Snow and Slush

Snow and slush. Not a great day for going from client to client. The sidewalks are a mess. The buses are slower. I wish my appointments were closer together in time. One at 9, one at 2, one at 6. Not enough time or close enough to go home in between. Oh, I should've gone to a movie. I ate lunch and went to a book store to have a cup of tea and read my book on my Kindle. I plan to kill time again after the second appointment in the neighborhood of my last appointment.

iGoogle blogging

Well, here's a new way to blog...from my iGoogle page - who even knew I HAD an iGoogle page. It seems good so far. I will write about tonight.

I went to see The Temperamentals - an off-broadway play about a gay activist group in the 1950's. Temperamental was a word used to mean gay back then - code language used by gays. The play was actually very good, albeit long. I was moved and educated at the same time. I'd recommend it.

Mobile Blogging

Well, I guess this makes it so easy to blog that I have no excuse to skip a day or exclude you from any of my a-ha moments!

Traveling all over Manhattan has its ups and downs. Probably more downs than ups but it depends on the person. I look at stairs and street walking as exercise which I wouldn't do when I had a desk job and was supposed to go to the gym. Carrying 12 to 15 lbs on my back and another 5 or so in a bag, just makes it a drag. I've tried rolling a bag but then I have to concentrate on avoiding pot holes and sidewalk cracks and have to carry it up and down stairs, on and off buses, and I can't run for a bus with it. I try to read a lot- the Kindle is great! I try to avoid rush hours and the time school gets out.

Currently, I am carrying a light backpack because the client has rat terriers so I left the clippers, shears, and blades at home! That's the heavy stuff.

Now that I can see what ended up on the blog... it wasn't good. I got like 5 blogs, each with a sentence or part of a sentence in it. I guess Mobile Blogging is just for photos I take with my phone and a description of it. Or just a thought for the day. There's some limit on the number of characters obviously. I used SMS Text, maybe I should try the email method next time! I don't know all the specific details, obviously!

Slow Days

Sometimes grooming can have it's slow days. This is a problem for any small business owner. January and February can be like that. One reason is that every single dog gets groomed for the holidays so by January 1st all the dogs are in the same great condition! Another reason is that Winter in NY is cold. Pet owners are thinking it's too cold for a hair cut, we'll wait for Spring. Then there's the snow and rain. Rain and snow can make pets dirty so this may cause a pet owner to get the dog groomed BUT the opposite happens too: a person decides to reschedule because of rain or snow. No one wants to pay for a clean dog just to end up with a dirty dog tomorrow! Rescheduling at the last minute is a another problem. Until you have such a great business that you have a waiting list, you can't really fill that appointment with another dog. To charge a cancellation fee is a tricky thing. When biz is slow I think I should just take a vacation.

Instead of taking a vacation I end up thinking of ways to improve my website, my search engine optimization, and my presence on the web. I'm thinking of new ways to get the word out to dog owners that I'm a house call dog groomer! Recently I found that one of my clients put a posting about my service on her apartment building's "Building Links" system. And I ended getting two new clients in just a month's time. So now I've started asking all my clients if their apartment building has such a system and if they can post a note about my service. One of my clients is going to put something in her building's newsletter.

The hardest thing for me is following up when someone offers to put up a flyer. I don't carry flyers and to print one and make a special trip to drop it off is not so easy. I should probably mail it but then I don't want to fold it and I'd have to mail it in a big envelope. It's probably worth it though. At least blogging about this has made me remember to bring one on Monday to a client who said they'd help me by posting it. In the past, flyers have not resulted in any clients. I posted flyers in many hi-rise buildings when I was just starting this business. It's a lot of work walking around, talking to the doorman, finding out if a flyer can be put on a bulletin board somewhere. I have a bulletin board in my own apartment building and I rarely call about anything on there although I read all the flyers and business cards that are posted.

Blogging is another thing to do when I'm not grooming but I don't know if it helps business. Only time will tell.

Grooming pains

Grooming is one of those physical jobs that requires you to be conscious of ergonomics.

The table should be at the right height so you're not leaning over to groom or reaching up higher than your shoulder to groom. If you can't adjust the table height try to sit or even kneel. When a table is too high the dog should be moved to a lower table top. But don't even offer to groom a dog on the floor - what a nightmare for your back!

Speaking of backs - lifting big dogs is another thing to be careful of. Even two little dogs can be too much if you have to ring the door bell or open a door or step up into a grooming van! Another thing that can bother your back is simply standing for hours on end. Putting one foot on a stool for some time here and there helps. Also sitting a bit helps too. Too often I hear someone say that their old groomer is not working for at least a few months because of a back injury. So take care of your back.

