My Career

- 2024

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After 13 years in the grooming industry, I am still in love with my career. Animals have been a large part of my life while growing up as well as the enjoyment of companionship as I got older. Another part of my life has been the joy of art in painting and sculpting. To use both every day, I have found a path of happiness that I can always rely on. Imagine a day that seems to run the same every day, but always gives you a blank canvas to play with. That fluffy hair, small beady eyes, perky ears, and bushy tails, the only challenge in my way is the wiggliness of a four-legged moving object. Not one pup is the same!

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My journey began as a bather at a small private shop. I was 16 years old learning how to manage a job and school. I became the shop’s fastest bather while discovering how to wash certain coats with specific shampoos. I learned to dry a coat properly as it shows professional techniques. After 2 years I chose to move to the southern part of Colorado to pursue my adventures in college. I received an associate and bachelor’s degree in art: specializing in painting. My passion was in painting and sculpting. But I never knew where I was going with the degree. Sooner or later I realized a stand-alone income from an art degree did not provide much, even just for myself.

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For a long time, I looked at grooming as a job, not a career. Was there a “living” to be made from it? Over a period of 5 years, I pursued grooming on and off.  I decided to go for a Masters’ Degree in Art therapy. That way I could make my own schedule, help people, and keep creating art. However, the degree was "lack thereof."  It never provided a continuous happiness that I could hold on to.  

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For 2 years obtaining my Master’s degree, I found myself at another private shop. I worked alongside another groomer that was the talk of the town. I worked my way up to being the shops manager while educating myself on how to scissor properly. I worked with her and followed her skills to enhance mine. From this experience I started to realize my heart was not in Art therapy. Somewhere in my heart I felt so comfortable in what I was creating on a 4-legged moving canvas.

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I then worked at several other shops, I found the one that resonated with me and could create more hands on learning to enhance my skills even further. For 4 years I called this large private shop my home, learning to sculpt pups to almost perfection, to manage my time as well as creating relationships with long time client (who then would follow me) With the encouragement from a long friend and an owner, it is my time to grow further by doing things on my own and opening my own business.