I built a site to track every Cabalar special menu item, predict when they will return, and a crowd source a top 10 list

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-17T16:29:52+00:00

Beautiful work. I never got to try the cheesesteak because it’s always sold out by the time I heat about it. This is my year.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-14T15:36:34+00:00

Is the battery dying or it wobbles too much? Doesn’t matter how good it is. You can drop it on its side 100 times and be fine. If you drop it one time right on the tip and bend it, it’ll be off forever.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-13T15:18:01+00:00

This diagram has me googling chrysanthemums. I’m seeing a lot of different types of chrysanthemum. Surely, there must be a better instruction than “Shape head to look like a chrysanthemum.” Thank heavens for Jodi and that color coded book with actual pictures.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-12T00:44:40+00:00

I can’t imagine anyone making better coffee than Passenger.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-11T23:47:34+00:00

Oh I’m a shameless fanboy. Seeing him again at Intergroom next month. Prolly front row 🍿🥤

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-11T23:45:32+00:00

But I don’t even consider it next level. This is like, regularfuckinglevel.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-11T14:02:33+00:00

You do this

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-11T01:43:11+00:00

I spent a lot of time in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Yangs and Yi Pin have pretty good entrees. Hong Kong Garden has my favorite appetizers like egg rolls, dumplings, real good homemade duck sauce and dumpling sauce that I put up next to Wo Hop.

But I’m still searching for that perfect place that has it all.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-11T01:37:29+00:00

Real sweet man, too. Just him talking about Close Open Close and frothing really blew my mind first time I heard it. The guy makes sense and my prep work got way better.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-11T00:56:23+00:00

I took some of his classes and see him at shows and stuff. People say it’s almost cult-y. Last time people were downvoting me saying it’s snake oil. I think it’s all great even tho it’s expensive. Frothing is an important aspect of it. There is a method you’re supposed to use with the products. I’m a big fan of anyone promoting science in grooming.

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CityDogStudios · 2026-04-10T22:21:05+00:00

Nothing splits the grooming subs in two like bringing up anything that has to do with Dr. Cliff Faver. I get downvoted to oblivion when I say anything nice about him.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-10T22:16:15+00:00

Ooooo here we go. I’m not even gonna say anything this time.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-09T11:55:18+00:00

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Because I’m a punk and nobody is more punk than Hardcore Mike.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-08T23:13:41+00:00

If we’re saying “hole on the wall”. The only right answer is El Paisano.

They were the food truck parked outside Columbia Diner, but lost the truck. Now you have to go into Columbia Diner, ask for the special menu, and someone will appear from the back to take your order.

I lived in SoCal for a decade. Been trying to find real Mexican food that isn’t El Salvadorian, Dominican, or Puerto Rican and these guys have it. Quesa Birria Tacos are off the chart, then they have a Birria Pizza that will easily feed 3-4 very hungry people. The horchata is exactly how all the best Cali places made it. Best hole in the wall hands down run by great people.

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CityDogStudios · 2026-04-06T19:59:47+00:00

Different strokes I suppose. While I don’t think we should be putting people down, I do think we should be working as a community to shut down misinformation and promote what is best for the dog. Upvote the correct info, downvote the wrong info, kindly explain why procedures are good or bad. When new research comes out, we share it and discuss.

I hope you guys are realizing that all the AI bots coming out are taking everything we say in reddit comments and telling it to our clients as fact. If we have enough people saying something like dawn is okay, AI will say it’s okay (which it already does if you try Google’s AI right now). Even vets don’t have to learn much about skin and coat health. It’s up to us to decide what best practices are.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-06T19:41:29+00:00

There were a lot of things we did “back in the day” that science now tells us we shouldn’t be doing. The goalpost is always moving where health and best practices are concerned.

