was in a toxic work environment and was considering opening my own salon,” shares Austin-area groomer Courtney Bushee. “I’d seen a mobile grooming van and asked to do a ride-along. It was a night-and-day difference from corporate. It was so quiet and peaceful.

“I mean all respect to corporate groomers, as that’s no easy job,” she continues. “But I knew it wasn’t for me, and I wanted to create a better life for me and my future furry clients.”

From the beginning, Courtney knew she wanted to own a pet grooming business with a solid brand, a stable income and nose-to-toe pet care to ensure optimal pet health. Now, Courtney and her husband, Devin, own two grooming vans under the Dog Heart Grooming name in the Austin, Texas area, serving the Liberty Hill, Bertram and Cedar Park neighborhoods. Devin handles the bath and brush van and Courtney handles the full grooming van. Come January 2025, they will celebrate their 10th anniversary as business owners.

In addition, Dog Heart Grooming has won four mobile grooming competition awards at the US Pet Pro Classic, and Courtney has won two awards in Asian Fusion competitions and two in creative grooming.

“I recognized in every industry there’s someone who makes pennies and someone who makes dollars,” Courtney says. “I wanted to build a brand that stood for the highest quality possible. I started looking into different types of memberships: gym memberships, Banfield Veterinarian Hospitals, and even apartment leases. I examined their models and contracts and used them to create my own.”

For example, Courtney says Banfield’s membership model requires you to continue paying even if your dog passes, which she learned first-hand, much to her dismay.

“I felt like I was reliving my puppy’s passing every month I was charged,” she shares. “I vowed never to do that to my members. We have a clause that if your dog passes, you’re immediately released from your membership.”

Courtney and Devin opened Dog Heart Grooming with monthly pet care memberships, which put the grooming business on stable financial footing from the outset. Plus, she finds the dogs are happier and healthier.

“We profit with a purpose,” Courtney proudly admits. “This business model is beneficial in more ways than just making money. If a business isn’t making a difference in others’ lives, then what is the point of being in business? Money only goes so far in life. The most important things we will ever do are the impacts we leave behind and the hearts we touch along the way.

“The dogs are better behaved and well maintained, and clients love it,” she continues. “They say, ‘Wow, it’s so great that all I have to do is give you my card and I can rely on you to groom my pups. I come home to a happy, clean dog with no effort on my part!’”

When Courtney welcomes new members, she sets them up with monthly VIP-reserved “spaw” days for the year. She then adds them in to her carefully built mobile routes, which limit drive time so the groomer can spend more time caring for their furry clients. This model keeps it simple and limits stress for all involved.

“After about three months of a dog being on our program, the dog’s skin is healthy, the dog seems healthier, and the pet parents are happier,” Courtney says. “It keeps the dog in a state of care rather than repair.

“We don’t do a la carte services,” she continues. “When I was in corporate, I’d see a dog desperately needing a better shampoo or nail grinding, and I couldn’t provide it because everything was a la carte, and pet parents were the ones choosing what their dogs needed. That never made sense to me since, as a trained professional, I know better what the dog needs. Instead, Dog Heart Grooming’s memberships include everything dogs need to ensure they are fully cared for, from their nose to their toes.”

In the past, Courtney had noticed many pet parents wait until their dog needs a haircut before making a grooming appointment. That inspired her to separate haircuts from monthly grooming.

“We have separated haircutting (except visors, eye corners, pads, and sanitary trimming) from our maintenance care because we have found that owners will wait long past when they should for their dog to be groomed just because their dog doesn’t need a haircut yet, leaving the dog’s nails, ears, skin, and coat in a never-ending state of repair, rather than care,” she explains. “By separating haircutting from maintenance care, the dogs stay maintained. And we charge by the minute for haircutting so the members can customize what they want; maybe they just want the face trimmed monthly, but we do the body every three months.

“The monthly membership allows us to care for dogs in a higher quality and quicker way,” Courtney continues. “It doesn’t take two to three hours to groom a dog when they’re on a more frequent grooming basis. It only takes an hour or so, making it much easier for the dog and my body. The consistency helps the dogs stay calmer and happier because you’re not asking for so much more from the dog.”

Courtney says monthly grooming also provides an early advantage in other health conditions, as the groomers build a relationship with the dogs and their bodies since they see them so often. She even alerted a client to canine cancer.

“I found a suspicious lump under a dog’s arm that wasn’t there the month before and told the client,” she shares. “The dog got biopsied, they caught the cancer early, and the dog went on to live several more years.”

“We’re holistic pet care professionals,” Courtney adds. “We have an opportunity to make a difference in these dogs’ lives. Monthly grooms are the secret to keeping pets looking and feeling their furry best, year round.”

In addition to their maintenance and full-groom memberships, Dog Heart Grooming also offers services at a local dog park on Saturdays, called “Nails on Wheels.”

“They call me the ‘Nail Whisperer,’” Courtney quips. “I was fortunate to have a corporate manager who kept me on bathing duty for 11 months instead of the usual three. She wanted me to be able to do nails perfectly before she would let me groom. That experience paid off, as I can do dogs’ nails that most vets want to sedate or turn away.”

Dog Heart Grooming is a member of the International Society of Canine Cosmetologists (ISCC), which provides salon safety training and offers OSHA-style safety regulations for the pet grooming industry. They were the first in the country to become Mobile Salon Safety certified. This means their chemicals are properly labeled, they have a safety data sheet and meet other safety regulations.

“In an industry that is unregulated as a whole, I appreciate ISCC for providing a way for us groomers who want to go above and beyond with high standards, continuing education, and certifications,” Courtney says.

Courtney and Devin also set high standards for the health and wellbeing of themselves, as well as their employee.

“We do four to five dogs a day max and work three weeks out of every month,” Courtney says. “Our employee, Stephanie Lopez, works the other week and goes to Mutts Dog Park one Saturday a month doing Nails on Wheels.”

Even with their fast success and full schedule, Courtney and Devin have their sights set on growing their business from $300,000 to $500,000 annually.

“Being the best at what we do is expensive, so we need to increase to $40,000/month to continue providing top-quality services,” she shares.

“I would love to have a third mobile van that’s cat exclusive and add a couple of employees. I am keeping my eyes open for the right employees I can hire and care for in the coming years. My clients deserve only the very best,” concludes Courtney.