Pantops Pet Salon & Spa
Charlottesville's Professional Dog Grooming

When I first went into business in 1975, Dave Orebaugh, DVM was opening up his practice where Charlottesville Animal Hospital is today. I asked him if he would take me under his wing and treat the dogs in my care as a priority. Outside this business relationship, we became good friends. Knowing that in the boarding and grooming business I would be dealing with the geriatric days of a dog’s life, I wanted to know what his answer was for putting a dog “to sleep.” He said, ‘when they no longer have quality of life, it is time.’ That made sense and I use it as a guideline to this day. No dog of mine would suffer chronic pain or be so incontinent that they would suffer urine stains and constantly dribble. If my dog has been the perfect companion I think he deserves to go with the fondest of memories–suffering from senility or severe arthritis is not part of the deal. Of course, all avenues of medical intervention should be exercised first.

This quality of life and comfort guideline comes into play in my decisions as a groomer as well. I will not put a dog through undue pain in order to groom him. Boarding and grooming lead to stress, discomfort, and anxiety with our older pets so we approach grooming the geriatric with a lot of caution. The onset of arthritis—especially in the back legs can make grooming in the normal fashion (or at all) quite painful. Lifting feet to scissor and clip pads can be too much for a dog to bear. Blindness and senility also lead to stress and fear and the accompanying reactions (biting, jerking, etc) make the process dangerous for both dog and groomer.

While we may not feel it is necessarily time to put your dog to sleep, we certainly don’t want the discomfort of grooming to lead to a heart attack or seizure (both of which I have seen). We will let you know when we are no longer comfortable putting your dog through the grooming process. But then comes the question, “if you’re not going to groom her, what should I do?” The only reasonable solution is to groom your dog every day—spend 15-20 minutes combing, brushing and spot washing with dry shampoo. Frequent, personalized grooming in short sessions will keep your dog comfortable. Keep this in mind as your dog gets older, before we need to say anything. Putting off grooming until your dog matts up just makes the process even more uncomfortable for her.

I know this is a touchy subject and each person faces it in their own way. It takes courage to determine when the quality of life isn’t there anymore and my threshold may not be yours. I respect that. However, our decision to no longer groom an elderly dog is non-negotiable.

One of our customers, Karen Waters, owns a Jack Russell/Beagle mix named Mark.  She arranged for her friend Cyndi Richardson, to care for Mark while she was away.  Karen lives close to Martha Jefferson Hospital.  Cyndi lives south of town, close to Tonsler Park.  Mark had never been to Cyndi’s house before.  He rode there in the car and was dropped off at Cyndi’s house as planned.  But once Karen left, Mark escaped out the door.  Cyndi called Karen to report him missing.  Two hours later, Mark showed up at home!  Think you could find your way home from a place you’ve never been before?  We’ve written about each of the senses—what helped Mark find his way home?  Smell, sight?  The mysterious dog radar!

The old rule of thumb of using seven years of our age for every year of dog age is obviously incorrect—dogs reach maturity between one and two years old.  Giant breeds take the longest.  Try this formula out and see if it makes sense to you:

The first year is worth 20 human years (Lizzie being 8 months old, is a teenager around 13) and every year thereafter is figured out by life expectancy.  If the average life expectancy of man is 75 years and that of a Golden is 12 years then subtract 20 from 75 and 1 from 12.  The remaining dog life span years is divided into the remaining life span years or 55 divided by 11 gives 5 years of age for every year after 1 (which is 20).  So at two years of age, Lizzie will be 25, at 6 years she would be 45 years old and having her mid-life crises.

Let’s do it for Molly, my Great Dane.  The average life expectancy of a Great Dane is 7-9 years so let’s say 8.  For the first year, subtract 20 from 75—divide 55 by the remaining 7 years and for each year after 1, add 7.86.  So in 6 years when Lizzie was like a 45 year old person, Molly would be more like 59 and a half!

After three years of planning, I finally made my first trip overseas.  I spent two fantastic weeks in New Zealand and I was actually welcomed into the country by several dogs!  New Zealand has become known through movies for its gorgeous environment and one of their main means of revenue is tourism of that beautiful scenery.  The government of New Zealand is very concerned that care is taken with their environment so biosecurity is a serious matter.  All plants and animal products must be declared or an immediate $200 fine is given.  In order to ensure that seeds, animals (dogs have been known to eat their famous Kiwi bird!), and so on do not enter the country without authorization, a small group of Beagles met me while I waited in line at the biosecurity check point.  The calm and purposeful

Beagles sniffed not only luggage, but people too and while I was there, several people were asked to remove camping gear from their bags so that it could be disinfected so that no organic residue would affect the native life of the country.  See Mike’s article on the sense of smell to find out exactly how much better a nose dogs have compared to us.

While I was in New Zealand, I found the dog culture there quite different.  Dogs there are much more frequently treated as working animals—herders of the many sheep in farms from the top of the north island all the way down to the tip of the south island.  They are very rarely on lead, however they are excellently behaved.  I did not see one dog that was hyper, aggressive, or impolite in any way.  They were all very calm and I would say they were responsive to voice command except that it was more than that.  They understood what was expected of them and just did it—they didn’t need to be told.  I saw dogs in the city consistently stay within a 10 foot circle of their owner.  They would wander, sniff around, but never go beyond the 10 feet and never jump on or bark at a stranger or strange dog  If an owner stopped at a traffic light, so did the dog.  There was no “sit, stay” or lead enforcement….it was just done. 

