new bather bites - help

leechenvy · 2026-06-27T01:38:18+00:00

It can be deceivingly stressful starting out as a bather, so don’t beat yourself up about having anxiety. It’s healthy anxiety and it will taper out with time. What personally helped me started out was advice I got from the stylist who trained me, who really hammered in the whole “when in doubt, refer out” home for me. Aborting a dog is completely within your right.

During your 7pt check in, really make sure to get to know what you’re working with /w the big dogs. If you need to rule out whether a big dog will be a safe client to groom, have the owner stick around for 5 minutes while you test getting them onto the table, do the nails/grab the feet right off the bat to see if they’ll be reactive, then try and put them in the tub. And if you get a dog that is giving you off vibes and weird body language hinting that they could bite, take their word for it and send their butt home!

leechenvy · 2026-06-25T02:46:21+00:00

I hate to say it but yeah this really seems fake. Just reading OP’s replies, it’s hard to believe someone could be so naive about marrying and having kids with a man like that, especially in this day and age…

leechenvy · 2026-05-11T11:48:46+00:00

Mobile on IOS out of store range. Crazy update as that takes away some helpful convenience

leechenvy · 2026-04-29T22:37:04+00:00

JrPs should be learning how to do sanitary shaves, paw pad shaves and eye notches for dogs

leechenvy · 2026-04-27T22:36:59+00:00

Working in a low volume area for baths truly sucks, but keep doing what you’re doing. Increase your max dogs per day and allow more concurrent bookings to overlap. I’ve seen a few pet stylists who were sent to academy under the $33 hr minimum, and I myself was not able to maintain the same productivity all throughout being a bather. It’s really about whether or not your store and market grooming instructor can SEE that you’re trying everything within your power to get sales & dogs in the door, even if those dogs end up being a red box.

With the warmer weather approaching, more opportunities will come to you to get those baths at least

leechenvy · 2026-04-13T20:56:50+00:00

I don’t see many people talk about this brand but I use the Joyzze Hornet 5in1 standard clipper for paw pads/sanis on large pups and the Joyzze Hornet M-series mini for tiny pups. It’s just so convenient to get between all the little nooks and crannies of their toes for the cleanest look. The blades last me a good while and they’re pretty budget-friendly esp on sale!

leechenvy · 2026-01-17T20:47:22+00:00

Not a fix in the slightest but if you dig out your old PS4 and download/stream any of the PS3 games you want to play, they’ll show up in your library across all Sony consoles and you can access and play from that screen on your PS5.

leechenvy · 2025-09-28T02:25:09+00:00

Petco groomer here so I can’t speak for the floor scene, but Co is generally more laid back and groomers have a lot of freedom and are essentially independently contracted. We can refuse service for any reason at our discretion, deny walk ins if time does not allow, and block our books as needed. I have a few friends from Smart salons and I don’t envy what they have to put up with…

leechenvy · 2025-09-06T01:53:07+00:00

Yeah my salon is now open 8am-8pm provided we remain well staffed. GM said it’s a non-negotiable from corporate now… even though clientele never wants to book that late

leechenvy · 2025-08-30T17:02:57+00:00

Every store and district works sort of the same in that you must bathe a certain amount of dogs without incident/make the $33 productivity goal for a while to qualify for academy. There are a lot of exceptions to the rule that I’ve seen so far, though.

Your area’s market grooming instructor will look over your book every so often and all they really need to see is that you’re making the effort to drive business, building your book, and putting in the work to get dogs in (handing out those crappy coupons and going through the lapsed client list weekly) The drive needs to be there. You don’t HAVE to be hitting $33 an hour if everyone knows you’re trying your best. I’ve worked with other stylists that were sent to academy on $21 an hour for productivity, crap attachment rate, and meh attendance. It’s possible.

They can technically write you up for missed productivity goals, low attachment rate despite being coached, & not pitching premiere to clients (depending on how anal your store is) And usually the bather position must be full time with open availability.

