Dog grooming is a growing industry, with more and
more dog owners taking advantage of the services provided by grooming salons. There are approximately 3,000 grooming salons,
the majority of which are individual premises, and increasing numbers are part of other pet-related establishments such as
pet shops, garden centres, boarding and breeding kennels. Some are even branching into cat grooming and there are also mobile
groomers who visit the animals in their own homes.
With the many types of coat that
each breed of dog has, so each breed will have different grooming requirements which all require specialist
skills and techniques in their preparation. The work involves bathing, shampooing, drying and clipping, trimming and brushing
a variety of long and short coated dogs.
Dog groomers need to be manually
dextrous with good eye-to-hand co-ordination and a good eye for detail. An artistic flair also helps. A love of animals is
essential, and a great deal of patience is required with a firm but gentle way of handling the dog.
Good
customer service is an important part of the job, as are good communication skills to explain the work effectively to dog
owners. Job opportunities vary from area to area, and the hours of work and pay are negotiable, but normally include weekend
work.
If you would like to get into grooming, you can either learn on-the-job
skills with an experienced qualified groomer, preferably one who holds the City & Guilds Advanced and Higher Diploma
and is also qualified to teach. Alternatively, you can undertake a fee-paying course at a private Grooming Training
Centre it is best to attend an Accredited
Grooming Training Centres,
there you can work towards Industry qualifications and receive the correct industry standard training.
Many students
complete training on its own, At the moment there is no requirment for groomers to have qualifications but we do highly reccomend
students complete City & Guilds alongside there training course, this will put you in a good position eventually when
licensing for groomers comes in, when a level 3 grooming certificate will be the minimum standard for groomers.
Dog
grooming is a career with plenty of prospects. To see how your career as a groomer can develop, view the grooming pathway
below.
CITY & GUILDS DOG GROOMING CAREER QUALIFICATIONS
PATHWAY
CITY & GUILDS LEVEL 2 DOG GROOMING ASSISTANT CERTIFICATE
CITY
& GUILDS LEVEL 3 INTRODUCTORY DOG GROOMING CERTIFICATE
CITY & GUILDS
LEVEL 3 DIPLOMA IN PROFESSIONAL DOG GROOMING
CITY & GUILDS
HIGHER DIPLOMA IN DOG GROOMING
CITY & GUILDS L.C.G.I & GUILDS OF MASTER GROOMERS
How much will it cost to set up a business?
Firstly your training is the big expense of between £2500-£5000
Equiptment even for a small home business can cost between £2000-£3000
Insurance, marketing and labour
costs for plumbing,electrics etc can cost between £1,000-£3,000
If you already have a garage /shed to use
you wont have this additional cost a shed can cost from £1,000-£2500
If setting up from a shop from premises
you will have the cost of the lease/rent which can be anything from £50-£250 per week
If setting up a mobile
business a van can cost from £10,000-£30,000
How much will you earn dog grooming?
After
basic training students will still be slow and need to build speed initially you may be able to groom only 2-4 dogs per day
for the first few months.
After approx 6 months experience students working on there own should be able to groom 5-6
average small-medium sized dogs per day in an average 8 hours day obviously large breeds would mean fewer dogs per day. Bath
and dry dogs would mean more dogs per day.
Example after training based on 2-4 dogs per day.
average of 3
dogs per day at £30 each= £90 x 5days average weekely income £450.00
Example after 6 months experience
based on 5-6 dogs per day.
average of 5 dogs per day at £30 each= £150 x 5 days average weekly income £750.00
An average income /turnover minimim of £40,000 is easy to achieve with a small home business.
With a expeneses
of £1000 per month for a home business a gross income of £28,000 is easily achievable.
Obviously with
your own business you can choose your own hours and work shorter or longer hours.
