et grooming is a skilled trade requiring both knowledge and extensive hands-on skills and training, comparable in many ways to electricians, plumbers, truckers, roofers and our closest cousins, cosmetologists in the human beauty or barber industries. However, one difference is that all of these other trades require months and even years of hands-on training under the supervision of masters, as well as licensing, credentialing, testing or certification of some form.
The beauty industry, for example, in all 50 states requires two years of mandatory schooling in a state-licensed school and a passing mark on state board exams. Only then are they licensed and can begin to work in the industry. Most states even require that they maintain their state licenses by taking required continuing education units (CEUs) that keep them current on the latest best practices and any changes in the science of their trade.
Licenses governing business activities are required by governmental agencies at various levels—city, county, state and federal—depending on the business in question. You must get a license to operate a business, to take in money and employ workers, etc., but a general business license does not specify or regulate how to do your job. There are a few universal regulations on groomers such as our collection and retention of records for each pet’s required rabies vaccination information.
As of this writing, the only jurisdiction that requires a recognized form of groomer certification that includes any kind of competency testing is the city of El Paso, Texas. After a rash of pet deaths, the city passed a law requiring groomers to maintain a recognized certification credential from amongst a list of approved courses. These do not mandate hands-on grooming skill testing, but instead they focus on safety education.
Other states have tried to license groomers, New Jersey and California being the most notorious. They failed because the bills were bad, to which groomers organized significant and well-informed opposition. Some legislators, not knowledgeable about our industry, even suggested that animal control officers be put in charge of licensing.
After these serious but ill-informed efforts at groomer licensing were beaten back, grooming industry leaders from many organizations got together and worked hard for several years to write the PPGSA Standards of Safety, Care and Sanitation.1 This document remains the lone internally created, industry-wide set of standards.
However, the PPGSA standards, while written to be easily adoptable for legislative purposes, are not mandatorily being used throughout our industry. And even if the PPGSA standards were to be universally adopted, there still is no required component for skills-based testing. These standards do not address in any way, nor were they ever meant to, how we are to cut and style dog hair.
Realistically, we know that there are many people all over this nation taking money to groom a pet that really don’t know what they are doing. Worse yet, some may not really care about getting better at it, and pets are certainly suffering at their hands. Like so many, though, they often mean well but simply don’t know better because they only know what they were taught.
Another advantage to credentialing is the ability to sanction groomers that do harm to their clients and the industry’s reputation. Credentials could be withdrawn after due process is given, taking those groomers out of circulation and protecting their clients from further harm. One of the most important responsibilities of industry organizations is ensuring quality and policing their members.
With terms like certificate, certificate course and certification being thrown around more than ever, there are still some groomers—and understandably so—who are not clear about the terminology regarding our voluntary industry credentials.
A certificate shows that the attendee has completed a course or training, proving they have learned specific skills, often in a specialized area. Certificates are for foundational knowledge and typically don’t require testing. For example, “Difficult Dog Certificate Course,” “Groomers Guide to the 15 Coat Types Certificate Course,” “Skin Assessment Certificate Course” or “Feline Safety Grooming Certificate Course.”
A certification validates that the individual has met industry-set standards for competence through a professional body. Certifications signify expertise, often for career advancement, and are provided by a national or international groomer association, which includes written and practical evaluations, and usually requires renewal or continuing education. For example, Certified Professional Groomer (CPG)2, National Certified Master Groomer® (NCMG)3, International Certified Professional Groomer (ICPG)4 or Certified Feline Master Groomer™ (CFMG™).5
It is likely, given the longevity and international reach of these outstanding programs that, should groomer certification ever become mandated as it is in other trades, these existing certification programs would likely become institutionalized. And in the meantime, it is exciting to see our own industry peers working so hard in such large numbers to gain education and credentials not because they have to, but because they want to.
- PPGSA Standards. https://petgroomersandstylists.org/standards/
- International Professional Groomers, Inc. https://www.ipgicmg.com/
- National Dog Groomers Association of America. https://nationaldoggroomers.com/
- The International Society of Canine Cosmetologists. https://isccmembers.com/
- National Cat Groomers Institute. https://nationalcatgroomers.com/