With summer in full swing, we thought we’d give you a few key tips to make sure your clients and employees are happy during the summer months.
- Educate your customers
One of the biggest tips for keeping your customers happy during the summer is to remind them of the grooming practices they should be following in the summer. Education is everything, so keep them informed as to why you are grooming their dog in a specific way. Whether it’s explaining that their dog’s coat needs to be cut shorter or that their coat needs brushed more often to remove excess fur to ensure that their dogs don’t overheat, education is key.
Further enhance their knowledge with products that’ll keep their dogs happier during the summer months. The is a great retail recommendation, which prevents fleas. This is especially great if you’re based in more rural areas, where fleas are rife. Products like the are also great to retail to your customers, making sure their furry friend’s paws and nose stay hydrated during the dryer months.
- Help! It’s holiday season!
Summer can be a busy time for groomers due to their employees taking holidays, or you taking holidays yourself as a business owner. With less spare hands and less time, “groomer guilt” can come into play, trying to fit customers in, and overworking yourself. SHOUTOUT TO ALL GROOMERS: Your clients can wait an extra week or two for their groom.
If your key problem is being short staffed, a great way to earn money while taking less grooms is doing dog boarding! You can offer this to your clients if they decide to jet away, giving you some extra income around those months where you’re on a limited schedule.
Another great way to improve your earnings on a limited schedule is by offering upgrades to your grooms. Offer your clients a spa package or add a splash of creative to your grooms with the
or the , to give a quick upgrade to your grooms.
- Know your coat types
Knowing your coat types as a groomer is essential, however, knowing which coat types can cause the most issues during the summer months and how to treat it can be trickier.
One of the obvious coats that’s dragged down by the warmer weather is the curly/wool coat. This coat type is known for its thick, dense nature and combating this can really help their health during the summer months. One of the quickest methods is shaving their coat shorter, to alleviate the pressure of that heavy coat. If the owner wants the coat left at the same length, some alternatives are to thin out the coat more with your thinners, or to be selective about where you shave shorter, such as the ears and belly area.
The next coat that can cause havoc is the double coat! This thick coat can also cause concern for overheating, so ensuring you have your deshedding routine down is key. Make sure to use a deshedding shampoo such as the , along with an undercoat rake to get all the dead undercoat out.
Long coated dogs and wire coated dogs can be cooled down in the summer using a clever trick called a tramline. Kayla Harrison says “We pick up the outside of the skirt and do a tramline. We get a 7F blade and shave the belly and groin area, leaving the skirt on the outside. The owners will not see this, and it really does cool them down in the summer”.
For your shorter coats and smooth coats, the number one thing to look out for is dry and itchy skin. As the heat dries out the skin, this can become extremely uncomfortable for the dog. Shampoos such as the or the work to rehydrate the skin, combating and soothing itchy skin caused by dryness. We’d also recommend using soft brushes to avoid further pain with the skin.
So gear up for a busy summer, ready for whatever the heat throws at you!
