Happy Fall! The New Pooch Portal is convenient and useful!

Convenience Upgrades: The Pooch Portal (doggie drive-thru) has been operating for almost a year and we love it.  The window has been installed for our customers that have dogs that are smaller than 20 pounds, and whose dogs are familiar with our staff. Our goal is to offer a speedy check-in for our working clients and a safer check-in for clients with mobility concerns.  There is a bell that sounds when cars drive up to the window, so calling ahead is not necessary. I encourage this easy way to drop off your small dog.  We have been pleasantly surprised at how excited our clients become when they get to use the window.

Hours:  For the conlenience of our customers, we are available Mon thru Friday, 9am to 3pm and Saturdays from 10am -2pm.  We are always available for early and later appointments as needed, just ask:).

Students:  Kayla is a local student and loves grooming small dogs best.  She has the brightest smile in the room.  Karen, a local also,  is the former owner of  Petal Talk.  She is switching from flowers to pets.  She just added two King Charles pups to her own family. We cannot wait to meet these two cuties! Theresa is from Newport, WA and will be re-opening her boarding business, Bed and Biscuit, next spring. She owns two miniature Aussies.  Liz is from Florida. She just adopted the most adorable Shih Tzu mix from the local shelter. His name is Oliver. Ethelene is from Bonners Ferry and specializes in rescuing abandoned mixes.  Students are available M, W, Th, Friday.

Shop Specials:  Low cost baths!  We are offering $10.00 baths for anyone with a pooch that is 15 lbs or lighter for the month of November.  You have to mention this special to get the special price.

Schedule early for the Thanksgiving rush.
 

 

Spinning – the perfect fur-ever gift for your loved dog lover
 
Have you ever thought about the perfect gift to give your loved dog lover?  Hiring a professional spinner to spin your dog’s hair into yarn is great idea for a human that is CRAZY about their dog.  Collecting your dog’s hair is safe and humane to the dog, and the yarn can be made into anything, making a spectacular and personalized gift.  This process does take planning, time, and money.  And for the right person, they couldn’t receive a more thoughtful or meaningful gift.  For the average public, wearing a scarf and mittens made of their own dog’s fur (remember it is clean) would seem offensive, but for that special population that considers their pets as dear to their hearts as their human children, the idea is a thrilling and joyful one.

Most grooming shops will happily save the clean, clipped fur for their clients. Clients need to let the groomers know at check-in that they would like the clean hair saved after a clipping, otherwise it goes in with all the rest of the days hair.  Since finding a local spinner is unlikely, it is probable that the process will take several groomings to acquire enough hair to make into a particular item.  It is helpful to know what you may want  made out of the yarn to plan how long to collect the fur. The fur needs to be clean (just washed), free from knots, and a minimum of 1” in length (longer is easier for the spinner).  Almost any breed of animal’s hair can be spun into yarn if it fits the earlier requirements. Clean, clipped hair is put into a plastic bag the minute that it is clipped off the dog or cat. 

Once the hair is shipped to the spinner, it is weighed and the price for spinning is sent to the owner.  It is common to wait for 6 months to have the fur spun into yarn and then crocheted and knitted into your desired attire by a professional spinner.  It takes roughly 11 ounces of fur to spin into 300 yards of yarn for a simple winter hat, and about 12 ounces or 325 yards to make a scarf.  The cost of spinning the yarn is roughly $12.00 an ounce.  The cost of having the yarn crocheted or knitted into mittens or scarf is about $60.00 an item.

Whatever you decide to have knitted or crocheted, having a keepsake made from your own dog’s fur is a special and unforgettable memento.  My own husband asked me two years ago to save his standard poodle’s hair so that someday he could have something made.  I knew my husband liked dogs, but when he asked for this special token, I knew he LOVED HIS dog!  It took one full year, and 3 separate groomings to get poodle hair that was more than one inch in length.  I shipped the hair off to a place I found online, www.vipfibers.com.  I sent three nearly full grocery bags full of unsquished, clipped poodle hair.  Each grocery bag was roughly 12 ounces and my total bill for spinning and shipping was just under $450.00. My husband, wanting a truly unique and personalized fur-ever keepsake asked his mother to crochet the yarn into a hat and scarf for him.  He has just arrived home with his newly finished works of art (there is still enough yarn for one more scarf), and I don’t know if I have ever seen a bigger smile on his face.  My husband is indeed, crazy about his dog.  Although Montee poodle is only 8 years old, having this keepsake, physical proof of the love they share now, makes knowing he won’t always be with us, a little easier to face.  The total process took 2 years, 3 groomings, $450.00, and was worth every penny.  The joy that I see on my husband’s face every time he wears Montee’s fur is worth a million dollars to me.  Next time you need a great idea for your dog-loving loved one, consider the gift of a fur-ever keepsake!

All copyrights reserved 2012 DuAnn Lustig-Chambers

We offer the following services:

*The Pooch Portal, doggie drive-thru
* full service grooming for all breeds of dogs and cats by state-certified groomers
*student grooming discounts
*offer ‘no-kennel’ grooming by request.
*owner stay grooming by request
*self-service bathing stations
*walk-in appointments
* teeth scaling and/or teeth brushing 
* nail trimming and dremeling (filing) on a walk-in basis
*anal gland expressing bird nails and wing trimming
*retail grooming tools
*doggie day care
*owner grooming training by request
*doggie and family portraits(free)
*walk-ins are welcomed here

Pooch Parlor Groomers/Staff:

Every groomer has undergone rigorous training to attain their certification at the state level. The training includes more than instruction about the technical aspects of grooming and scissoring, it includes strict codes of conduct and tight guidelines for ethical treatments of pets and their owners, safety practices, and cleaning standards. This certification is something we are most proud of, as the grooming industry is not regulated, and only 5 percent of all groomers spend the time and money to train under any qualified guidelines. All employees are drug-tested and undergo criminal background checks. The Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Academy, is the only grooming school licensed and bonded through the Board of Education, in the State of Idaho.

The Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Academy:

The Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Academy is the only state-certified grooming school in idaho.  The school is licensed and bonded through the Idaho Board of Education.  Students come from all over the nation to learn the trade of pet styling.  Their courses range in time from 2 months to 12 months.  Reduced grooming prices are offered to customers that would like to help these students out with their well-behaved family pooches.  Student grooming must be requested and scheduled on Mon, Wed, and Friday.  When the students graduate, they are certified as professional groomers, trained under standards that are higher than required by the industry.  Students that graduate end up all over the nation as employees and business owners.  If you have family in the U.S., check out the groomer academy webpage for a Pooch Parlor graduate near you.

At the Pooch Parlor, we always have a camera handy and LOVE to take pictures of our staff, students, customers, and their dogs. There is no charge for family portrait and we email it to you, just ask. Pictures of your 4 legged kids are really important, since our time with them is never long enough during our lives.
 

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Copyright (C) 2012 Pooch Parlor Pet Groomer Academy All rights reserved.