Pet Grooming Schools

A look into pet grooming schools and training. If you want to get into pet grooming, you're going to want to get into pet grooming training.

You don't need to shell out for the most expensive grooming school around, but you will need some form of formal training so that you can really make the most of your career in the grooming world. There's a lot to learn about your potential career in grooming. Some people get lost and confused and just give up before they've even begun. In the name of simplicity and keeping you on the right track, let's break this down step by step. If you're not a serious animal lover, then there's no point in grooming them. It breaks down like this: Maybe you just like animals, you're okay with dogs. Well, that's not enough. With these dogs and cats yapping and shaking their dirty bath water all over the place, you'd better love animals, or you'll just find annoying what pet lovers find amusing.

Veterinary Assistant Programs

Animal Behavior College

• Certified Dog Trainer Instructor Course
• Grooming Instruction
• Veterinary Assistant

Globe University

• Associate Degree in Veterinary Technology
• Bachelor Degree in Veterinary Technology

Penn Foster

• Dog Obedience Trainer/Instructor
• Veterinary Assistant
• Pet Groomer

Veterinary Courses in Canada (Diploma)

Vancouver Career College

• Veterinary Office Management (VOM)

Pet Grooming Training and Education

Pet grooming involves a number of different skills. You need to be familiar with all breeds of dogs and cats and other animals, you need to be an expert on everything from nail clipping to brushing to shampoo to trimming. These are all skills that you'll be taught at school. Common programs include domestic animal care like dog grooming courses and cat grooming courses which can lead to both cat and dog grooming certification. Some courses may include:

• Grooming techniques
  Dental care
• Dog handling and control
• Identification of skin disorders
• Flea and tick evaluation and treatment
• Scissor and clipper use and techniques
• Dog and cat handling

Something you won't be taught at pet grooming schools, however, is how to love animals. There's no law against "Shampooing a dog without a license", but if you want to practice grooming professionally, you're going to want to seek out some real training and get those qualifications under your belt. If you were going to get your dog a trim and you met both a trained an untrained groomer, which one would you hire? Don't expect to get much work without some real qualifications.

Pet Grooming Careers

The good news is that the people who like to keep their pets nice and clean looking are usually people who enter shows, people who breed dogs and cats, people who sell them, basically, people who make a living on how nice their animals look.

Career opportunities can be found in pet boutiques, veterinary clinics, animal hospitals, pet shops, grooming salons, boarding kennels, pet supply stores, animal shelters, zoos and other settings like horse care. Groomers are involved in bathing, drying, brushing, combing, and dematting of pet fur and coat. They also clean the equipment and living spaces of pets, as well as monitor them for any signs of illness or injury,

Another group of people who support you will be people who pride themselves on being able to take care of high maintenance animals. In any event, the point is that grooming isn't as seriously affected by the recession as other industries.

In terms of finding work, once you graduate from pet grooming schools, you can start by looking at the various pet stores, grooming clinics and other pet places in town. You can find temporary work there while working to start your own shop, or you can even simply work from home, as long as you keep your living room looking like a nice, cozy front office, or you can do house calls.

Estimated Income and Projected Career Outlook

As long as you advertise yourself well enough online using classified services, and as long as you actually have the skills that you advertise, it should be very easy to find work as a dog and cat groomer, or grooming whatever animal you like. Graduates of pet grooming schools can expected to start off with a salary of around $12,750.

The median annual wage of non-farm animal caretakers was $19,550 in 2010, The range was less than $16,050 for the lowest 10% and $31,880 for the top 10%. The overall employment of animal care and service workers is expected to grow 23% from 2010 to 2020 as per the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) making it possible for those who attend pet grooming schools to join the profession.

Pet grooming schools and animal behavior colleges