Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Meeting Valerie
After an evening spent drinking happily in the company of friends, morning came very early indeed on Sunday April 25th. I’d sent Valerie an email upon arriving home just before 1am, warning her that my arrival might be a little later than I’d planned. I was up until after 2am, but woke readily at 7 and was on the road by 7:30. I made excellent time, arriving at Valerie’s shop before 11. She had only Zen Chi, her own Maltese, there, for his weekly grooming. After a bit of a chat, Valerie bathed Zen Chi and demonstrated the tools of the trade for me.
The bathtub was mounted a couple feet off the ground, and was equipped with hooks for attaching a noose, as well as a bathing system that drew soapy water in and then sprayed it in a shower onto the dog. It saves the skin from excess rubbing, does a more thorough job than slopping shampoo onto a wet dog and then rubbing through, saves in the amount of shampoo used, and lessens the risk of getting a bite as the groomer is not leaning all over the dog and the hands aren’t threatening the dog. There’s also a high-velocity blower next to the tub, to blow off most of the water from the dog’s coat and legs. Not to be used on the face or ears, though – that air is MOVING. Valerie uses a variety of products for bathing. Not sure yet what shampoo we used, but we used diluted baby shampoo on the face, Dawn dishwashing detergent on and in the ears, and followed up with VO5 Strawberries and Creme cream rinse. Valerie always uses cream rinse, because it replenishes the oils the washing takes out of the skin. It enables her clients to use oil-based dispersing products like Frontline even right after getting a bath, which usually is not recommended, as there’s no skin oils left after the bath to disperse the product.
Valerie does not use blowdryers for the dogs. When she was finished bathing Zen Chi, she towel-dried him and put him into a crate with a regular box fan blowing on him. It keeps the hair fluffy and does not expose the skin to more drying-out.
While Zen Chi was drying, Valerie told me a bit about clipper blades. The higher the number, the less hair it leaves. It seems we will be using a #10 blade and a #7 blade most, I think. Of course, I didn’t touch the clippers at all, and only touched the scissors long enough to learn the correct way to hold them. Who knew there was a correct way, and that I hadn't known what it was? I learned about the kinds of scissors available, as well as rakes, clipper comb attachments, and slicker brushes. I’m not going to buy any equipment yet, I don’t think, but will start pricing out the list of things Valerie says I’ll need when I am ready to start working.
The only paying 'customers' Valerie had while I was there were two Cocker spaniels, Raven and Sasha. Raven gave Valerie a terrible time last time they were there (which was also the first time they were there) so she was prepared for him to be a total shit, which he was not. He reacted very well to me, and that fact as well as that Zen Chi seemed to tolerate me, if not actually like me, was what convinced Valerie that I may be worth training.
As Raven had been a double-handful last time, Valerie did all the bathing and handling of him, demoing technique again so that I could prepare to do Sasha. Which I did, and she gave me zero problems aside from amoeba-dogging as I tried to get her clean. I needed to be particularly careful to get all the eye-goobies, which were plentiful, as well as making sure to wash the pads out well. The feet must be clean as any dirt in them can harm the clipper blades when Valerie is trimming between the pads.
They got put in crates to dry under a stronger fan. When mostly dry, Valerie took Sasha first, and started with a very high-velocity dryer. Put the nozzle very close to the skin on body and legs, but hold far back from the ears, and only blow the outside of the ears. Hold the ear flaps so that they are not blown aside by the strong blast, because it could damage the ear canal. Don’t blow at all on the face. She then started trimming feet, getting out all the matted hair between the pads, and using scissors when necessary. The LIPS system she has attached to the grooming table is extremely helpful in restraining dogs as it’s infinitely adjustable. A series of lamp-cord chains in different lengths with spring clips liberally interspersed makes up the LIPS system, along with a stainless-steel tube attached securely to each short end of the table and running over the middle. It’s much sturdier than the one-sided grooming arm that I’ll be using when I start working on dogs.
