Why I Became a Dog Groomer

Cutch Labrador Retriever, Fresh Paws Spa Mobile dog Groomer

Meet Cutch!

Before I was a groomer, Cutch, a Labrador Retriever, came into our lives the summer of 2012. We were his 4th owner at 11 months old, he was passed around from owner to owner. When we first met him, his name was Sam, he jumped on my husband and pushed him down, and we still took him home with us! He was so bad, he jumped on us, bit us and barked like you wouldn’t believe. My husband was afraid to leave me alone with him. We just didn’t understand, my sister had a Labrador Retriever and he was like Lassie. We had no clue that we actually had to train them. I would cry so many times, because I just wanted to have a lovable dog. He was fine during the day, and then came alive at night.

My husband and I took turns walking him, me in the morning and him at night. We tried to walk his energy off him. One morning when I was walking him, he was out of control, and I was crying. A lady walked by me and saw how upset I was. She told me to not give up on him, he needs directions with training. She told me about OTCH, Obedience Training Center of Harrisburg. We called and signed him up right away. My husband and I both went but he was the one who worked on training him. I just watched. The trainer really helped us understand what is up with Cutch. He is intelligent and it’s the intelligent dogs that are the hardest to have. You must always give him a job to work off his energy. She said to not give up on him, if he was back in the pool of rescue dogs, he probably had a chance of being euthanized.

We went every week and worked on the homework. We also had found a place to take him to swim and found out he loved to do dock diving. He loved to swim, so in the summertime we spent most of our times with him burning off energy with jumping in the pool for the ball.

We entered him into every class possible for us to learn about dogs. We signed him up for Canine Good Citizen class, which the instructor said he would probably be entered in this class many times before he “might” pass.  

What is Canine Good Citizen test?

It’s an evaluation consists of ten objectives and your dog must complete all 10 satisfactorily or you fail the test.

The 10 test items:

·        Accepting a friendly stranger.

·        Sitting politely for petting.

·        Allowing basic grooming procedures.

·        Walking on a loose lead.

·        Walking through a crowd.

·        Sitting and lying down on command and staying in place.

·        Coming when called.

·        Reacting appropriately to walking by a dog and person.

·        Reacting appropriately to distractions.

·        Calmly enduring supervised separation from the owner.

As you read the list most of those items Cutch could not do when we first met him. Well, he passed them all the first time!!!!

My mom was in a nursing home, I started taking him there. He loved my mom so much and was gentle with everyone there.

With working with Cutch, I knew I wanted to do something with my life with dogs. Every dog need’s groomed to be healthy, so that’s what I decided to do, and I LOVE LOVE my job (if you even call it a job). I see how good the dog feels after I spent quality time grooming them. After the groom, they do a happy strut showing off their groom into their house! The smile I see on the owner’s face, makes it all wonderful for me.

So, my dog Cutch is very special to me even if he is my dog. He put me on the best trip I could had ever gone on with my love of dog grooming. He turns 11, in August of 2022, and I am tearing up as I write this, he doesn’t have many years left with me, but I can never thank him enough for showing up in our lives.

Jill, owner of Fresh Paws Spa, mobile dog groomer and her dog Cutch a Yellow Labrador Retriever