How Would You Like Your Dog Groomed?

It is amazing how those seven words can cause so much headache for a groomer.

It seems like such an easy question, doesn't it?

A customer comes in with a dog and you ask; "How would you like your dog groomed?"

There are so many possible answers.

"Take him as short as you can get him."

"Take about a 1/4 of an inch off."

"Take half off."

"Just shorten him a little."

"Leave an inch on."

"Take her short."

"I don't want a full hair cut, but take just a little bit off."

"Just clean him up."

"Just do what you did the last time."

"Take him a tad shorter."

"Take her short, but don't shave her.

"Make her look like this picture."

"I want her hair cut, but don't use a blade on her."

"She has some knots, but I don't want her hair cut short."

"Don't cut him short."

"I don't know, didn't my wife tell you when she made the appointment.?"

"I don't know."

"What do you think."

"You're the groomer, groom him the way he is supposed to look."

Those are just some of the responses that you would get to that simple question.

I'll tell you how I tackle them.

I feel that it is very important that who ever is responsible for checking in the dogs must know grooming and know what questions to ask.

If that person is not exactly sure what the customer is asking for, they need to go and get the groomer that will be working on the dog that day.

You must ask questions.

I know it is like pulling teeth sometimes, but if you ask the right questions you can usually figure out what the owner wants.

I feel another must is; you must touch/feel the dog.

I always go straight to the dog and pick it up if I can.

If it is too large to pick up, I will squat down and greet the dog, petting it and feeling for mats.

To the owners it just looks like I am petting and hugging their dog, which I am, but I am also checking out the condition of the coat.

Now I ask the famous question; "How would you like your dog groomed?"

Owner:"Take him as short as you can get him."

           "Take her short."

Groomer: "My blades can go extremely short. My shortest blade would take your dogs hair so short that her skin would show. Is that how short you want to take her?"

Owner:  Oh, I didn't want her that short!

 Now I hold the dogs hair up to show the owner how long it is.

Then I use my fingers to ask how must hair that they want off.

If an owner still wants a white dog, or thin haired dog really short, like a #7F, or #10 blade, I warn them that the dogs skin will show through the short hair, and that there is also a potential for sunburn if their dog is outside a lot.

If cutting the dogs hair will make the color of the dogs coat change, make sure that you warn the customer that this may happen.

I once had a lady bring in a medium size Shepard mix that she said she wanted very short so that it would not shed so much.

I thought that I was safe when I pointed to the dogs muzzle and ask; "Do you want me to clip him as short as the muzzle?" (about #10 blade length)

She said yes.

I clipped the dog short with a #7F blade.

There was only one problem, I didn't warn her that all of the black and tan color on her dog would be clipped off, and only a ugly grey and washed out tan color would be left.

The owner became hysterical when she saw her dog.

It did not matter that I did exactly what she wanted.

She was not prepared for the change in color on the dog.

Something as simple as warning her about the coat change could have saved a lot of headache.

Owner: "Take about a 1/4 of an inch off."

             "Take half off."

             "Just shorten him a little."

             "Leave an inch on."

 You must find out what the owners idea of an inch is, a 1/4 inch is, or what half off means to them.

I know exactly what an inch measures on my finger.

I have found that  when an owner holds up their fingers to show me what an inch is, it is a lot different from my inch.

I will hold the hair up for the owner and show them how much I think that they are telling me they want off to make sure that we are talking about the same thing.

Once you have an idea of the length that the owner wants to leave, or take off of the dog, but you are not 100%  sure which blade to use, place the blade down into the coat (after it the coat has been cleaned and blow dried)

Keep the blade off.

You do not want it running.

You are just checking to see how much that blade will take off.

This owner only wants a 1/4 of an inch off, so I would start checking with a clip comb.

As you can see in the picture above, the green clip comb (where the blade teeth and the clip comb meet)  would barely take off anything.

The purple comb would take off more, but still not enough.

The tan clip comb looks like it would take the desired length off.

  If you are still not totally sure, try the next length which is the #4F blade.

This is a #4F blade under all of that hair.

It would defiantly take too much off for this owner.

This trick is not sure fire.

You still will not be 100% sure until you have actually clipped some of the hair.

 If you are not sure about the blade, or clip comb that you picked.

Find a spot on the dog to clip and check.

On the neck, under the ear is a good spot, just in case you take the spot too short.

It will be hidden under the ear and you can blend it in to the rest of the hair cut.

 That is close enough to a 1/4 of an inch off for me.

