Dog Groomer
Animal CareersDog Groomer
So You Want To Be a Dog Groomer
So you're passionate about working with dogs and want to do such animal jobs everyday. Fantastic! A great job to do this is a dog groomer. Everyday you would get a chance for working with dogs all variety and take care of them, pamper them in every single way! But how do you get to become one of these groomers? Well there are steps for you to take but it's not as hard as you may think it is!
The first step would be to go to a nationally accredited dog grooming course by contacting us. Here you will find a wide variety of courses around the country that will help you become nationally accredited so you can start your career in the industry.
There are other courses available through other services as well, and there are also courses available at certain TAFE courses in various institutes across the country. You would need to check in your local area if this is something that is offered, or check with other areas nearby if you cannot find one where you live. Once you have gained basic qualifications, you can always attempt to contact local groomers for the specific jobs with animals and ask if it's possible to do some form of work experience with them while you attempt to gain further qualifications.
This is always a great idea as you can get hands on experience while still studying in Australia and it will help you better understand the industry while you learn about it. It's often said it's easier to learn while you are actually doing what you are learning about, so this is a great idea. If you can't find a groomer who will offer you work experience you can always just offer to volunteer around their grooming business by cleaning up or doing other basic animal care and grooming chores and in the meantime observe their business and how they go about their grooming. They had to start in the industry just like you did, so they should at least be able to offer some form of advice as to how they got to where they are. Another option is to start your own pet care and grooming business from scratch and go from there. This isn't ideal if you have had not much experience besides the training from your courses, but if it's what you want to do you can always still seek out advice from your teachers or other groomers if they provide it. It's always a great idea too to do as much volunteer work around animals as possible.
If you have spent your entire life around dogs and know their general demeanour, then you will probably need limited amount of time around other dogs to get used to it. But it always pays to do something like volunteer work at your local RSPCA shelter or dog's home in order to fully gain an understanding of different dog breeds and their behaviour as you will have to deal with numerous dogs who all behave differently on a daily basis. You can become a dog sitter or a dog walker while working with animals at a shelter. While you are volunteering at these places you can also start to put the word out that you are a dog groomer looking for work, and you can start advertising around the places as well as people with dogs no doubt visit these places and will of course always be on the look out for new groomers. A similar place too where you can help out as well as drum up new business are at your local breeders kennels or even at the local dog show. Here you can meet a wide variety of dog owners who are looking for dog groomers, seek suitable pet jobs and put the word out of your services as well as getting used to a variety of different dog breeds you may not be familiar with. You should also stock up on as much literature about dogs, dog sitting and dog grooming as possible and always have them on hand should you need any assistance.
Persistence will pay off in the dog grooming industry but it definitely has the potential to be a very long and very rewarding career with great fun to be had for a very long time! And no doubt at the end of everyday you will go home with a smile on your face after a great day working with dogs!