Why Is Salon Hygiene The First Step To Wellness?
The moment you walk into a pet grooming salon, your nose knows. That distinctive "doggy smell" isn't just unpleasant—it's a telltale sign of hygiene practices that could affect your pet's health. Shannon and Tanya, professional groomers at Hound Therapy, discuss what really happens behind the scenes in grooming salons and why cleanliness matters more than you might think.
"Humanity over vanity" isn't just their motto—it's evident in how meticulously they approach salon hygiene. From the surprising truth about what causes ear infections (hint: it's not water from bathing) to the importance of non-porous surfaces that can be properly disinfected, these experts share practical wisdom gained from years of experience. They emphasize that disease prevention starts with the smallest details—cleaning underneath drain covers, sanitizing tools between each pet, and getting on hands and knees to scrub daycare pens with toothbrushes.
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is the transparency about an unregulated industry. Without standardized cleanliness protocols for pet groomers, consumers must know what questions to ask and signs to look for when choosing a groomer. Shannon and Tanya encourage pet parents to trust their instincts, take facility tours, and ask direct questions about sanitization practices. After all, your pet's health depends on more than just a stylish haircut—it begins with the invisible aspects of cleanliness that truly professional groomers prioritize every day.
Wondering if your current groomer measures up? Listen to this essential episode for the inside scoop on keeping your furry friends healthy and safe. Your pet deserves a grooming environment that's as clean as it is caring—and now you'll know exactly what to look for.
To learn more about Hound Therapy visit:
https://www.HoundTherapy.com
Hound Therapy
3509 E Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
469-367-0009
Episode Transcript
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.
From sparkling tools tosanitized tubs, shannon and
Tanya reveal how a cleangrooming space sets the tone for
pet health and peace of mind.
Welcome back everyone.
I'm Sofia Yvette, co-host andproducer, back in the studio
with Shannon and Tanya,professional groomers at Hound
Therapy.
(00:57):
Hi guys, how's it going today?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
It's great.
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Great.
Thank you so much for askingNow.
Today's topic is all aboutcleanliness.
Tell us why salon hygiene isthe first step to wellness, Our
most favorite thing.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yes, Well, I love to clean.
So cleaning is my.
I love it.
Whenever we're slow, we deepdive and we deep clean into
everything.
Every nook every cranny clean.
So let's start with the obviousright Animal to animal
transmitted diseases and humanto animal transmitted diseases.
Nobody wants them, nobody wantsto spread them Like everything
(01:38):
else.
It's pretty much common sense,right, you need to keep your
dogs vaccinated, healthy andwell.
But if your dog is sick andsometimes they get sick even
though they are vaccinated theygo out and about, they catch
colds just like we do, and theypick up things you know, in the
air.
They've got allergies, earinfections, there's a lot of
things and some misconceptionsabout how those things are
spread.
So some of them are from surfaceto surface.
(02:01):
So we use porous surfaces hereon everything.
We've got concrete.
Our concrete is sealed.
What is not a porous surface iswood or linoleum, carpet, glass
.
Anything with porous is not.
Yeah, you've got to be able to.
If you cannot bleach it, todisinfect it with water without
(02:23):
destroying it, then it is not asafe, transferable environment
or type of material that youwant to use.
So if you've got a dog kennel,you notice they're made out of
plastic.
They're easily disinfected andcleaned.
If your dog has got, you know,sick or diarrhea in there, you
want to pull that out completelyand make sure that it's been
cleaned on top, bottom andunderneath.
So those are some.
(02:43):
Those are some just things thatyou need to look at in in the
grooming service If you walk in,and let's just get with the
obvious.
If it smells that's just.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
stay there, just don't stay.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
It's off footing.
Nobody wants to walk into ashop and have this pungent.
Oh my, we do dogs in here.
It smells like pee or poop or itsmells like dirty dogs.
You don't want your shop tosmell like that.
Now I'm not saying that.
You know from time to time wewalk in and you know we've got a
lot of dogs that have justwalked in and they're all smelly
.
And you know you can kind ofwalk in and smell in the heat of
(03:17):
summer day, but it's nottypical for us to have our shop
that smells bad.
So if you are walking to a shopit does not smell good.
The chances of themdemonstrating hygiene and
cleanliness over a period oftime is probably less than
positive.
So definitely your nose shouldbe able to do 90 of the work,
for you ask to walk around andlook and see our towels put up.
(03:40):
Are they in a covered bin?
Does the tub, is it smell likesewer when you walk in or walk
past our tubs here, get hairdown them.
Every single day we clean outour drains because fleas can
live in those.
Hair can live in there, whichthen grows algae and it will
back up your drain and it's justawful we have backflow systems
terrible.
(04:00):
Oh, it's awful.
Our vacuum cleaners, you knowthose get gross and disgusting,
so we hose those out.
I mean, and it's just awful, wehave backflow systems and it
smells terrible.
Oh, it's awful.
Our vacuum cleaners, you knowthose get gross and disgusting,
so we hose those out.
I mean, it's the little thingsthat you don't see.
Those are the things that smelland when you use a wet, dry vac
it sucks it up and it puts allof that air back into the shop
because it's, you know, it's gotto blow air out of something.
So common sense is is probablyyour best, you know.
(04:22):
Number one defense in thatlet's go with the less common
things, like the ear infections.
