

Now we know better to only put ear powder on our dry fingers and then gently pull out the hairs in the ear that are in telogen/exogen phase—the hairs ready to come out. Then, lightly trim down the rest, leaving the firmly rooted hairs to continue to do their job of keeping debris out of the inner ear.
I wish everyone knew then, as we know now, that fleas die from simple shampoo left on the dog to soak for a while, and that the way to treat flea infestations is just keep the dog clean and to treat the dog’s environment—the grass, carpeting, etc.—where the flea spends most of its life cycle.
We paid big bucks for these trendy oil warmers, but had no idea what was in those oils; ingredients were never discussed. They did not seem to be the light oils, like Argan or Emu, which we know today to just rub in with our hands or work in with boar-hair bristle brushes after the bath for smooth-coated breeds like Boxers.
Groomers Lung is a real condition that many groomers suffer with. It is now common practice to wear N-95 masks during blow-drying, brushing and clipping to prevent microscopic particulate matter from getting inside our lungs. Thankfully, we now regularly talk about self-care in our industry.
Nowadays, there are countless education outlets and groomer platforms bringing us together and advancing groomer education and support for a booming industry. Grooming competitions, trade shows, websites, podcasts and online education abound, and the pet industry is now broadly considered recession-proof and one of the best businesses to be in.
Most groomers I knew in the 80s groomed alone. Healthcare and retirement benefits did not exist at that time for groomers working at giant pet superstores. There were few grooming schools and fewer Certified Master Groomers. Groomers rarely had their own commercial space for formal salons, so many worked from home on a subsistence wage. Groomers often undercharged for their value, skill, hard work and time—which is still a problem today.
The pay-by-commission culture is still with us, but the more professional salary or wage model is growing in our industry. The commission-based salons with multiple groomers often developed an “everyone-for-themselves” environment, as opposed to a culture of teamwork. Now, many shops pay either hourly or a hybrid commission-based W-2. That is at least legal, as the laws regarding contract employees have changed.
Thankfully, pet food choices are now much better, and pets are welcome more places, even being integrated into workplaces and schools. It is normal to be an animal lover today, and that has been good for our industry.
The high-velocity dryer was also in its infancy, and most of us used swing-arm heating stand dryers for the entire drying job. We did not have super-absorbent towels. We did not know about frothing. We did not have large-headed, long-tined, curved, soft slicker brushes. Shears and equipment were not ergonomically designed. We did not have the many choices in products and equipment as we have today.
Worst of all, there were no electric tables that went up and down at the tap of a foot. Our grooming tables had to be manually adjusted for height with bolts on each of the four legs. This meant most of us also have back problems because we rarely would adjust the table height during the day.
Today, things have gotten better in many other aspects of our work: product choices, techniques, animal handling, self-care, collegiality, education and so much more. We also now know that science matters. Learning about how things work and why they work makes a difference. Groomer certification and credentialing is growing, and the many industry trade shows are truly wonderful, inspiring and tons of fun. Now we can truly say together, “These are the good old days!”