any years ago, Jill, a first-time client, brought in Rocky, her Old English Sheepdog. He was one year old and had never been groomed. I took one look at him, then said to Jill, “Rocky’s hair is terribly matted. We are going to have to clip it all off.”
“Oh, no!” she protested, insisting that she brushed her dog regularly and that she liked his hair long and fluffy.
I countered by saying, “That may be, but today he will have to be clipped short all over.”
She wasn’t happy. And as she left, Jill said, “Leave as much hair on him as you can. I don’t want him to be cold.”
All I said in reply was, “I will call you when he is done.”
I started working on Rocky. The poor guy was in such bad shape that the matted pelt of hair came off in pretty much one piece.
When Jill came back to pick him up, I presented the dog to her and said, “Here’s Rocky.”
I replied with, “Right here. This is Rocky.”
“Oh no, that’s not him!” she shrieked emphatically. “My dog is bigger and he has huge muscles! Where’s my Rocky?”
For a moment I was dumbfounded. Then it dawned on me that all along Jill actually thought that the lumpy mats on her dog were his muscles.
“Just a minute,” I said. I had saved the pelt that I removed from Rocky. I pulled it out of the bag and placed it back on the dog. I suddenly felt like Ed McMahon as he introduced Johnny Carson every night on The Tonight Show. I turned around and with a sweep of my arm I said, “Heeerrre’s Rocky!”
Jill gasped, her mouth dropped open and her eyes got as big as saucers as she replied, “That’s really my Rocky? Is all this his hair? How could that have happened??”
I handed the pelt to her. I let her feel the “muscles,” which were about two inches thick, and the outside hair, which she had been brushing, that was still fluffy. Putting the matted pelt back on Rocky spoke volumes to his owner, and now she was able to see that her dog had been wearing a straight jacket of mats.
As a first-time pet owner, Jill burst into tears. Then she sobbed an apology to Rocky for not being “a good dog Mommy,” and promised him she would never let this happen to him again.
I assured her that Rocky would be fine and that is hair would grow back. Then I explained the after-clip care Rocky would need and told Jill that if we put Rocky on a regular grooming schedule, he wouldn’t have to be clipped short again. And I told her I would show her how to brush and comb him at home. From then on, I groomed Rocky every month. And Jill, true to her word, kept him well-brushed and mat-free in between his appointments.
I learned a big lesson that day, too. I realized that I was not clearly communicating with my clients or educating them about what a groomer can and cannot do during the grooming process. I knew as soon as I saw him that Rocky would have to be completely clipped down but I didn’t do a good job of explaining it to the first-time dog owner.
One of the most important components of being a successful groomer is the skill of communicating clearly with your clients. You may think you are already doing a great job of this, but if you look at things from your client’s point of view, you may find ways to improve.
Oftentimes owners don’t give you their full attention when you are talking to them. You have to over-explain things to them—maybe more than once. And some owners, like Jill, truly have no clue that their pet is matted.
Here are a few ways you can educate owners, and protect yourself, if you know a pet will have to be clipped short:
- At check-in, show the owner the matting and explain why it is not possible to “just comb it out.” Hand them a comb and let them try to comb through a mat. Many people won’t believe it until they see and feel it for themselves.
- Explain how time-consuming and potentially risky it is to remove the matting and how skin problems and parasites could be hidden in and under the hair.
- Avoid using the word “shaved;” instead, say that their pet’s matted hair will have to be clipped short, or that he/she will have to have a “smoothie.” Clipped sounds better than shaved or cut, and since you will be using clippers to remove the hair, clipped is the best description of the process.
- Show them before and after photos of several pets that have been completely clipped down.
- Alert the owners to possible issues after the clip such as the pet scratching themselves and creating hot spots or shaking their head and ears until hematomas form.
- Always have the owner sign a matted pet release.
- For your own protection, install cameras to video your grooms.
- Give owners a brochure or handout that explains matting (what causes it, how to prevent it, etc.) to take home that reinforces everything you told them at drop-off and includes their after-grooming care.
- Stress the importance of having their pet groomed regularly to prevent the need for a future complete clip-down.
- Make follow-up care easy for the owner and the pet by setting up the pet’s next appointment at pick-up.
- Put their pet on a recurring schedule of appointments and emphasize how much it benefits their pet.
Taking five to ten minutes to educate the owner before the pet is clipped can save you from a multitude of problems after the groom, and can make all the difference in having an extremely irate client bashing you on social media versus someone who understands and takes responsibility for the condition of their pet.
You’ll find that establishing clear communication with your clients and educating them about all things grooming related can also pay off financially. That once-a-year clip-down can become a monthly regular for the life of the pet. And, the informed owner will sing your praises to all their family and friends and broadcast it all over social media.
I framed the before and after photos of Rocky and also of the pelt I removed from him. For a long time I had them hanging in my salon, and when someone came in with a matted pet, I would tell them his story and then point to the framed collection and say, “Heeerrre’s Rocky!”