GRAND FORKS — Jesse Boushee, owner and sole groomer of Snippany & Co. Pet Grooming and Spa in Grand Forks, is booked through the end of September.
Boushee is not unique — many other pet grooming businesses in Grand Forks appear to be booked a month or more in advance.
With all these customers to take care of, Cheri Dahl, owner of Best Friends Grooming Salon, says it’s clear to her that pet grooming services in Grand Forks are “booming.”
“I would say there are more groomers than ever, but there are also more pets,” he said.
Summer is usually the busier time of year, he said, because people are less busy and want to trim their pets’ fur to beat the heat and prevent matting from moisture.
The boom is not just a busy season. Dahl started Best Friends Grooming Salon in 1995, and over the years noticed that pets gradually became a bigger part of the family.
“We’re seeing less and less outside farm dogs and quite a few more indoor pets that are really fully, completely part of the family,” she said. “The names have also changed, because they had pet names and now most of them are human names.”
Poodles and poodle mixes seem to be among the most popular clients. For different mixes, there are different types of fur — Boushee calls them “coat combinations,” and grooming them takes time to learn. Shih tzus are another common customer, along with common longhair cats.
Some grooming salons have multiple workers, such as Best Friends Grooming Salon. Others — including Snippany & Co. and Bandanas and Bows Grooming Salon — has only one groomer, who is also the owner. All three owners said their careers in pet grooming began with a love and desire to work with animals.
Stefani Hastings-Osowski, a client of Snippany & Co., said there used to be a shortage of pet groomers.
“There was such a high demand for it that the poor groomers that were already around and established were so overbooked,” he said.
An influx of pet adoptions during the COVID restrictions may have contributed to the increase, Hastings-Osowski said. And as someone who lives outside of town in a rural area, she says it’s important to have a grooming salon nearby. For her, grooming is a necessity for her dogs, senior shih tzus Nova and Chewie.
All three grooming salon owners say business can be competitive, but everyone is friendly. They will even refer customers elsewhere if they are too busy to get a pet.
“We all know each other just from the community,” said Jamy Jaszcsak, owner of Bandanas and Bows. “We’ve worked with each other in other aspects, so I feel like a lot of us get along and work together if we need help or feel like someone needs to be referred to another facility with more people or a different environment.”
Along with treating a pet to a trim, grooming is important for hair and skin health. Pets that are not groomed are prone to a list of problems. Some of these, says Boushee, include matting, dermatitis, infections, flea and tick infestations and wounds.
Some salons even provide free grooming for rescue pets and accept emergency visits.
Cats also need grooming from time to time. Boushee said there is a misconception that a person should not bathe their cat and that cats clean themselves. Cats licking themselves really only spreads oil and dander, and cats should really be bathed on a regular grooming schedule just like dogs.
Christien Coletti, a client of Snippany & Co., brings her cat, Cora, every month for “works.” Cora’s fur is fluffy and tangles easily.
Christian Coletti
“Even if he’s just walking around, he gets mats in his armpits and things like that,” she said. “We have to do it.”
For Coletti, pet grooming services are important.
“If I didn’t have Jesse here in town, I’d probably do it myself, so I’d cut his fur,” he said. “Maybe I won’t do it right. There is a risk of handling them incorrectly if they are difficult to deal with and hurting them if you are not trained. If you use the wrong soap, you can hurt their skin. There are many things that, in my opinion, make his business valuable. I don’t know where else I would take him without him.”
