I want you to be completely comfortable with your selection of any groomer or grooming salon. For an open opinion on the best methods of choosing your groomer, I refer you to exerpts of an article covering... FOUR STEPS TO FINDING THE RIGHT GROOMER FOR YOU AND YOUR PET by Stephen Mart, Webmaster for PetGroomer.com
Referral, Interviews, Tours and Intuition
"My first advice for pet owners choosing a pet groomer is, 'This is a wonderful industry, but be forewarned it is a very diverse industry. Unlike hairstylists for people, our profession is not vocationally licensed in even one U.S. state, and certification programs are optional. Today there are 3 states moving forward toward vocational licensing, but none have yet adopted such legislation.
As a result pet owners should never expect the same client and pet grooming services from one business to the other...
You must invest some time to find a groomer right for you and your pet. It is to the advantage of your pet to find a regular groomer for you pets. They remember their groomers and it is less stressful on them when they recognize their groomers and their surroundings...
The N.C.M.G. stands for National Certified Master Groomer. It is very favorable to discover a well-certified pet groomer. In fairness, there remains thousands of groomers who are reputable but never sought certification. However, we acknowledge the effort and dedication it takes to become certified and favor it.
Step 3 - Tours: Don't forgo taking a tour of the facility! Ask the business owner if you can tour their grooming business. No? Why not? What are they hiding? Even if it is a mobile grooming van or a grooming area in a home, tour it. Mobile groomers typically love to show their vehicles.... Listen! Smell! Look!...Take it all in. We would never use the services of a grooming business that would not accommodate our request for a tour of their facility of any size.
Step 1 - Referrals:
If your vet or retail pet store has an in-house groomer their referral is almost certainly going to be their groomers. It's likely that their groomers are responsible and dependable, but that alone does not mean they provide the grooming services you require.
There are types of grooming services that require more extensive training and experience beyond traditional pet groomer training. For example, if you require "hand stripping" or "show grooming" on a purebred pet your search is going to be more complex...
Step 2 - Interviews:The wise pet owner will interview prospective pet grooming business owners...Start with the owner or manager whenever possible because they have the actual liabilty for a business unlike hired groomers.
If they have taken an interest to join a grooming association (it) is a good sign. Keep in mind though that membership is not "certification". Major organizations such as the National Dog Groomers Association of America (NDGAA), International Pet Groomers (IPG) and International Society of Canine Cosmetologists (ISCC) do offer voluntary workshop training leading to testing and certification, which may vary from certification for a breed, breed group or overall certification. Groomers successfully certified by an organization may be licensed to place initials indicating their certification after their names, and the logo of the organization in their advertising.
Step 4 - Intuition: Now is the time to consider all of the information gained from your referrals, interviews and tours. What are you going to fall back upon to make the decision? Intuition, just as you would with finding care for your children. It probably won't be too hard if you've invested time in the first three steps. Good hunting!"
