Koemi

What a load of crap. Screw the guy glorifying puppy farms.

We sell them at one of my workplaces and my boss has one on her lagotto. I've never seen a flea on him. I'll go and suss it out today (unless someone else comes here with a rave review first!)

Arrrggghhh, no no NO!!! The amount of matted poodle x breed-of-the-week I've had come in for their wonderful first groom at 6 months is frightening. A coat that isn't brushed is a coat that will mat (unless you're very lucky). I have oodles coming to me for their first clip as little as 12 weeks old. Even if you scissor the chunky bits off yourself, muffinmclay, you'll be doing yourself a world of favours if you have the coat at a manageable length. How old is the dog? If I were you, I would find a local groomer and go in and ask them for advice as to brushing. It's a lot easier to see it done for yourself, especially if you've never had a dog before. They can recommend you a decent brand of brush, too, and show you how to clip toenails etc. Maybe call in advance to go see them at a time where they're not so busy they'll have a stress attack in your general direction, tho. Hehe. Maybe even ask them to save a bit of matted/knotty coat from another dog to show you, so you know what a mat feels like.

I've been told that blade wash can damage blades (and more importantly, it's expensive! :D)... I've got flu so can't remember exactly what was said tho. I use metho, then leave to air dry and oil the blades with Singer sewing oil (it's only $2-something at Woolworths). Toothbrush to remove excess hair, and I also slide the blade bit out because I'm a bit anal about it. Baby Dragon - I'd probably get them done once a year just to keep them fresh. Most places will only charge you about $5-$10 per blade, so it's not a very expensive exercise.

How expensive are cartophen injections? I'm guessing you don't need them all the time in the beginning? Bambi has arthritis in her spine and I am dreading this winter (especially the three weeks I'll be in England ). She's on the Vets All Natural joint forumla and also gluco tablets, which is fine over summer, but I've only been through one winter with her so far, and my vet has told me it will get worse as she ages.

No mention at all of the 12 dogs? Poor lady. What an awful situation. I can't imagine how terrible it would be to have to live in my car. I sincerely hope I never need to find out.

My dogs are both old farts so I don't know about puppy school, but I've got an excel file with all my grooming clients from one of my jobs thus far, and the statistics are quite interesting (and a bit depressing) - 2 of the oodles are rescues (and at least 3 of the swf are rescue too, as are both the big crosses): Crosses: Oodle x 9 SWF x 16 Terrier x 3 Big Doggy cross x 2 Pures: American Staffy x 1 Australian Terrier x 1 Basenji x 1 Bichon x 1 Border Collie x 2 Cavalier x 1 Cocker Spaniel x 1 GSD x 1 Husky x 1 Lab x 2 Malamute x 1 Mini Poodle x 2 Norfolk Terrier x 1 Pomeranian x 1 Samoyed Shetland Sheepdog x 2 Shih Tzu x 2 Staffy x 2 Toy Poodle x 1 West Highland White Terrier x 1 ~ So that's 9 oodles, 30 mixes total and 26 pures. I'd be interested to see what things are like once I'm booked out! At work (the shop side) I do tend to see more pures that I would have expected. We've had a PBGV ♥ ♥ ♥ come into the store, along with a Bassett Hound (different owners), the Norfolk I strip, a lovely lady owns a Gordon Setter (!), I was talking to someone who owns a Schipperke the other day, we have Viszlas, Weims, Beagles, Goldies etc etc. I think people in general are starting to become a little more aware of other ways of buying pets, and I'm quite pleased with how many of my clients are rescues.

PetStock over here got the idea for rescue adoptions from PetsMart Steve - I think the places that are doing it properly (not keeping 'rescue' puppies and kittens in the store all day every day) are doing it solely to raise awareness ABOUT rescue, which a lot of the general public still have no idea about. Like has already been mentioned a few times in this thread, not all rescue 'sales' work the same way. We do not 'sell' animals on the day, nor have them in the store every day. The rescues are properly promoted, the public are made aware, it's more so to get the dogs out and mingling with people so the public can understand that rescue dogs are not always 'broken' and pet store puppies are not a 'clean slate'. I do agree that there are some pet stores out there that sell very young 'rescue' pups and kittens (we have one nearby that has very small kittens and pups from 'rescue' in their store constantly) but not all stores are out there to make a buck, and some genuinely want to help.

Heya, I work at PETStock and we're in the middle of starting up a program like this. Our idea is to have the animals in store once a month. The animals will be 'supplied' by rescue groups who will bring them in for the day (one volunteer for each dog) and people who come in can meet the animals and talk to the rescue groups about puppy farming, why we don't sell pups and kittens and get to know the rescue babies. The animals are definitely not allowed to just walk out of the store as an impulse buy! Potential owners are screened just as they would normally be. The animals go home at the end of the day and are fed, toileted and led to a quiet area for a rest as needed. Only desexed, vaccinated and microchipped dogs will be allowed in the store to interact with the public. I plan to have information available on the day for purebreed rescue as well as groups that spring any potentials from the pound. If just one person walks in and leaves more knowledgeable, we've made a difference.

