What to expect from a grooming course at The Grooming Room
Our belief is that this is a hands on profession and the way to learn to be a dog groomer and be proficient is to have practical training.
Our teaching style at The Grooming Room is to get our students actually doing the practical aspects of dog grooming right from the very first day.
Our induction day for new students consists of the guided tour of the grooming salon and teaching room, the boarding kennels, grounds, staff room and facilities available for use by students whist they are with us.
This followed by a practical demonstration by one of our instructors of a complete hairdo for one of our doggy clients to include clipping, grooming, ear and nail care, bathing, drying, scissoring - this gives students a chance to see what they will be doing on a daily basis and gives us an opportunity to explain some of the safety and handling procedures and introduce the equipment used in the grooming process.
This demonstration will fill up the morning session and then after lunch students will be given a dog to groom, trim nails, bath and dry with instruction and this will conclude day one.
Day 2 students will each be given a dog to work on and the learning really begins. We start off each day taking photos of the dogs before starting and then at the end of the day we take an 'after' photo once the haircut is complete. These photos can be kept with dairy sheets that students complete at the end of each day detailing what work was done on that particular dog and other details such as pricing and frequency of appointments. This means that students build a portfolio of the dogs they have completed on their course and this can act as a reference once they are working on their own and is also useful to show their own clients what they can expect their dogs to look like after their trim.
The instruction given to students is intensive - students will complete every aspect of the grooming process themselves. We will start by clipping or scissoring a particular area on your dog model [for example a front foot or leg] and you will then copy this on the other side of the dog, we work right the way through the dog until it is completed so you have a complete picture of how to go about grooming that particular breed. As training progresses we will encourage students to do more of the work on their own after explanation from instructors rather than demonstration. People progress at different rates; if you are a fast learner then you may well be able to complete more than 1 dog each day, if this is the case you will be provided with as many dogs as you can do to practice on! For those people who prefer a more attentive approach we are happy to allow you to take your time and will go over areas as many times as you feel you need - the teaching style is completely flexible to meet the individuals needs.
We advise a minimum of 4 weeks training - ideally 6 weeks as this gives us the opportunity to cover the most popular breeds that you are likely to meet as a dog groomer and allows time to practise the most common more than once.
If you have a particular breed of dog you want to work on - perhaps your own dog or a friends you are welcome to bring he or she as your model and there is no extra charge.
I would say our grooming courses are 95% practical - we do however allow some discussion time for subjects such as what equipment to buy, first aid, business set up information and client record taking. This is not obligatory and will be offered if students feel they would find the advice useful.