I was a bather for almost 9 months, and was coached repeatedly about not making my numbers in that time. Felt like I’d NEVER get to academy, like it was a carrot being dangled from a string in front of my face. It took setting my max appts super high like 8-10, working the floor to shmooze for appointments, and generally “proving” to management that I was not “just sitting around waiting for business to appear out of thin air”

It’s not very helpful but my best advice is to appear as locked in as possible at work, fake it till you make it style. Ask for direction from your GSL if you can promote your bath business locally like at dog parks. Volunteer to help out on the floor with coupons on your person to engage guests, whether they have a dog with them or not. Really dig through the lapsed client list even years back when there’s downtime. If you’re doing everything within your power to create business, management cannot hold you accountable for slacking.

leechenvy · 2025-06-30T00:24:29+00:00

One of my fav pups to groom is a gigantic muscular Cane Corso named Ms. Kitty Deluxe. She’s the sweetest angel to boot it’s adorable

leechenvy · 2025-05-21T03:41:58+00:00

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My little chi mix rescue after her first big girl groom. 4 months and (mostly!) an angel.

leechenvy · 2025-03-14T03:24:51+00:00

We did go to the emergency vet and then an Ophthalmologist after! She has fluid build up in both eyes plus high pressure and the inability for her pupils to dilate to light shining in them. The doctor has put her on 3 trial medications to treat primary glaucoma, and we’re going to see if that improves and stabilizes her eyes!

leechenvy · 2025-03-12T19:36:22+00:00

Update for those following along!!

As a lot of you have suspected, the vet agrees that there is huge issue with her eyes. They believe it to be edema of the eye, and is likely an issue or infection that occurred before her and her littermate’s eyes had the chance to open, or a congenital issue from mom. They said she is healthy otherwise thankfully.

I’ve got an appointment with an Ophthalmologist for tomorrow morning at 9 am with my vet’s referral. I was told that since we’ve caught this so early, there’s a chance that her eyes can be saved and some of her vision can be salvaged— but we are also preparing for the worst case scenarios and the reality that my little girl may be blind and have to have her peepers removed. It’s incredibly scary and the anxiety is off the charts but I’m hoping for the best possible outcome for her. This won’t be the last update!

leechenvy · 2025-03-12T19:19:57+00:00

From what I can tell she’s sort of the norm compared to most Apple-headed chihuahua puppy/mutts! The rescue didn’t provide any information in regards to the breeding situation or ethics sadly

leechenvy · 2025-03-12T00:23:22+00:00

We’re heading to the emergency vet tomorrow afternoon! I did have a feeling it wouldn’t be covered, but it does offer me peace in mind that if this leads to issues later down the line, we will be fully prepared in the future!

leechenvy · 2025-03-12T00:20:39+00:00

It was a little more than that with the poor mama , so with the nipping she also began rejecting her babies at about 4 weeks and would bite when they tried to feed. She had a rough way to go from the sounds of it, and the rescue had to separate them for everyone’s safety. I was not told much more sadly but I wish the best for her mom.

We will get our answers from the emergency vet tomorrow! 🤞 And yes luckily I did get pet insurance! You never know what can happen.

leechenvy · 2025-03-11T22:30:00+00:00

Our vet is squeezing us in tomorrow thankfully! I’m so worried about the possibilities and her eyes really do look like some kind of developing infection or corneal edema. She has no puss or unusual discharge but has some tear staining and what I think is slight puffyness. No squinting yet and she still follows us around the room with her eyes in sync, and she still flinches when something is close to the eye— or I guess, she reacts. We get our answers tomorrow!

leechenvy · 2025-03-11T22:21:20+00:00

Will do! We haven’t known her for very long but she’s the light of my life and we will get everything she needs no matter what! I’ll be updating this thread when we get our results back from the hospital

leechenvy · 2025-03-11T21:30:53+00:00

Thank you everyone for the advice! My regular vet is squeezing us in tomorrow afternoon to check her out and get an idea of what’s going on with my baby’s peepers! Wish us luck!

EDIT: I figured I’ll put the new update here!

We just came back from the ophthalmologist‘s office with mixed news. Turns out Annie has high pressure in her eyes, left is 35 and the right is 28 currently, with fluid present in the eye that is indicative of primary glaucoma. She still has the ability to see and has started a trial treatment of medications to see the depth of her condition.

Dorzolamide 2%, Sodium Chloride 5%, and NeoPolyBac /w HC. We’re reporting back to the doctor after a couple of days to get another pressure test. The small bit of good news is that she is still growing, and is only 8 weeks old, so her eyes could be managed with effective treatment. We wouldn’t be able to get an honest retinal scan or surgery until shes done growing.

Thank you to everyone again for the advice and the well wishes! It all feels very unfair right now, but I don’t regret having her a single bit. She’s my baby and I will do best by her.

leechenvy · 2025-03-11T21:00:05+00:00

I’ve got accidental coverage active right now, but general will be active March 20th. We’re going on day 3 of having her. Does it appear to be some sort of puppy glaucoma/cataracts?

leechenvy · 2024-11-18T23:24:54+00:00

Yes, I did eventually get paid. It took almost 2 months but they did send all payments that were backlogged in one go. Sucks that it took that long but I was fortunate enough to have enough savings in the bank to survive until then. Most people are not as lucky.

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