There is a fascinating trust between owner and dog that I don’t see as much of in the US.  Often, we see owners fighting against their dogs or needing to use a fence or lead to keep them safe.  In New Zealand, I stopped on the side of the road at a corn maze.  My friend and I eventually got lost in the maze and the owner of the maze came to help us out with his dog.  Hickory was a

 little Brussels griffon mix who would disappear from time to time in the corn.  His owner was never concerned about his dog getting lost and did not even watch Hickory as he vanished.  There was an implicit trust that Hickory would not wander so far as to get lost and would not run into the highway just outside of the maze.  He never did and I was impressed.

I’m not sure if the sample of dogs I saw was representative of the entire country and I don’t know—but wish I did!—what type of training was used to accomplish such a relationship of consistently good behavior.  Our database software designer is located in New Zealand and agreed with my observations about dog culture.  He suggested that maybe it was because the dogs, as the people are reputed to be, are just very laid-back and on a permanent vacation!

“That cat is amazing!  Don’t the dogs bother him?”  Nope!  Dodger is quite content to laze on the counter as dog after dog comes in for grooming.  Sometimes they sniff at each other.  Once in a while a terrier will try to chase him down or a Golden will grin at him over the counter.  With a glare, a growl, and sometimes a swat, Dodger will put them in their place if they get too close.  Otherwise, our shop mascot is quite content to be surrounded by dogs every weekday.  Is Dodger unusual?

Gina Spadafori, a columnist for Veterinary Partner, states that it is “not uncommon for dogs and cats to become friends and to enjoy each other’s company.”  Some dogs and cats are compatible instantly, others

need more introduction and a few have a predatory instinct too strong to overcome.  Spadafori recommends a slow, controlled introduction period which includes allowing the animals to sniff at each other from under a closed door so that each of them has a comfortable area of territory.  After a few days, allow them to see each other but keep the dog on lead.  Watch their responses.  They may be curious, afraid, aggressive, etc.  Let them have an adjustment period under close observation.  Hopefully, your dog and cat will have a new best friend!

I often emphasize the importance of looking at the parents of your potential puppy in order to get a good idea of its future behavior and appearance (size, coat thickness, etc).  Yet, if you adopt from the SPCA (which I strongly encourage too) that opportunity usually is not available.  So, how do you determine which dog will make a good match for you if you have no access to the dog’s family and history?  Very carefully!  I know from handling thousands of dogs here that first impressions are not always accurate and the grooming experience can be unique.  Often, we receive dogs that are great with their owners, friendly toward us and would never bite—until the clippers come out!  Even a slow and easy introduction doesn’t always work.  More likely than not, the dog who is afraid of the vacuum or lawn mower will also be afraid of clippers and blow dryers.

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The first thing entered on an application for a grooming position is “I just love dogs.” This is great and tops on the list of attributes needed in the grooming profession, but hardly enough. Consider the following…

1. Physical strength. You are on your feet all day and a good pair of shoes is essential. You are constantly carrying small dogs from cage to table, then to bath and back to table again—strong arms are a must. When it comes to large dogs, it generally takes two people and you need to protect your back when lifting.
2. Willingness to work weekends and holidays. Most grooming shops operate monday through saturday (we don’t work saturdays). Before major holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving the demand is high–don’t even think about time off then. Seasonally the busiest time is spring, followed by summer and then fall. January and February are slow since most clients come in at Christmas and they want longer coats for the winter.
3. Patience. Grooming is not painful, but dogs can be quite anxious about it anyway. Most dogs adjust to the clippers, brushing and bath just fine, but some never do. They tend to be afraid of grooming, people and their own shadows, and no amount of kindness can change their minds. 90% of our clients can be groomed under normal circumstances, but that 10% can be pretty disagreeable and some can’t be done at all. Puppies and our seniors require more time, patience and understanding. If you have a short fuse or quick temper, you need to look elsewhere.
4. Artistic talant. I always tell prospective groomers that they are going to be Michaelangelo’s, only instead of using a hammer and chisel on stone, you use a comb and scissors on hair. You must be able to visualize a pattern in your head and transfer that to the dog–and hopefully it’s not a moving target. Good hand eye coordination is a must.

What do you get out of the profession? Well, you wont get rich. The industry will only allow us to charge an average of $50 for a haircut that takes as much as two hours to do. After paying for a shop, equipment, insurance, shampoo, utilities, taxes, licensing, receptionist etc its a struggle to reach a goal of $35 an hour, but we’re working on it. The best reward is doing a good job and seeing the joy on a customer’s face when their buddy comes out clean, smelling good, and tail going to beat the band! People love their pets and a demonstration of that love is a good grooming. The happiness brought on by a job well done can’t be beat. Even though there are a few bad apples, most dogs are very appreciative when it’s all done and your liable to get a big lick in the face if you get too close…and I make it a point to do so!