New groomer looking for speed tips

[joe14]

I just did my six weeks of training with a mentor, and now I’m flying kind of solo for 5 weeks before 3-breed technicals.

I’m nervous, my mentor says I have the skills, but I feel like my grooms take f o r e v e r.

Any general advice for speed? Or does it just come with time and practice and I just have to do my best?

 

[johnny1217]

@joe14 It took time for me. Mostly because you have to develop a routine that works best for you. I groom (on a good day) 6 dogs. With all my dogs, I begin with prep work. This is sani, paw pads, nails, ears, and eyes (if the eye boogies aren’t too bad). It helps so much because then I just have the main haircut to worry about and I don’t forget to do nails.

Then I wash all the dogs, wrap them in a towel to get all moisture off, and let them be in the kennel until all are washed. Then I dry them all, and start the haircuts starting with the easiest first.

 

[joillian]

@johnny1217

Any general advice for speed?

I'd TL;DR this if I could, but it can't be shortened any further.

Fluffy kitten is on point regarding time and practice, but even more so a development of routine. Pick a spot, go around in a circle, whether it's bathing, drying, or the haircut, and stick to it. Methodical repetition makes you faster. New groomers tend to jump from area to area at random, myself included when I first started, and what this tends to do is make you lose your spot, and question if it was already done. You end up going over the same areas multiple times. That being said, there is no right or wrong way of where you start or end, more importantly its' about doing the same motions on every haircut as closely as possible. Each pattern specific cut will have its' own routine you'll develop for them.

Another tip would be not to obsess over small details when the entire dog isn't finished yet. Scissor the leg, and move on to the next area. You can spend hours on the same leg because you STILL see something sticking out, and it's driving you nuts, but that can be deceiving if the rest of the body isn't done. Wait until the main scissor work is finished, then go back and fine tune. Also, Make sure your clipper is tuned up and in good working condition. Replace the parts if you know how to timely, or have it serviced every so often. If you your blades are dragging, and you know that blade is not dull, or it happens with every blade you try and use, its' probably the clipper. That will REALLY slow you down if its' not working properly. Test to see if blades or dull or clipper isn't working by borrowing someone else' clipper and use your blades with it.

Lastly, on another note, be forewarned, unless i'm interpreting "all the dogs" incorrectly, it sounds like all of fluffy's clients come in all at once at the beginning of the day, and are discharged as her haircuts are finished one by one. Not all shops do this. My shop is appointment based, and you don't have the option of picking and choosing which haircut you want to do first, they're done in order they came in, with a 2 to 2 1/2 hour window for each dog. (every shop is different, but fluffy and I's are the two main setups you'll come across with some variation). Your 9am could be a golden doodle and your 10am a maltese. There is no easy dog first where I work x.x If you don't have a bather with my kind of set up, and you're booked on the hour like I am, things get a little more hairy(figuratively and literally xD )(Note: I have 8 years haircut experience with 16 years in the industry itself)

Edit: Did not realize I was not replying directly to OP. I'm still waking up xD

 

[johnny1217]

@joillian Yes, sorry. It’s a block sort of schedule. I have three dogs come in at once, and three dogs come in about 4 hours later.

 

[joillian]

@johnny1217 Ahh that's an interesting schedule that is new to me, you get a little bit of both worlds! That works too :3

 

[joe14]

@joillian Sorry I didn’t see this til now, but thank you!

After a couple days now, my manager pointed out the “jumping from place to place” thing, told me what routine works for her (which was very different from what my mentor taught me, which wasn’t even the routine my mentor actually used on her own dogs) and already my timing has sped up.

Plus working on one leg for hours is definitely a trap I could fall into, and letting go of perfection is very hard for me. But as an apprentice just washing dogs, I never noticed any imperfections on my coworkers dogs (unless it was like, a clearly missed spot), I just thought the dogs looked cute. So that’s probably what other people will think of mine too.

Also hair bows and bow ties. Those distract from any imperfection lol.

 

[joillian]

@joe14 Yayy glad to hear that you are getting faster already n.n

 

[evanga76]

@johnny1217 Question: Do you kennel dry your dogs in their towels? I like laying down a towel for my dogs to sit on when I kennel dry them, but a coworker thinks that affects the circulation of the air poorly. Do you have any insight on that?

 

[johnny1217]

@evanga76 I don’t like kennel/air drying unless it’s on a terrier coat type or the dog really really hates the dryer. I find it makes their coat look flat and leaves it looking wet almost. Especially with poodle hair. I typically just wrap them in a towel and let that soak up most of the wetness until I can dry them fully But I typically always put a towel down for my dogs, especially when it’s cold. I dunno about the whole circulation thing.

 

[joillian]

@evanga76 Both you and your co worker are right, it depends on the kennel model. In the event you have kennels with no grates or trays at all, then you're good with a towel for comfort and kennel dry as normal. If they have grates with or without trays, I firmly believe they should have something to sit on underneath them, especially if they're small breeds, because the pads could potentially get stuck in the holes or slats, model depending, which does happen and is scary to deal with. You can still get good air circulation if you keep the towel in the middle of the kennel, and have at least two sides exposed to the grate, so that air can circulate underneath. If the grate and tray are very close together, like most metal models, take the tray out for better circulation(at the risk of peeing though xD) While we typically do not kennel dry unless they absolutely cannot handle the force dryer or fluff dryer(really bad anxiety, old dog fits, other health issues) we use our stand up dryers as our kennel dryers when needed, and point them towards a bottom corner on medium heat, but I've seen models that hook onto the door face, in which case hook it so that the nozzle is near feet level rather than chest or head. This way the air will bounce off of the back wall and fly in a circle over the whole coat.

::edit:: Forgot a piece of info xD