Hey, everyone. I’ve been a groomer for around 7 years now, and have worked at multiple shops; two family owned and once at petsmart.
I started grooming because I love dogs and a friend of mine did it, so I got inspired to try it. I’d say I’m pretty good at it, given my experience. With that being said, I work somewhere in the south and, in the town I work in, everyone and their mom has a doodle. Bernadoodles, Aussie doodles, golden doodles, you name it. On a normal day, I’ll get 4 doodles out of 6 clients, and they’re all big, about 65 lbs and up.
I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’m use to grooming doodles... But the sheer volume of clients that come in with doodles is ruining my wrist, my shoulder, and my brushes, blades, and shears. I recently had an injury because of repetitive movements (brushing and dematting, mostly) and had to go down on my weight per dog, but where I work, I basically had 2 clients a day because all we have is big, long haired doodles. So I went broke for a while until I got better.
I’m back doing big dogs again and making money but I feel like I’m running on a hamster wheel just trying to keep up with the money it takes to repair/get new tools regularly, while not hurting myself doing a full schedule of 70 lbs doodles just to get by.
The pay isn’t worth the pain in my wrist and shoulder from brushing and dematting over and over and over again. Every doodle owner seems to want a 7/8 guard comb every time. I’m considering just quitting because of the reoccurring injuries and the stuck-ness I feel toward this uphill battle of grooming huge hairy dogs all day everyday. It’s so much strain on my body.
This doodle avalanche has been going on for 2 years now. Nonstop dematting and deshedding. Nonstop picky, demanding owners. Nonstop burnout. It just doesn’t seem worth it anymore.
Thank you if you read this far. I needed to get this off my chest to people who understand what it’s like to be a groomer. I’d be happy to hear any advice or your own experience with doodle burnout. Thank you.
I started grooming because I love dogs and a friend of mine did it, so I got inspired to try it. I’d say I’m pretty good at it, given my experience. With that being said, I work somewhere in the south and, in the town I work in, everyone and their mom has a doodle. Bernadoodles, Aussie doodles, golden doodles, you name it. On a normal day, I’ll get 4 doodles out of 6 clients, and they’re all big, about 65 lbs and up.
I’ve been doing this for a long time and I’m use to grooming doodles... But the sheer volume of clients that come in with doodles is ruining my wrist, my shoulder, and my brushes, blades, and shears. I recently had an injury because of repetitive movements (brushing and dematting, mostly) and had to go down on my weight per dog, but where I work, I basically had 2 clients a day because all we have is big, long haired doodles. So I went broke for a while until I got better.
I’m back doing big dogs again and making money but I feel like I’m running on a hamster wheel just trying to keep up with the money it takes to repair/get new tools regularly, while not hurting myself doing a full schedule of 70 lbs doodles just to get by.
The pay isn’t worth the pain in my wrist and shoulder from brushing and dematting over and over and over again. Every doodle owner seems to want a 7/8 guard comb every time. I’m considering just quitting because of the reoccurring injuries and the stuck-ness I feel toward this uphill battle of grooming huge hairy dogs all day everyday. It’s so much strain on my body.
This doodle avalanche has been going on for 2 years now. Nonstop dematting and deshedding. Nonstop picky, demanding owners. Nonstop burnout. It just doesn’t seem worth it anymore.
Thank you if you read this far. I needed to get this off my chest to people who understand what it’s like to be a groomer. I’d be happy to hear any advice or your own experience with doodle burnout. Thank you.
