Dog grooming

[bardos]

I really want to get into dog grooming and have been on the fence about doing the course for months. I've recently left my job due to family circumstances so dog grooming would allow me to work around that.

The only thing stopping me is not having or being able to afford a full professional set up straight away.

How do others do it? Can I start off using my bath while I save?

I don't own a credit card and wouldn't want to commit to spending that much until I had built up the confidence and a few clients.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated

What you can do very much depends on your clients , personally I wouldn’t use an inexperienced groomer and I also wouldn’t use a home based groomer without really checking your set up because of the risk of dogs escaping , where are the dogs whilst waiting for collection etc .

No, you can't just use your bath. You need to be able to keep the dogs safe with non-slip mats and grooming leads to stop them escaping, or jumping around and hurting themselves.

I wouldn't touch a groomer who didn't have a proper salon with all the right equipment - it wouldn't need to be in a shop or anything, but you need to be able to keep dogs separate from each other and suitably restrained so none of them can escape or get hurt at any point in the process.

Can't you get a job at a proper place? Get the experience first?
I would not send my dogs to someone who is not properly set up (I would not send a dog to someone's house anyway, though I would consider a mobile service).

I wouldn't send my dogs to someones house particularly if they did it in a bath with no equipment...I could do it myself for the same effect and save money. I think you'll struggle to get clients if you want to do it that way. What about a business loan?

I would also think carefully, OP, about how you would handle aggressive or nervous dogs...or huge dogs that do not want to get wet and will body slam you to get out of the bath (which is what one of mine does). Not all dogs are pleasant to groom...and some of them react differently with different groomers. And if you refuse to groom dogs that have behavioural issues you'll have lost a big part of the market.

No, you can’t do it like that. Nobody will want to use a set up like you’re planning plus you need insurance & no insurance company will touch it with a barge pole.
I do my own (show) grooming & even I for just my own dogs don’t use the bath but have a special set up with proper dog bath, grooming table with blaster dryer & dozens of brushes, combs scissors, grooming products that have cost thousands over the years.
Plus you have NO experience so why do you think anyone would trust you with their dog let alone pay for the privilege?
You need to get properly trained & then get a job with an establishment groomers to get the practical experience before you can consider going alone. As others have said not all your clients would be small, well behaved, co-operative dogs who enjoy being bathed , trimmed & blow dried. People with those sorts of dogs are often quite happy to groom their own dogs for free.

I'm a self-employed dog groomer. I used to have a salon in a small shopping village but downsized a couple of years ago to a purpose-built WetPets pod in my garden when I had DD as I couldn't afford to keep paying rent on a unit I wasn't working in whilst on mat leave.
Best decision ever, all of my clients followed me, I'm still booked up a year in advance, minimal overheads and no commute!
I no longer accept any of the difficult types of dogs mentioned above, though when you first start out these are unfortunately the dogs that you will see most often as they tend to be passed on from more experienced groomers who don't want to risk being out of work with an injury.

It's physically hard work, I'm 28 and already have back problems. It can also be incredibly stressful, people get suuuuper intense about their dogs hair even though they're too lazy to brush it.
But I do love my job and 11 years in I've got the best clients and wouldn't do anything else.

There are plenty of options for a groomer starting out:
-You can look for employment within an existing salon.
-Rent a table within an existing salon (some places with supply equipment, others will expect you to bring your own though use of the bath is generally included. You'll need your own insurance as you won't be covered on the salon's)
-Mobile in-home grooming where you use the client's own bath but bring your own table & equipment.
-Look to join/ franchise a mobile grooming company who will supply a van & equipment for a fee.
-Start up from home in a spare room/ garage/ outbuilding. WetPets also offer finance on their pods, if that's something you'd like to look at.

You can join the grooming buy&sell groups on FB to find secondhand equipment at a more affordable price too, which can help to alleviate some of the cost of the initial set up.