Literature from some grooming schools advises prospective students to never train in a grooming shop environment, thereby implying that students are “short changed” under such conditions. We disagree!

First, there is a vast difference between training in a large “sheltered and controlled” classroom atmosphere with an average of 6-12 students per instructor, as compared to learning in the real world of professional grooming. Where will the student learn about how to work with difficult dogs (as well as clients)? In a controlled atmosphere, students may only be exposed to dogs that are used to being groomed and exhibit the best behavior – this is not always the case in the real world of grooming! We believe that students should be exposed to all behaviors exhibited by pets; they will therefore be more prepared to handle these types of situations once they graduate and seek employment or open their own salon. Why not let students experience this first hand instead of letting them find out for themselves after training, thinking that all dogs will be well behaved and stand perfectly still during grooming procedures.

Second, students not only need to learn grooming expertise, but customer relations as well. What better environment to meet and interact with a variety of different client personalities than in an actual grooming salon? Pet grooming is a “service” industry and the success (or failure) of any business that sells its service is always dependent upon these factors:

• The quality of your work (the services rendered)

• The fairness of your price

• The ability to provide clients with an ongoing level of satisfaction, to the degree that they will keep coming back to you time after time. This is known as “repeat business” and no service undertaking of any kind will survive or grow without it!

• The trust and respect of your clients

• A friendly, professional personality; this means more than people realize


Small Class Size
Only 2-3 students will be in any class at the same time, assuring more one-on-one time and therefore more hands-on time and individual attention.

Course Emphasis on Quality – Not Quantity or “Speed Grooming”
At Professional Image Pet Grooming Academy, you will learn the correct principles, the basic skills and the more advanced techniques for superior all-breed grooming via a carefully structured, gradual step-by-step progression – always under the watchful eyes of an instructor. During their first 150 – 200 hours of training, we rarely permit students to clip or scissor “on their own” – then only with the close supervision and guidance of an instructor. This minimizes mistakes and the likelihood of a student developing bad grooming habits while in training. Once you have learned the fundamental skills of correct and meticulous grooming, your speed will increase naturally – with practice and experience – and your own confidence level will grow as well.

Daily Exposure to the Results of Finer Grooming
We will also help you to better understand the vital importance of doing good work. Day-after-day you will see and hear dozens of pleased and satisfied pet owners. You’ll learn first hand why so many were dissatisfied with other groomers or shops. These “messages” are crystal clear for every student to comprehend. “BETTER pet grooming PAYS OFF in the forms of BETTER CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS and MORE GROOMING BUSINESS.” We believe this constant exposure to the benefits of good work to be an invaluable reinforcement for students’ training.