How Do I Become a Professional Pet Groomer?

As the demand for Professional Dog Groomers increases, there are more and more people looking for information on how to become a Professional Pet Groomer. This article is designed to give you some options on how you may wish to proceed in getting your pet grooming education.

We’ll start with the most detailed choice: a professional grooming school. An example of such a school would be the Academy of Dog Grooming Arts in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Their program includes seminars, workshops, and 500 hours of hands-on grooming. You will be awarded a Diploma or Certificate of Achievement based on your proficiency. While this is an excellent choice for education, the obvious problem associated with this option is that most people are not in a position to be able to drop everything to attend school. Many do not have the extra money for tuition as well.

The second option we’ll look at is an apprenticeship or on-the-job-training. This is an excellent way to get both training and hands-on experience, provided you find a reputable professional groomer that will pass on good grooming techniques and habits. The drawbacks for this choice can be lack of a diploma or certification upon completion of your apprenticeship, and the usually low pay while you are in training. However, this may be a viable option for many.

The third option we’ll look at is long distance learning. There are correspondence courses like the one offered at jklgrooming.com. You actually earn a certificate upon completion of the course, and have one-on-one assistance as well. The obvious challenge for this form of grooming education is a lack of hands-on experience. Of course, you can come up with some creative methods for getting some practical experience like working part-time for a groomer and practicing on your own pets as well as those belonging to friends and family. Some more opportunities for dog grooming experience would be volunteering to clean up and groom the animals at your local shelter and putting up flyers in your neighborhood volunteering your grooming services in exchange for the practice it would provide.

The last option we’ll explore will be self teaching: learning from books and experimentation. This is obviously the least desirable method, but for those with really limited time and resources, this may be their only option. You can increase the effectiveness of this type of education by using the same opportunities for hands-on experience listed under long distance learning. You could also attend an occasional seminar as well. You can usually get information on local seminars from the professional groomer you’re working with or other professional grooming services in your area. But here again, there will be no diploma or certification upon completion of your education/training.

While there are sure to be other methods of acquiring the education you need to become a professional pet groomer, these are the only four we’re covering in this article. Of course, you can combine two or more of these options to fit your own unique situation. The object of this article was just to give you some ideas on how you may wish to proceed in getting your pet grooming education.

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