You know I have, like, pleasedon't wash my dog's ear.
It got soaked in it last timeand it caused an ear infection.
That is not how an earinfection starts.
An ear infection does not startfrom us washing your dog and it
does not happen because therewas some shampoo that got into
(04:46):
the bottom of that dog's earcanal.
Shampoos are disinfectants,regardless of whether they say
or don't say, water that getsinto a dog's ear can cause a
yeast infection or an infectiondue to the fact that your dog
has yeast, especially if it's abig floppy ear.
Another way you can transferwould be if we use hemostats to
(05:06):
pull the ear hair or if they'vegot a little bit of a brownness
or a smell to them.
Our hemostats we have 50, 60pairs here, easily just off the
top of my head and after we pullear hair or we stick anything
down inside of a dog's ear, wewill stick it in barbicide,
which is a hospital leveldisinfectant and that makes sure
(05:27):
that it kills any bacteria oranything that's on that, and
then we pull them out and cleanit.
So we aren't using the sametools.
The same thing with blades.
If I'm going over a dog that'sgot something that looks like
ringworm or mites or somethingthat's really yeasty or gross
and I'm not sure what it is, I'mnot going to reuse that blade
on another dog.
We do clean and disinfect ourblades with a five in one in
(05:50):
between every dog when they'rehere.
It not only helps the blade butit does keep any kind of
disease from transmitting fromone animal to another, not to
mention that, you know, if wetouch those blades same thing.
We want to wash our hands inbetween because we don't want
them.
I don't want unmentionables onme.
No, no, thank you.
So a lot of these things thatwe use, and we've kind of made a
(06:11):
hybrid of it because you know,we've got cosmetology degrees
and barber degrees and so thestate of Texas has basically
said hey look, this is what youhave to have to disinfect, what
chemicals you should andshouldn't use.
We don't necessarily have thatprotocol for dog groomers
because, again, once again,unregulated, I just can't say it
(06:35):
in enough episodes.
But because we don't have that,it's not that people maybe
don't know that, it's that theydon't take the time, because
they don't understand theimportance of the little things.
And for us here it's the littlethings.
We have tile on the back of thewalls.
We clean, we hose the wallsdown.
We have drains.
We pick up the drain lids andclean underneath and behind them
(06:57):
, and we do this because we knowthat things can get stuck in
the nooks and crannies.
And I mean we even take likescrewdrivers and toothbrushes to
our daycare pen, Like it's likeyou see us on our hands and our
knees and we're scrubbing andjust because nothing will fall
through the cracks.
These are areas that you don'tsee and they but they've got to
(07:18):
be clean and they're areas thatwill build up and and they and
they can be, you know, a veryexpensive cost to you if you've
gotten some place and theyhaven't taken just the smallest
and easiest of steps.
And I mean, it's not hard.
The hemostats are not expensive, you know, it's not hard to,
and they only soak for 10minutes.
(07:38):
So there's no reason thatgroomers shouldn't be doing
these types of things.
But I would say the telltale isfor sure.
Let's, let's take a sniff, takea smell and then ask hey, can I
walk around?
What is your?
You know, if I leave my doghere, is my dog safe?
You know, do you feel safe?
Do you feel, you know, uneasy?
(07:59):
And if you do, then, you know,go in a little bit more
thoroughly and ask you know,what do you use to clean?
It should be something withbleach or a disinfectant.
They have kennel sides, theyhave barber sides for kennels,
they've got.
They have everything but lightdrop of Lysol and bleach, you
know, are the most common andthey're not overly expensive, so
(08:20):
there's no reason not to usethem.
No, not at all.
We don't use smells or anythinglike that.
We don't burn incense or you,you know, have Febreze to try to
mask an odor.
So if a dog takes a big oldpoop in the back when you walk
in, it might smell like poop,but it's just because he pooped
when he got here.
So, other than lighting a matchand blowing it out, it's, it is
(08:46):
what it is.
So, but for the most part, youcan walk around and you can see
that our shop is clean and it's,it is what it is.
So, but for the most part, youcan walk around and you can see
that our shop is clean, uh, and,and it's, it's an important,
it's a very, very important step, and I feel like people should
just, you know, be more aware.
Use your gut instincts, forsure.
Yeah yeah definitely, yeah, I, Iagree.
Hopefully that answers somequestions for there and would,
hoping, make some people feel alittle bit more easy about you
(09:09):
know, leaving your dog,especially with us, and we're
more than happy we have an opensalon to show you around.
But if you've moved or you'regoing around.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
I will parade them around the shop.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
I'll take their hand and skip throughout the shop,
Take a little peek and lookaround, use your best judgment,
you know, ask if they vaccinate,if you have dogs here that are
good and well behaved.
We do unneuter dogs, so we doget some hikers, but we have a
little you know wrap if it getsout of control, to keep them
from hiking all over stuff.
But then again we, you know, webleach it and hose it right
down and if it's uncleanable wethrow it away and move on.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Yeah, Well, thanks for lifting the curtain on what
keeps Hound Therapy safe andsparkling.
This is a great reminder thatwellness starts with cleanliness
.
See you next time, see youlater.
Have a great rest of the day.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
That's a wrap for this episode of Tail 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 schedule an appointment.
Or visit us online atwwwhoundtherapycom.
(10:27):
Serving North Texas with expertpet care.
Until next time, keep thosetails wagging.
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