How I became a dog groomer

I have been a dog groomer going on just over 10 and a half years , I've also worked with animals for the past 18 years. Growing up I always knew that I wanted a career involving animals and for a long time I thought I wanted to become a vet. After ruling out vet because of the extensive schooling involved, I thought that maybe a vet tech would be a good choice. Unfortunately I don't think I could handle the things that a vet tech has to do on an everyday occurrence. When I turned 14 I started volunteering at my local Humane Society and worked there for about 2 years. After that I began working at a dog kennel. I really enjoyed working with the dogs and decided that grooming would be a good option for me. I live in Michigan and in the state of Michigan you are not required to have any sort of certification in order to be a dog groomer however when looking for a job, it's always better if you do have certification. Sure, I could have taught myself but that would have been extremely hard. I ended up finding a really nice grooming school that took eight months to complete and went and got my certification. I've been grooming now for several years and I'm even the manager of a salon now. Over the years I have mentored several people on the art of dog grooming and I genuinely love my occupation. I'm so happy that I'm able to do something that brings me joy each and every day. I never realized how labor-intensive the job of a dog groomer was until I became one. This job is not for the weak (i get peed on , pooped on, drooled on or anal glands sprayed on me on a daily basis,) at the end of the day it's worth it to see my customers smiling faces and a clean and happy dog leaving my salon. 💜🐶