The way you hold your brush, comb, shears, and electric clipper can wreak havoc on your hands, wrists, and elbows. Carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, painful fingers and thumbs are common. Be sure to stretch all these parts of the body, more than once a day. Try not keep your wrist straight and your upper arm relaxed at your side. I ended up with a lot of shoulder pain because I was holding my arm up at shoulder height all day long while combing, brushing, clipping and scissoring. Eventually I couldn't lift my arm at all and had to have physical therapy for 6 weeks! Now I stretch in the shower every day and am conscious of what I'm doing with my arms while I work so that I don't over do any one position. Search the internet for physical therapy exercises to see what kind of stretching you should be doing.

Your feet can be in pain if you stand on a hard floor all day. If you groom in a shop or a van be sure to get those thick rubber mats made to comfort feet and legs. If you are on the streets like me, good shoes are a must and sit down when you can.

Carrying around grooming tools in a backpack can also be a source of injury. I weighed my backpack today and it was 11.8 pounds. I'd like it to be lighter. I just started using a new backpack - well an old one that belongs to my girlfriend. It's a good quality backpack with nice padding and nice straps but the straps seem to sit a little too far apart for me - on the front of my shoulders rather than on my chest. I think I have to shop around for something that fits me better. I feel like the weight is causing pain in my shoulders by the end of the day. Rolling a bag behind me has it's own disadvantages but maybe I should consider it again.

Cat grooming

I don't usually groom cats, but I make exceptions. I have to say I have nothing against cats. In fact, I love cats. Grooming cats is another story. Cat grooming at a client's home has its special challenges. First, there's the cat. If the cat is against it, then it can be just an awful experience for everyone involved. One big problem is that once you start shaving a cat into a lion cut you are pretty much committed to finishing it. Second, there's the mess.

Trim the nails first. This will minimize injuries if the cat happens to scratch you.

If the cat hates water then you might skip the bath and just trim the cat.
If the cat hates the electric clipper or just being handled, forget it!
If you need the owner's help, forget it!
An angry or frightened cat may spray - and oh, you don't what to know what that smells like! (and YOU don't want to smell like that for even a minute! Odds are, you'll smell like that all day if the cat sprays and you're really close by!)

The best case scenario is that the cat is really easy going about all of it: the water, the dryer, the clippers, being handled. Even with a great cat, the amount of hair involved can be extreme. Be prepared to have it in your eyes, nose, and mouth. It'll be in the air. Try to contain it. A bathroom is ideal for drying, brushing, and combing. The hair will get everywhere so remove all items from bathroom before starting so cat hair doesn't get into all the owner's toiletries, decorations, towels, rugs, robes, etc. Cleanup will be easier if you remove all these things first.

How to do a lion cut trim:
1. If you've never done a lion cut don't try it without someone who has done it before.
2. Use a 10 blade or higher. Using lower numbered blades creates a higher risk for cutting the cat's skin which is thinner than a dog's. Older cats have even thinner, looser, skin and can be cut more easily than younger cats.
3. Decide how much fur you'll keep around the neck and/or on the chest as a mane.
4. Don't shave legs below the hock.
5. Hold skin taught while shaving with electric clipper and shave in the direction the fur grows.
6. Don't shave directly on spin, pull skin to left or right side of spin to shave.
7. Be careful not to cut nipples, flank skin, skin on back of rear legs, or privates.
8. Decide how much fur you'll keep at end of tail and shave the rest of it.
9. Use shears or thinning shears to neaten up where longer fur meets shaved body.

Grooming Shedding Dogs

Most people want non-shedding dogs groomed. These are Yorkies, Shih-tsus, Malteses, Havaneses, Poodles, Bichons, Wheaten terriers, Lhasa Apsos, and others. But some people ask for shedding dogs to be groomed. These are King Charles Cavaliers, English Toy Spaniels, Pomeranians, Rat Terriers, Chihuahuas, Miniature Pinschers, Dachshunds.

The problem with grooming shedding dogs at home is that a lot of lose hair comes off the dog while bathing, drying, brushing, and combing. There isn't much that can be done about this except to limit it to a small room. Also, remove as many things as possible from the room so the hair can be cleaned up easily. I do it in the bathroom with the door closed, keeping the dog in the tub as much as possible. The easiest cleanup is rinsing the tub with water and removing a clump of wet hair from the drain trap. The hair that flies around, gets on walls and floors and in between things is the tricky part of the cleanup. Vacuum, sweep, and wipe down but hair floating in the air will take a day to settle. Most of these clients seem to prefer to bring their dogs to my home.

A rubber curry is used in a circular motion on dry short haired shedding dogs to remove lose hair. This is good for the skin too and it seems like dogs like the way it feels.

Longer haired shedding dogs, like a pomeranian, need a good brushing and combing, down to the skin, to remove all lose undercoat which can cause mats. Brushing in the opposite direction of the way it grows works best. I brush a small area at a time working methodically over the entire dog. Before brushing a new area, I comb the area with a greyhound comb. If someone asks for a haircut on one of these longer haired shedding dogs it can be messy due to the dense coat. Also not that the coat of a Pomeranian or Chow Chow may not grow back 100 percent if it is shaved short.