After you have been grooming for a while, you will be able to make a pretty good guess about which blade will take off the amount of hair that you want, without having to use this trick.

Owner: "I don't want a full hair cut, but take just a little bit off."

              "Just clean him up."

Groomer:  "So you don't want me to take any length off of the body? Do you want me to just trim up and tidy the face, trim the feet and rear and do the nails?

You want to describe to the owner exactly what you think that they want done.

They will either say yes, or they will change something and give you a better idea what they really want. 

Owner: "Just do what you did the last time."

Groomer: "Okay." 

Be careful!

This one can be a trap.

Believe me, I have fallen into it a lot.

Most of my customers a regulars that basically get the same cut just about every time that they come in.

So it is very easy to fall into the habit of asking; "Do you want him groomed the same as last time?"

Only it just so happens that the last time you did something different.

Now you have to try to call them and find out if they really do want 'the same as last time', or they really want what you normally do.

Owner: "Take her short, but don't shave her. 

Don't you just love this one?

This could mean anything from a clipdown #7F to a full blown hand scissor cut.

You can not just assume that your idea of 'short, but not shaved' is the same as their 'short, but not shaved.'

Once again you must pull the dog hair up, and have the owner show you what their idea of short is, and exactly how much hair they want you to take off.

I have owners use the word short only to discover, after many questions, that their idea of short was leaving two inches on the dog.

Owner: "Make her look like this picture."

I hate pictures.

I hate pictures, because 99% of the time the dogs coat in the picture is nothing like the customers dogs coat.

If it is impossible for you to copy the cut in the picture, because the dog does not have enough coat, or it has a different type of coat, you must explain this to the owner.

If you can do something similar, but it will not look exactly like the picture, you must tell them. 

It is always best to be honest and inform an owner before you do any grooming.

This way the owner will not be expecting one thing and get another when they come to pick up.

Even if you are pretty sure that you can make the dog look like the picture, tell them that you will groom their dog as close to the picture as you can, but it may not look exactly like the picture, because the dogs are different, even if they are the same breeds.

It is better to be safe than sorry.

If you manage to make the dog look exactly like the picture...great.

Owner:  "I want her hair cut, but don't use a blade on her."

Groomer: "Okay, how much hair do you want off?"

Owner: " I want about an inch and a half off."

Groomer: "No problem. To do that without a blade means that I will have to hand scissor her. It will be an extra $$ to do that. 

When a customer asks for something special that will take you more time, let the owner know right away that the groom will cost more.

Do not wait till they pick up their dog.

It is possible that when you told this customer what she was asking for would cost more, she would suddenly decide to let you use a blade on the dog. 

 Owner: "She has some knots, but I don't want her hair cut short."

               "Don't cut him short." 

You know what this means, don't you?

The dogs of these owners are almost always matted.

Too matted not to cut short.

These are the owners that have to be shown proof that their dog is matted.

I will put these dogs up on my counter and part the hair and show the owners the mats.

I will show them how close the mats are to their dogs skin.

I will explain to them how I don't have any choice about what blade I use on their dog.

I will explain that length of hair left on their dog will be determined by what blade will safely cut between the mat and the dogs skin.

Even if I know that with my shampoos and the HV I may be able to get a longer blade through the coat, I do not tell the owner this.

Because, all that they will hear is the word 'longer', and will forget everything else that you told them.

Then they will be disappointed because you didn't leave the dog as long as they thought that you would.

Let them be pleasantly surprised when they pick up the dog.

Owner: "I don't know."

             "I don't know, didn't my wife tell you when she made the appointment.?"

            "What do you think."

           "You're the groomer, groom him the way he is supposed to look."

Really!?

These are the people that you can ask a thousand questions, and you are still not sure what they want you to do on their dog.

After I have tried every way I know how to get answers and still don't know exactly what they want, I tell them what I think that they want.

I will describe exactly how I plan on grooming their dog, giving them an opportunity to change something.

I will also tell them that I will groom their dog conservatively.

Meaning, I warn the owner that I may leave their dog a little on the longer side, because I can't put hair back on after I take it off.

I also tell them that I write everything that I do down so that the next time that they come in they can tell me that they want the same, or that they want the cut shorter or longer.

I know that it probably sounded like I was repeating myself a lot in this post, and I guess that I did.

I believe that as  professional groomers we must take the time to listen to the owners and ask a lot of questions.

We must try to make sure that we understand what the owner wants, and that the owner understands what we are able to do.

I know that I can't please every owner, but it sure isn't for a lack of trying. :)

Happy Grooming, MFF