Looking at the awards, photos and grooming trophies on the walls in their shop today and it looks like they have achieved alot in their careers. in europe and america aswell Oh... the whispers make sense now, heh. Unfortunately the grooming industry can be quite unkind to others, especially if they are successful/have their master groomers certs. Ignore what I said before. *feels like an idiot*

I've heard a few bad things about the ADC in terms of their grooming school - as such I would not recommend it. I was trained in a salon and have worked with people who were trained via Box Hill etc - they knew basically nothing. Hands on is always going to be the best. Where in Vic are you? Edit: Sags, can you PM me too pwease?

I'm the same as dogmad, one of the dogs just will not go outside unless I put her on lead and take her up and down the street. Then she'll go like, six times! Guh.

I'm sure you've already done this, but I would definitely be calling and asking the company about it. My work sells Revolution (and so did my old one) and I have never spoken to anyone who's pet has had a reaction. Poor little darling, it looks AWFUL One of my dogs (Tucker) gets reactions to any sort of flea/worm treatment, but nothing as bad as that, thank God. PS: she's very pretty. And I love her collar!

Oh gosh, I saw this food at a pet supplies store for the first time the other day - my friend and I dropped the bag when we saw the price LOL. I was going to buy it just for treats but couldn't justify it. Sooo expensive. I feed Bam EP Holistic and feed Tucker whatever we write off at work. The last three bags have been Advance and he loves it. I don't really like the new packaging for Holistic Select. The old one was so much prettier... and I had a lady yell at me for trying to sell her food at wasn't Eagle Pack as it no longer says it's EP food on the bag... sigh.

Hmmmm.... not even for a free clip?

Out of curiousity why are you grooming the dog if the owner already knows how to do it? Seems a bit weird! I've got two pairs of thinning shears (one roseline and one ~mystery brand~) and I couldn't live without them.

Oh my goodness Rav, Ben looks SOOOO much like Bambi, but the wrong colour! He's gorgeous! Please post him to me.

Hey guys, I'm currently stripping a Norfolk Terrier (as in, they are a client I have currently, not as in this very second...) and she really HATES the stripping knives. Like, I had to teach myself how to strip because my crappy ex-boss was the worst teacher in the history of the world (I'm only learning this now, the amount my grooming has improved in three weeks since I've been working at a salon with a REAL groomer is astounding) and I was wondering if a coat king would be a better option? If so, what size should I get? I know absolutely nothing about equipment as I was never taught... PS: shaved a Samoyed on Thursday. Kill... me...

That website is horrible. SO MANY PUPPIES! And EVERY bitch in the photos looks SOOOOO sad. Disgusting. I'm no expert on labs, but they don't really look well bred either (I am no doubt wrong about this tho ) OP: 5 of the oodles I groom at my new job are rescues. There are many out there, don't let your poor friend buy into the bullsh*t these websites spew forth. These dogs are not rare, or designer, or anything. Look at a pound. Because for every puppy that these types of places sell, a pound puppy loses a potential home.

One of my clients swears by emu oil, she has a Westie that gets clipper rash if you so much as breathe on her.

Some dogs unfortunately are so damaged from previous grooming experiences that there is nothing you can do besides tranq. kirst_goldens, you sound very lucky, I'm quite jealous that you've never had to turn away a dog! My old boss used to accept all the 'reject' dogs, attempt to groom them and put herself into a tizz over it, haha. We had one little malt x that had been fully whacked by her previous groomer and she came out fighting. Muzzling her made her worse. The only thing that would calm her down was cradling her in your arms, cooing at her, treating her like a little baby. Too bad the salon was a 'money first, happiness second' kinda place (I'm sure most of us have been lucky enough to work at such a salon in the past ) Inexperience can freak a dog out too. One bather we had who hadn't been doing it for very long was being quite rough with an elderly beagle - I and another groomer ran up to get her the eff away from the dog and she turned around and bit me. I nearly died as a result of the infection (it was a bad, bad bite) :rolleyes: The boss had nothing to say about it. Since I've been working for myself (in a sense) I haven't come across a plain nasty dog. It has been glorious! It's been amazing to learn just how much dogs respond to being groomed in a low-stress environment and how even the most snappy dog will eventually calm down once it learns you aren't a threat. PS: is anyone else absolutely in love with laube blades? I kinda hate the wahl and oster ones now...

I'm seeing a LOT of fleas this summer, my dogs both have them for the first time too It sucks as both of them are quite sensitive and I've been putting off treating them with chemicals for as long as possible, but the apple cider vinegar just isn't working. I've not tried Sentinel yet but I've had a chat to a rep about it, and it seems okay, considering how biased they obviously are. I'll probably grab some from work tomorrow.

Ohhhh crap. It's lucky you found it quite early on tho, especially if it's growing at a rapid rate. Fingers crossed for poor Riley, he's such a gorgeous looking dog.

Tucker is currently glaring at me while he's curled up in my washing basket. I have no idea where Bambi is, probably in the lounge room with my housemate since it's cooler out there and she really feels the heat!

Has anyone else had issues with their dog throwing up raw meat? Is there any way I can still feed BARF with this problem? At the moment the only food Bambi can eat is Eagle Pack Holistic (the duck one) and I'm so scared that they might change the recipe and she won't be able to stomach it anymore. I've tried sooo many types of kibble and wet, and she can't eat it. Will I maybe have to cook the meat? I know I can't cook bones tho... ARGH!