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Creative Grooming

So with it all over the media in recent months I thought I would tackle the controversial subject of: Creative Grooming!

Pros:

Believe it or not I get very few owners asking for pink ears and polished nails. However, I do get a lot of owners requesting round noses and round heads. It is now uncommon for pet owners to want the traditional breed standard and for some breeds (cockerpoos, cavapoos, maltipoos) there is no such thing as a breed standard. This leads me to my first point: all grooming is creative. I think outside the box for every groom and I love that about my career. I didn't go into grooming because of the mundane office lifestyle; I went in to grooming because it gives me an outlet for my creativity (and I love dogs of course)!

Just stop for a seconds and look at the dogs in these articles. These dogs will not have a single matt. Now look at the dogs around you in every day life; can you say the same about them? Probably not. Now don't get me wrong even my own dogs get matts every now and again. But heres the thing, when you work as a dog groomer you begin to see the neglect that some dogs go through. These dogs may be over pampered but at least they aren't covered in their own faeces or struggling to walk due to extreme matting.

Cons:

No dog should have to stand on a table for 2 hours+. Breaks are an issue when it comes to grooming. Even just your basic pet trim can take up to 2 hours, never mind having to think about applying dyes etc. It has recently been raised by a top groomer in the UK (Colin Taylor) that breaks during grooming competitions are sometimes overlooked and that this is something that needs to be addressed.

One of the biggest concerns that was raised by the BBC was the fact that dogs may now be seen as accessories. Now this is a good point. We already have thousands of dogs in our shelters across the uk. If dogs are bought to be accessories it goes without saying that more dogs will end up in shelters. However, can you say creative grooming is to blame for this issue? Dogs as fashion statements are not new. Just look at Paris Hilton and her little chihuahua. Unfortunately until these celebs start showing responsible animal care its likely dogs will remain a fashion statement whether they are pink or white.