Sasha was a complete sweetie, and, though shaking, she didn’t show the least amount of resistance. Sasha’s an older girl, and warty, so need to remember to be very careful when clipping so as not to hit the warts. Raven was muzzled for his trip to the table, and kept a watchful eye on Valerie, especially as she was doing his forefeet and ears. His ears were the biggest bugaboo for him, and several times he whacked his muzzle on the grooming post as he tried to whip his head around to warn Valerie off of whatever she was doing. She called it good correction, as he was doing it to himself and knew that he was doing it to himself. She had another customer come in while grooming Raven, and I told him what a good boy he was being while Valerie booked the appointment for the lady. She asked Valerie about breeding her dog (sight-unseen by Valerie!), even though she was dysplastic. Valerie was very diplomatic, saying that if the mom had hip dysplasia, all the pups would be predisposed as well, and she’d make unhealthy puppies, and the mom probably wouldn’t carry them very well either. A situation that I’d not considered, and I’ll need to learn customer-handling technique from Valerie too, as she gently discouraged this lady from breeding by making it seem that she was doing a service to dogdom by not inflicting pain on the mother or by producing puppies that would be in pain later.
Raven actually does try to be a good dog and he responds very well to praise, even kissing while muzzled. He is used to being boss at home, though, and it’s always stressful when dogs have to be boss. They do much better when muzzled, Valerie says, because it takes the stress of decision-making (to bite or not to bite?) away from them, and she can hug them and praise lavishly for good behavior without worrying about losing face. Literally.
Speaking of praise, Valerie says she hates it when owners come for their dogs too early, because the dogs go nuts when their folks are there, and the owners invariably coo and pet the dogs to settle them down, not realizing that they’re reinforcing the bad behavior by petting at the wrong time. This is yet another reason it’s a bad idea for me to do housecall grooming – dogs are much better behaved away from their home turf and not around their humans. I’ve already learned a great deal from Valerie, and am looking forward to the next time I can go help her.
The plan is looking like this, so far. If I can arrange pet sitting, I’m going to drive down to WV early early Friday mornings, and spend Friday nights in Hurricane. That’ll enable me to groom with Jan on Fridays and Saturdays, her busiest days. I’m going to try and line up 3 visits for my own dogs, 2 on Friday plus Saturday morning. If I can get Jan to come Saturday morning, as well as Friday morning, and Jim to come Friday night after work, I should be home in time Saturday to take care of the girls in the evening. Valerie can’t afford to pay me now, which is fine by me, because I’m a net-loss for her now in terms of time spent. I’m hoping that her client base will increase as my skill level does, and that she’ll be able to pay me a little bit when I’m actually able to help her book more dogs on days that I’ll be there. She charged $60 and $70 for Sasha and Raven last time, but only $25 and $30 this time because they were much better looking, and Raven was much better-behaved.
All in all, today was well worth the 7 hours I spent on the road. I hope that we can continue to work together, as I’m already vastly impressed by her knowledge. I’d much rather work for her without getting money, than pay for a school that might not teach me what I need to know.
The bathtub was mounted a couple feet off the ground, and was equipped with hooks for attaching a noose, as well as a bathing system that drew soapy water in and then sprayed it in a shower onto the dog. It saves the skin from excess rubbing, does a more thorough job than slopping shampoo onto a wet dog and then rubbing through, saves in the amount of shampoo used, and lessens the risk of getting a bite as the groomer is not leaning all over the dog and the hands aren’t threatening the dog. There’s also a high-velocity blower next to the tub, to blow off most of the water from the dog’s coat and legs. Not to be used on the face or ears, though – that air is MOVING. Valerie uses a variety of products for bathing. Not sure yet what shampoo we used, but we used diluted baby shampoo on the face, Dawn dishwashing detergent on and in the ears, and followed up with VO5 Strawberries and Creme cream rinse. Valerie always uses cream rinse, because it replenishes the oils the washing takes out of the skin. It enables her clients to use oil-based dispersing products like Frontline even right after getting a bath, which usually is not recommended, as there’s no skin oils left after the bath to disperse the product.
Valerie does not use blowdryers for the dogs. When she was finished bathing Zen Chi, she towel-dried him and put him into a crate with a regular box fan blowing on him. It keeps the hair fluffy and does not expose the skin to more drying-out.
While Zen Chi was drying, Valerie told me a bit about clipper blades. The higher the number, the less hair it leaves. It seems we will be using a #10 blade and a #7 blade most, I think. Of course, I didn’t touch the clippers at all, and only touched the scissors long enough to learn the correct way to hold them. Who knew there was a correct way, and that I hadn't known what it was? I learned about the kinds of scissors available, as well as rakes, clipper comb attachments, and slicker brushes. I’m not going to buy any equipment yet, I don’t think, but will start pricing out the list of things Valerie says I’ll need when I am ready to start working.
