Dog Grooming industry over the years have struggled to find suitable candidates, experience groomers with particular skills, with a number of households now owning a pet, this has put increasing pressure on the dog grooming industry.
“There are a number of vacant positions in Brisbane alone” said Lori, who is the owner of Fur Us Cannon Hill. Finding suitable groomers has been changeling for many salons over the years. It can take years for groomers to obtain the skills required for dog grooming.
Many groomers might also find working in a salon, quite stressful, expectations and pay levels, where a number of good groomers are setting up at home and work alone with smaller number of dogs to groom each day, as overhead are much lower, many might also start out in the industry expecting this to be something more than it is, then the pressure of working in a grooming salon with expectations for the groomer can be a number of factors but not limited to these opinions.
On small business stress of overhead is common for many, in the dog grooming industry, the cost of equipment from anywhere from clippers, blades, scissors and grooming products, rent and ongoing increases from products puts a massive pressure on salon’s were the profit margin is already quite small.
Our cost for running a salon, wouldn’t be that of a difference for a hairdressing salon, however their revenue might be slightly higher, saying this they only have to take care of your hair on your head, not your whole body. Groomers needs to bath and blow-dry the puppy, clipper the whole body, scissor around face and feet, trim nails, being careful of not getting bitten when pups don’t like the drying process or being brushed. Being aware when working with senior dogs not standing for long period of times, nervous, anxious dogs moving, turning on the grooming table.
In our salon, we take pride in our service offered, with quality products used to cover many dog coats and conditions.
She further explained that experience groomers are leaving the industry because the challenges are exceeding the rewards. Examples of this include the pressure clients put on them with unrealistic expectations and complaints of high costs, to have their fur baby groomed. Dog groomers can get burnt out quickly, as standing for long periods of time throughout the day, lifting large heavy dogs. Working with animals takes a lot of love, time and patience.
With grooming salon’s closing across the industry, or having to close their doors due to increasing cost or staff shortage this then puts more pressure on salons with many clients desperate to find another salon. Many salon’s now are not accepting new clients, or larger dog breeds“This means pet owners are facing weeks/months to get an appointment.
The dog grooming shortage has been going on for a long time, not a result of the pandemic, although very much exacerbated by Covid, said Lori.
“A Dog grooming role is a hard one,” she said. “It’s a combination of issues including making decisions about the health and condition of some pets, the condition in which they might be presented feeling like staff don’t have enough support from the workplace, pressure from pet owners’ expectations and not earning a lot of money.”
What makes matters worse, pet ownership is at an all-time high. In fact, 69 per cent of Aussie households now own a companion animal, up from 61 per cent in 2019, according to the Pets and the Pandemic report.
As more people welcome pets into their family and rely on them for companionship and comfort, we need to provide our dog groomers much needed support and services to ensure they stay in the profession they love. It’s only through our collective efforts that we can create a paradigm shift for the dog grooming profession.
“Rightly or wrongly on how we got here, we need to change our approach in many levels,” Lori said. “We need more support on how much time and effort goes into learning and grooming. Unfortunately, the industry has struggled to find the support they need to continue
Fur Us who have the love and dedication
We do this because we love what we do, so next time you hear someone say ‘negative comments’ remember us and share with them ‘dog grooming is NOT easy’ call Fur Us for the passion of ‘dog grooming’! 3393 9351