Pet Grooming School
Learn a trade – earn a living from you passion
Pet Grooming School
If you love animals, it will make a lot of sense to make this affection a part of your daily life where work is concerned. One way to do this would be by pursuing pet grooming jobs. Aside from doing what you love, the future outlook of pet grooming jobs is pretty good, as we’re about to discuss in detail.
The role of a pet groomer is fairly self-explanatory. Pet groomer jobs involve everything from bathing animals to blow-drying them to cutting their hair and more. Often, you’ll be tasked with other important duties like clipping their nails, cleaning out their ears, de-matting their coats, etc.
You will also be given work to do that doesn’t directly involve people’s pets. At some point, you will most likely be entrusted with ringing up the customers, cleaning up the workstations and sanitizing the tools.
For the most part, you’ll be grooming dogs, but some work with cats may be involved, as well. These are the only two kinds of pets you should expect to work with. Others may groom horses, but this wouldn’t happen at the same kind of facility servicing cats and dogs.
The actual scope of your job will also have a lot to do with where you’re working. For example, you may work at a veterinarian’s office, in which case, you may also be helping out with certain duties related to the animals’ health.
You could also work at a pet store, a dog kennel, etc. It is possible that, in time, you could open up your own pet grooming service, too. Some people even specialize in the niche area of grooming show dogs, which takes an expert-level of ability but also pays a great deal more.
There is no formal education of any kind required for a career in pet grooming. All you need is a love for animal and patience. This second trait is important for two reasons. First, as you probably know, many pets are not excited to be groomed and may put up a bit of a fight.
Secondly, even if you truly love animals, you will find that there is a bit of a curve before you’re able to get past the initial learning experience.
Although it will most likely help to have a high school diploma, this isn’t a hard-and-fast requirement. As we mentioned, loving animals helps and proving you have a solid work ethic is important.
Once you become comfortable as a pet groomer and decide that this is really what you want to do for the rest of your life, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to invest in earning a certification from the National Dog Groomers Association of American. Once you do, you’ll find that your path to landing higher-paying pet grooming jobs becomes a lot easier. Amongst other things, this credential proves you’re serious about your profession, something every employer likes to see.
The closest you’ll find to a formal education related to pet grooming jobs is the kind you will receive from experience. Unless you already have experience in this field, you will most likely spend the first month or so learning how to groom animals from a senior staff member.
Fortunately, this kind of work isn’t overly-technical, and most people find it pretty easy to pick up on. However, you will discover that it takes a bit of practice before you become proficient.
As we already touched on, pet grooming jobs involve something a little different depending on where you’re working. The same goes for the tools you’ll be using. Again, though, it shouldn’t take too much work to master the required skills for grooming animals.
By 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics believes that there will be an increase of about 15% in job openings for people caring for non-farm animals compared to 2012. The BLS has more information about pet grooming jobs related to pay, openings and more that you can peruse, as well.
One of the best parts of pet grooming jobs is that you don’t have to worry about technology cutting in on your career. This is a legitimate fear in many circles, especially where automation can play a role. More and more, cashiers are finding themselves out of work as machines take over.
Fortunately, machines aren’t making any advances toward being able to cut a pet’s hair and that sort of thing will most likely never become a reality.
As we’ve just covered, pet grooming jobs are a great opportunity to leverage your love of animals on a daily basis. The opportunities for this profession are going to continue to grow, yet there is little overhead involved in pursuing them.
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