The only paying 'customers' Valerie had while I was there were two Cocker spaniels, Raven and Sasha. Raven gave Valerie a terrible time last time they were there (which was also the first time they were there) so she was prepared for him to be a total shit, which he was not. He reacted very well to me, and that fact as well as that Zen Chi seemed to tolerate me, if not actually like me, was what convinced Valerie that I may be worth training.
As Raven had been a double-handful last time, Valerie did all the bathing and handling of him, demoing technique again so that I could prepare to do Sasha. Which I did, and she gave me zero problems aside from amoeba-dogging as I tried to get her clean. I needed to be particularly careful to get all the eye-goobies, which were plentiful, as well as making sure to wash the pads out well. The feet must be clean as any dirt in them can harm the clipper blades when Valerie is trimming between the pads.
They got put in crates to dry under a stronger fan. When mostly dry, Valerie took Sasha first, and started with a very high-velocity dryer. Put the nozzle very close to the skin on body and legs, but hold far back from the ears, and only blow the outside of the ears. Hold the ear flaps so that they are not blown aside by the strong blast, because it could damage the ear canal. Don’t blow at all on the face. She then started trimming feet, getting out all the matted hair between the pads, and using scissors when necessary. The LIPS system she has attached to the grooming table is extremely helpful in restraining dogs as it’s infinitely adjustable. A series of lamp-cord chains in different lengths with spring clips liberally interspersed makes up the LIPS system, along with a stainless-steel tube attached securely to each short end of the table and running over the middle. It’s much sturdier than the one-sided grooming arm that I’ll be using when I start working on dogs.
Sasha was a complete sweetie, and, though shaking, she didn’t show the least amount of resistance. Sasha’s an older girl, and warty, so need to remember to be very careful when clipping so as not to hit the warts. Raven was muzzled for his trip to the table, and kept a watchful eye on Valerie, especially as she was doing his forefeet and ears. His ears were the biggest bugaboo for him, and several times he whacked his muzzle on the grooming post as he tried to whip his head around to warn Valerie off of whatever she was doing. She called it good correction, as he was doing it to himself and knew that he was doing it to himself. She had another customer come in while grooming Raven, and I told him what a good boy he was being while Valerie booked the appointment for the lady. She asked Valerie about breeding her dog (sight-unseen by Valerie!), even though she was dysplastic. Valerie was very diplomatic, saying that if the mom had hip dysplasia, all the pups would be predisposed as well, and she’d make unhealthy puppies, and the mom probably wouldn’t carry them very well either. A situation that I’d not considered, and I’ll need to learn customer-handling technique from Valerie too, as she gently discouraged this lady from breeding by making it seem that she was doing a service to dogdom by not inflicting pain on the mother or by producing puppies that would be in pain later.
Raven actually does try to be a good dog and he responds very well to praise, even kissing while muzzled. He is used to being boss at home, though, and it’s always stressful when dogs have to be boss. They do much better when muzzled, Valerie says, because it takes the stress of decision-making (to bite or not to bite?) away from them, and she can hug them and praise lavishly for good behavior without worrying about losing face. Literally.
Speaking of praise, Valerie says she hates it when owners come for their dogs too early, because the dogs go nuts when their folks are there, and the owners invariably coo and pet the dogs to settle them down, not realizing that they’re reinforcing the bad behavior by petting at the wrong time. This is yet another reason it’s a bad idea for me to do housecall grooming – dogs are much better behaved away from their home turf and not around their humans. I’ve already learned a great deal from Valerie, and am looking forward to the next time I can go help her.
The plan is looking like this, so far. If I can arrange pet sitting, I’m going to drive down to WV early early Friday mornings, and spend Friday nights in Hurricane. That’ll enable me to groom with Jan on Fridays and Saturdays, her busiest days. I’m going to try and line up 3 visits for my own dogs, 2 on Friday plus Saturday morning. If I can get Jan to come Saturday morning, as well as Friday morning, and Jim to come Friday night after work, I should be home in time Saturday to take care of the girls in the evening. Valerie can’t afford to pay me now, which is fine by me, because I’m a net-loss for her now in terms of time spent. I’m hoping that her client base will increase as my skill level does, and that she’ll be able to pay me a little bit when I’m actually able to help her book more dogs on days that I’ll be there. She charged $60 and $70 for Sasha and Raven last time, but only $25 and $30 this time because they were much better looking, and Raven was much better-behaved.
All in all, today was well worth the 7 hours I spent on the road. I hope that we can continue to work together, as I’m already vastly impressed by her knowledge. I’d much rather work for her without getting money, than pay for a school that might not teach me what I need to know.