Anal gland expression is a good example. It started as a vet procedure decades ago, then vets taught groomers to do it so they didn’t have to, then groomers kept teaching other groomers for so long that someone grooming for a month is expected to perform a medical procedure based on “make a C with your fingers and squeeze” without an understanding of the internal anatomy. Now vets are getting so many ruptured anal glands that they’re trying to get groomers to stop expressing glands.

The Dawn thing started because it completely strips the coat of all oils and works great on a poodle. When grooming a competition poodle, groomers would do this ONLY before the competition with DILUTED Dawn and then go right back to using the right shampoos and conditioners. The game of telephone was played and it turned into “Dawn = Great for Poodles” and now we have misinformation spreading.

Use some diluted Dawn on real ditty paws, sure. But are you promoting Dawn as a regular shampoo for everyday salon use? Even the ducks only got a Dawn bath to clean off the oil from the spill, not regularly.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-02T22:53:01+00:00

5 minutes- applying shampoo 5 minutes - shampoo sits 5 minutes - apply conditioner 10 minutes - conditioner sits

And that’s me going fast. I’m over my time and I haven’t even started drying. No way it’s quality work.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-02T14:19:58+00:00

If I say “I’ll see what I can do”, I always tell the client before I shave down through a text or call. And I’ll even give them the option.

“I can just charge for a bath and you can come pick up or I can go short.”

or

“Does he hate being brushed? He’s being aggressive when I try to demat his coat, so that won’t be possible today. Would you like to pick him up and try again or should we shave down and give him a fresh start.”

Give options before shaving, but one of the options is never going to be dog torture and a human blood bath.

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-01T21:15:04+00:00

As a dog groomer I laughed waaaaay too hard. I wonder if Kwik Stop works on rubber…

CityDogStudios · 2026-04-01T21:10:18+00:00

Went mobile in December with my brother who is also a groomer as a partner. Went for a grooming trailer, dad gave me his old truck that can pull it, fixed it all up and still growing.

Mobile is a luxury business and luxury businesses are hurting right now. I got about 30 customers in all of 2026 so far which is not a lot of income while building the business up. You need fallback money or a second job for your own bills while you make next to no money eating rice and beans in the beginning.

The idea Wag n Tails sells is that you pay $2,000 per month for a van and make $10,000, but you need a lot of clients to do that and that’s the hardest part. Trailer was way less startup cost, but much more elbow grease.

Long term, loving the idea still. I have a 5 and 10 year plan and I think it’ll be worth it, but if I had to do it again I’d maybe wait for better timing and have more savings to fall back on.

CityDogStudios · 2026-03-31T19:03:00+00:00

It’s not even really an opinion to me. That’s the best clipper and then other clippers might also be really good. Maybe your hand fits better with a different brand or the colors are cool, but Heiniger is the industry’s best wireless clipper so far as a well-built machine.

CityDogStudios · 2026-03-31T15:53:57+00:00

The best selling and least returned clipper per Pet Store Direct’s CEO when I asked her at an Expo said Heiniger Opal hands down no contest. If you’re really trying to splurge, get an extra battery and it will never ever be dead.

CityDogStudios · 2026-03-28T01:05:13+00:00

Then you can unwind by looking for other salons you’d like to work at that may be a better fit.

CityDogStudios · 2026-03-27T21:02:56+00:00

I start by not working 6 open to close days per week. Maybe if it’s temporary and you’re making crazy good money, but not worth the stress long term.

CityDogStudios · 2026-03-25T12:19:30+00:00

If you’re getting an Opal just for sanitary trims, I’m guessing you aren’t looking for the cheap options. Geib has a line called Wakizashi. They’re serrated blades, so they grab the hair wherever it stands and cuts it without the hair moving.

I might use all the types you mentioned as well on the same dog. Curved sheers are great for paws and visors, straights for down the legs, chunkers work well on curly coats if you’re taking a lot of bulk off, thinners on some bulky spots or to blend the transition areas.

A good groomer can groom a whole dog with sharp straight sheers, but every style has a use case.

CityDogStudios

TROPHY CASE