Blog

Originally published April 20, 2020 

Groomers around the world inspire us. Their passion for pets and business consistently set the bar for the industry, which is why we'll be featuring stories from groomers like you in our monthly Barkmails. This month, we caught up with groomer Tina Dickel of Fur's A Flyin' in Mankato, Minnesota. 

GC: Tell me more about your shop – Fur’s A Flyin’. 

TD: FAF was established in 2004 as an expansion of another grooming salon. We started out just grooming but expanded into daycare and training as well! Currently we just offer grooming and daycare services. I employ two other groomers and about eight assistant groomers/daycare staff. Providing high quality grooming is what we strive for daily. Through our efforts, FAF has been awarded Best Pet Groomer in Mankato for six consecutive years through Mankato Magazine’s Readers Choice awards! An honor we greatly appreciate and are humbled to receive! 

GC: How long have you been grooming? 

TD: I got into grooming over 20 years ago now. I started off owning, grooming and showing Giant Schnauzers. 

GC: What's one piece of advice you would give to groomers? 

TD: This is a great question! Coming from my business background and HR experience - Don’t undervalue your services or your skills!

I don’t think pet owners understand we don’t just give pets haircuts. Often, we must manage owner anxiety, their schedules, pet anxiety and behaviors, and then throw our own stressors into the mix. We are expected to understand animal behavior, provide training tips and recognize disease that needs a veterinary referral. Charge accordingly for your time. The knowledge, skills and abilities you bring to the profession is worth it. We need to better educate pet owners to the fact this is a profession that isn’t available on the cheap and stop contributing to the compression of our own wage potential.

GC: What are your favorite brands of tools/equipment/supplies to use in your day-to-day work? 

TD: Honestly, anything that works and doesn’t fall apart! I love my gentle curved Chris Christensen scissors which are like 15 years old. When they are beyond use, I will be trouble! We need a manufacturer to make sturdier combs! That aside, we recently switched our bathing system to BatherBox from a tank style system. It has been great and definitely provides some conveniences the other system didn’t! 

Keep up with Tina Dickel and Fur's A Flyin' on Facebook. 

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