Lisa Leady has a fair share of awards and recognition within the grooming industry, including a spot on Groom Team USA and the 2003 Cardinal Crystal Award for Congeniality, but now, she’s seeking recognition for the grooming industry on a national stage! Lisa is currently being featured on Groomer Has It, a fierce reality competition in its second season on Animal Planet.

We’ll be following her progress with each new episode, and feature tips, tricks, and observations based on the episode from Lisa herself!

Interview #3

“Old Dog, New Tricks,” the sixth episode of Groomer Has It, featured a challenge about teaching the art of grooming and a challenge on grooming older dogs. Lisa was familiar with both, having spent some time as an instructor, and grooming older clients in her shop! In this week’s Q & A, Lisa passes on some of her expertise! 

You've spent some time as an instructor at a grooming school, but you also speak at shows, are the two comparable? What are the major differences?
The two can be compared, since the purpose of both is to educate. A grooming school is to mold a person, while seminars help a stylist go a little farther. The major difference is that a student at a grooming school is a clean slate and at a seminar, groomers already have the basics and are attending to become more educated.

Why do you think it is important to pass your grooming knowledge on through seminars and grooming schools? In a sense, are students your future competitors?
I feel it is very important for everyone (myself included) to continue their education to be able to stay ahead of changing pet styles.  Breed knowledge is so important, so a groomer can help their clients better. I also feel that by continuing your education it keeps what we do alive inside of us.

Students ARE the future competitors, not only inside a competition ring, but also in the salons! Things have changed so much since I started grooming, and even within a couple of years. Dogs are much more stylized that what they used to be. If groomers do not stay on top of things, a new generation of groomers will be taking over. Students who attend a school where they are learning from "Notes From The Grooming Table" are at a big advantage; this is the bible of all grooming manuals. This will teach them the very latest in styles from the onset.

Do you think a person who wants to be a groomer should start by attending a school? Or should they start working as a bather (or something similar) to gain experience?
I would suggest to start working as a bather and get a feel for whether or not grooming is something they really want to make their career.  Some people do not investigate how physical grooming is. Personally, I have had a number of students come to school and end up leaving because their ideas of grooming were much different from that of reality. I feel that a person would benefit to work it first, not just take a tour of a school and watch.   

One of the factors in the teaching challenge was hands off! When teaching, how does being able to actually show what you're doing help, or even hinder? 
Being able to show a person how to do something rather than telling them helps tremendously!  People who are artistic learn better visually than by hearing.  Teaching hands off and only explaining may not convey vital information to a new student, who is working hard to grasp everything as it is. In my opinion, being shown and told is always the best method of learning.

What are the special challenges to grooming a senior dog?
The biggest challenge with grooming senior dogs is the mental and physical status of that particular dog. Sometimes the arthritis is so bad in an animal that it’s nearly impossible to get the animal to simply stand, often it is just easier to try to do the best you can with that animal laying down, which will take stress off of the joints. Another challenge would be if the dog has lost its mental health. Grooming a senile dog can be a very stressful event for an animal. The dog no longer remembers that grooming isn't a bad thing and they try to bite, or they cry. Another problem an older dog may have is a "drying seizure". This happens to some old dogs when a groomer tries to use a high velocity dryer on them. The vibration and the sound of the dryer can throw them into a seizure.

Click here to read previous interview     |     Click here to see the next interview

<< Back