"The Groom was Perfect Last Time!"

I guess that most groomers would love to heard their customers say that.

And if the customer was saying "Your grooms are always perfect," that would be wonderful to hear.

It is those two words, 'last time', that get me.

The first thing I feel like asking is, "Oh, only the last grooming?"

"Were all of the other grooms bad?"

Those two words also mean that the groom is not going to be 'perfect' this time.

The customer that made this statement is a nice customer.

I am also sure that she did not mean anything by her statement, other than to tell me that I got all of her instructions exactly right last time, because most of the time she wants to talk to me about one little thing that was not quite right the last time.

Sometimes she knows exactly what she wants to change and other times she is not sure, so I am not always sure if I am getting the groom right.

The funny thing is, I remember the last groom.

The owner came in and wanted to talk to me the last time.

We talked about the fact that the owner didn't think that the head and tail was balanced after the last grooming.

I really don't get upset when customers tells me things like this, as long as they are not rude about it.

It does amaze me when I have customers come in and try to tell me how to groom their dog.

I don't mean when they come in and tell me what they want done.

I mean the owners that come in and proceed to tell me how to groom their dog.

They will throw out a blade number that turns out to be no where near the length that they are describing.

It's funny, my husband gets upset when customers tell me how to groom their dogs.

He can't understand how I can laugh and shake my head after they leave.

I can't explain it either.

I just find it funny when I have an owner who thinks they can tell me how to do my job.

Most owners could care less how I groom their dog as long as I give their dog the cut they want.

I do have one customer that I only recently started grooming her dog.

I have groomed the dog twice now.

The first grooming, the owner kept me in the lobby for 30 minute interrogating me.

She was happy and cheery and pleasant, but you better believe that all of her questions were an interrogation.

I don't doubt for a second that if I had not answered her questions to her satisfaction that she would have been out the door.

The owner also went over her dog with a fine tooth comb when she came to pick her dog up.

I have to say, I don't think that I ever had a customer go over a dog like she did hers.

She picked up all of the feet, looked at the pads and toes.

She picked up the hair in places on the legs to make sure that all of the hair was cut evenly.

She checked the ears.

She checked the eyes.

She had me take the dog back to cut around the top of the eyes closer.

There was no more hair left over the eyes to cut.

I did check.

Really I did.

I combed the hair up, forward, back....there was nothing left to cut.

I took the dog back up and said,  "how is that?"

"Perfect!"

She made another appointment.

I have groomed the dog twice now and both times the owner has sat the dog on my counter and gone over her.

I wonder how many time I have to get the grooming right for her to stop that?

I will admit that the first time she went over her dog I was a little taken back by how thoroughly she went over the dog, right in front of me.

I do remember being a little perturbed by it.

I remember standing there thinking 'you have got to be kidding me.'

I really didn't get mad.

I don't know what I was feeling exactly, other than amazed, stunned, that really didn't just happen.

So anyway, this is the perfectly groomed dog....'last time.'

Isn't he cute?

This is his perfectly grown out cut.  :)

His Moms biggest concern is that the cut is done the way she wants it, but balanced at the same time.

She likes the body short.

The legs a little longer than the body.

Dome type head.

Ears neatened.

Sides of the face short and tight.

Leave the mustache.

Shave the top of the nose and blend down into the mustache so the hair will not stick up into the eyes.

Trim the tail to balance with the head.

Don't look too hard.

Remember it will not be perfect this time.

It is never 'perfect' two times in a row, or three, or four....

But that is okay, because the owner is nice when she tells me, "it wasn't quite right the last time."

So try to keep a chin up when a customer makes comments that they don't really intend to be mean.

Try to find the humor in it.

 If you don't, people will drive you insane.

Just do the best work you can.

We can not please everyone all of the time.

Groomers are only human, even though some customers think we are Magicians.

Happy Grooming, MFF