Well, what a whirlwind. This past year has been up, down, all around, better for some than others.

I, personally, had a lot of great things happen that wouldn’t normally happen in a regular year. Not saying all has been great but overall not so bad considering.

For one, I stayed working this entire time. This is where I will come back into subject. A pet’s health is also very important. From nails to coat, we see your loved ones in all stages. During the height of the pandemic lockdown, many people didn’t know what or how to do the best for their best friends. When things started to open back up, we saw a miriad of cases. From curled nails to severe mats. Some of these had to be turned away and recommended to veterinary hospitals that can do grooming. They can use different blades all the way to sedation if needed.

As we help get everyone back on track, please be kind. We are all trying to get everyone’s loved one on regular schedules as was from before so do have patience. That being said, please have patience with me as I try to become more frequent with my posts.

Until next time…

Keep those tails wagging

Now that I’ve been at this for a bit, I’m starting to ease in to my days at work. I’m no longer as nervous as I was and am learning something new everyday. Most days it’s a few things.

I’m learning about different breeds and how as much as each dog has it’s own personality, certain breeds carry certain traits. Huskies for instance are a great example of that. They very much behave the same as a whole. I’m also learning quite quickly that schnauzers love to scream and it’s so loud… Especially in the morning.

As I go about my days, I’m getting much better with nail trimming and grinds. I’m still timid around the solid black nails because there isn’t much of an indicator for where the quick is located. You have to use your best judgement and as my trainer said, use a clip of faith. Of course you never want to hurt the dogs but sometimes you do get the quick. It’s just part of the job and it sure makes you feel bad when you cut it. There are many days where we take walk ins for the nails back to back. It does help me improve my skills but it can get in the way of my appointments. Nevertheless, I have to make it work. Clients often wonder why appointments can take so long and that is why. Every time a walk in comes in for nails, someone has to stop what they are doing and take care of that service. You can quote them a small wait time but you’re still going to have to take them.

So I guess my biggest takeaway from this entry would be patience. It’s important to have patience for the doggos, the services, and the clients. We work with many different personalities on the daily and in my line of work it includes extras because of the animals. Just like people, we have to work with them to get the job done in the best manner of cooperation.

I’m just taking a bit of time today to reflect back on particularly this year. This year has been quite a whirlwind for me and as I think about it, many of my friends and family as well. Things that we thought were true or faithful were not. Things that were steady and reliable were not. Things were loved and lost. All of it giving valuable learning experience sometimes coming with heartache.

With all of that being said, we march forward with new scars to heal into this new year. It is a new decade bringing much promise. We all have the opportunity to change ourselves for the positive. I hope we all will try to do something new and advance ourselves personally and professionally. Care for each other and look after one another. We all need the support of each other to prosper. Let’s not be divisive but bring each other up. There is already enough negativity in the world so why not be the change for the better?

I really do wish for your new year to be plentiful and full of promise. I will keep on with my blog and try to be more diligent about writing on a regular basis. As I learn more, I will keep sharing my experiences with you and keep you with me on my Journey. Until next time, take care and Happy New year!

As you can tell, I was hired! I am grateful for the opportunity that I was given for someone that has never even worked in retail to be taken a chance on. I will not be forgetting that.

My first week was of course making me anxious as I was embarking on something new and completely foreign. This was all about new opportunities though so onwards I went. There was lots of store training and then I moved on to training specifically for grooming. I really did feel like I was back in school again. I found myself studying on my own time and even passing up time with friends to do so. It was nice to learn something new and that made me even more excited that I was changing my career.

I found after talking with some of the groomers, they had started to go to school to be vet techs, in which I had dabbled in the idea, but found this was better suited to them and a faster timeline to become a professional. This also reassured my thought process. They seem to be happy with their choices. I will stay an apprentice for about a year and I know it’s a bit of a process but I also know that it’ll be worth it. It’s also comforting to know that each and every one of them had started out at my level and moved their way to professional groomer.

I’m out to a great start and I know I will gain the confidence and skills over time to make it there. As of now, I’m really just finding the work very fulfilling by caring for each and every one of the dogs that come into the salon. Seeing the reactions from their owners when we bring their fur baby back to them and the connection with their beloved pets looking their best makes it worth the effort.

So this is my first blog post ever with a new career to write about. I actually didn’t want to start a blog but a friend convinced me otherwise. Here I am. She said that I should document my journey into dog grooming and share my experiences with others. Maybe others are looking to make a switch. I did say that I made a career change and that I did. All of my career has been in food and beverage most of which in culinary. These past few years I have felt myself stuck in a rut and clueless as to how to change this. I guess the universe decided that I was taking too long and yanked me out of my job. Faced with uncertainty, I was also presented with the opportunity to find out what it is that I actually wanted to do. All I knew is that it wouldn’t be in a kitchen. During this time I thought long and hard about what my new career would be and I kept thinking about my love for animals but especially dogs. I played around with a few ideas and then grooming came to mind. I set my goal on that and landed a job as an apprentice. That’s everything that has lead me to this point and I’m excited to share what happens along my path to professional groomer.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

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• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
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