Petsmart or Petco or stay with PE?

[ayu415]

Thank u to everyone who commented on my last post!! I took some time and I decided to do dog grooming! Right now I have 3 options and since some of u guys came from petsmart or petco I wanted ur advice or opinions! (I’m getting as much help as I can before I truly commit sorry if it’s annoying-)

PE is where I currently work. I’m keeping the name short because it is in only my state currently. In about a year they’ll have a dog grooming academy up and running. Problem is it’ll cost me 7 grand if I want to leave after I’m done. And then it’ll cost me only 3 grand if I stay and work for them for 2 years.

Where as Petco and Petsmart are free and paid training. I want to start grooming asap to get a head start on my career.

I also plan to go to school eventually for veterinary technology or just animal sciences to get an associates degree.

Any comments or opinions would be much appreciated!! Thank u!

 

[maredaydivine]

@ayu415 Petco has a pretty good program and also has a scholarship program where they will pay for you to be a Vet tech. I just finished academy and was then accepted into the vet tech program and should have my degree in three years. They also help you find practices to do your practicals which can be the hardest part of vet tech school.

 

[notmyname]

@ayu415 Petco. No contract for academy and they’ll send you ASAP. Theydon’t mess around

 

[shefa]

@ayu415 At Petsmart you will have to pay 5k if you break the contract and leave before two years after academy. Someone else already covered most of what I would say, but I would add that the benefits are pretty bad, medical might be OK, but dental and vision is not worth it.

 

[timaeus]

@ayu415 Fair warning about Petsmart: They lie a lot I mean a lot, a lot about everything. Working in a Petsmart salon is basically like working with all the high school mean girls who weren’t smart enough to become nurses. I know there are some exceptions to this but the majority are pretty catty, toxic and clicky children.

There is zero guarantee you will be sent to academy, if the salon leader doesn’t like you, you will be purposely held back. They might delay you by six months they might delay you by a year. The only way you’re going is if they let you, and trust me if they don’t like you, you aren’t going.

Plus as a bather you’ll only get part time right now Petsmart is cutting everyone’s hours. So the 125 dogs you even need to be sent to academy won’t be happening anytime soon. Cause all you’ll be working is MAYBE 15 hour shifts. Not to mention their academy is a month long, then you’re expected to groom 200 dogs for hourly wages. After that point you get 40% commission and you’ll be stuck working with them for two years.

Petco has a better program imo but honestly most corporate salons are terrible.

 

[genna]

@timaeus Not arguing with you, PetSmart does lie a ton and I have seen people get held back from academy. Although usually it's because they were not ready. But 125 dogs isn't a lot. A typical fully trained bather does like 8-12 dogs a day but even doing an average of 5 dogs a day, you would make that in 25 work days. Working 3 days a week would take you ~2 months which if someone is entirely new to bathing is I feel a respectable amount of time to test the waters to see if it's a good fit. And again, if they do more dogs they can do it much quicker.

 

[timaeus]

@genna Really depends on the salons volume and what they’re booking the bathers for you know? My old salon leader would take dogs off the schedules of bathers she didn’t like and give them to the ones she did. The numbers only work in situations where it’s possible. I just personally don’t think anyone should start with PS. Unless they want to go through the indentured servitude that is their program. Coupled with the RARE chance of ending up in a salon where the powers at be aren’t psychotic.

 

[godswill4me]

@timaeus Petsmart held me as a bather fir over a year. I finally quit and walked into a petco rhe same day, got hired and was sent to petcos academy within 3 months.

 

[timaeus]

@godswill4me Yup this is common practice with Petsmart, they have extremely limited spots available for academy. If you aren’t being pushed through by someone who likes you, you aren’t going to go.