap, I forgot to pee and it's

(06:28):
an hour later, are?

Speaker 4 (06:29):
you happy?
Or you have these days too, oflike it's just constant Shannon,
shannon, tanya, tanya.
And I'm like what?

Speaker 3 (06:37):
I say almost every day.
I'm like if I had a nickel forevery time somebody said my name
or rich.
I wonder every time somebodycould say my name today I don't
even want to count it outKeeping up with the changes in
the trends.
You know it's difficult.
We've got to.
We're not only working ourbusiness but we're running our
business.
You know we're here, we want toeducate, we want to, we want to

(06:58):
do a good job and we want toplease our business.
You know we're here, we want toeducate, we want to, we want to
do a good job and we want toplease our customers.
And so pleasing everybody, it'sjust, it's difficult.
We can't please everyone.
We're, we're aware, we try, butwe are aware that you know it's
an impossible task.
So we do the best we can bestfoot forward.
But you know the AC goes outand you know somebody's car's

(07:20):
broken.
Somebody calls their dog islate.
They're going to be here in anhour.
Somebody else has a big dog.
They're not going to make itbecause they stubbed their toe.
It's just.
It's always one thing afteranother.
We're always on somebody else'stime, we're always borrowed,
but we absolutely love what wedo and we love being able to
help the people that are here,even though it was a very
stressful morning for the girls.

(07:41):
Yeah we did it.
We're fine.
It really worked out reallywell and I think we've got like
a lifelong client out of it.
Not to mention, we feel like wecan help the dogs and help the
people.
We're still figuring outregular business.
Anybody who's thinking aboutgetting into business.
Business is hard.
Business is not just knowinghow to do your business.
It's hard, so it's just yeah,we're struggling with a lot of

(08:03):
stuff, I think the same thingsthat most groomers deal with.
We don't have a mobile, but allof those driving around getting
to and from making yourappointments on time, making
sure that did you call.
Did you call communication justbetween our staff here?
You know we have 3,500 squarefoot of hey, we're constantly
screaming at each other and youknow we joke around and have a

(08:24):
good time.
We're going to be doing aFacebook live every Wednesdays
from one to two, so tune in ifyou want to just watch us being
silly and you can see some ofthe dogs.
Yeah, We'll groom some dogs.
We'll explain what we're doing.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
You can see, hopefully the uh, all the good
dogs, hopefully they're all goodbut you'll get to see the ones
that aren't, and we'll go intodepth as we do those too.
So wow well, shannon and tanya,that truly was a wild ride that
you shared with us today.
Thank you both for sharing thereal, raw and rewarding sides of

(08:56):
the grooming life.
We'll catch you next time onTail Talk Grooming Chronicles.
Have a great day, all right,thank you.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
That's a wrap for this episode of Tail Talk with
Hound Therapy.
Ready to book your pet's nextdaycare stay or grooming academy
tour?
Call us at 469-367-0009 that's469-367-0009 to schedule an
appointment, or visit us onlineat wwwhoundtherapycom.

(09:33):
Serving north texas with expertpet care.
Until next, keep those tailswagging.