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INTRODUCTION
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Hello, my name is Lesley Garratt and I am the proprietor of Canine
Design Academy of Grooming in Evercreech, Somerset.
I would like to give you a brief introduction to us as a company and how
I came to be teaching other people to groom.
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These are my own dogs, Parsley & Herman
Parsley sadly died in September 2005 |
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Lesley with Herman (Affenpinscher) |
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I have always had a great love for and
affinity with animals and from a very early age my ambition was
to become a dog groomer. Having said this, it wasn’t until 1992,
when I was 31 years of age, that I actually realised this
ambition, having spent my years previous to this working as a
secretary for a large company and then as P.A. to one of the
Directors in an Estate Agency. |
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Lesley with new addition to the family
Isaac a Shar Pei cross |
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| I had done some training in dog grooming
some years before, but only groomed a few dogs for friends and family in
my spare time. I always, at the back of my mind, however, held the
ambition of setting up my own business and becoming a full time dog groomer, and over the years while I was doing office work I continued
with my dog grooming training, studied for my City & Guilds which I
achieved with credit and attended lots of seminars, shows and
competitions in order to improve my knowledge and skills. |
| Eventually, after some 15 years or so, I
finally decided to take the plunge and start my own business,
which started slowly at first but soon blossomed into a thriving
concern, and after having been running it for approximately a
year I was offered the position of Grooming Tutor at a local
college, a position which I held for some three years or so,
until I became pregnant with my first daughter. During this
time, many of the grooming trainees whom I taught achieved their
City & Guilds and several of them went on to run their own
businesses. The private students who have trained with us have
been equally as successful. Hundreds of our former trainees have
gone on to run successful grooming businesses both in the UK and
abroad. |
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| We have trained people from as far afield as
Japan, New Zealand and Bermuda. |
Lesley and Kelly in
reception |
| Also, we are proud to be able to
say that one of our former trainees, Abi Boyce, won the coveted
title of YKC Groomer of the Year 2006. |
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| I really enjoyed
the teaching side of the business, not only enjoying the company
of the animals but also the trainees. I found it very rewarding
passing on my skills to other people and watching them become competent |
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groomers in
their own right. I was inspired to start teaching grooming privately and
so the training side of Canine Design was born in 1994. We started out
with very small beginnings, taking only one student at a time, but
hardly a week has passed since this time without us having a student
training with us. I studied at college for my NVQ 730 Level III in
Teaching and Adult Education and have also completed my D32/33 Assessors
Award. |
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Lesley helping a
student |
I am very interested in dog behaviour both
within the grooming salon and in general and have successfully
completed a course with the Animal Care College in the
Canine/Human Interface.
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| Together with having my City &
Guilds in Dog Grooming this meant I was qualified to become a Charter
Member of the Institute for Animal Care Education (ChMIACE). We believe
very strongly at Canine Design that all dogs should be treated as
individuals and we always make every effort that every dog which enters
our salon should have the most pleasant experience possible – we
constantly monitor the stress levels of every animal in our care and
alter our handling methods accordingly. Handling and control is a
subject which we feel is very important, as it is one of the most
important skills of being a groomer – it doesn’t matter how talented you
are with the clippers and scissors - if you don’t have a good rapport
with your canine clients, you may as well leave your tools in the box! |
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Lesley and Kelly helping students |
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I started out with a completely ‘non-doggy’ background, albeit
from a family of great animal lovers. It was never expected that
I would enter a career working with animals, as all my family
had always gone down the route of office work, but I feel my
story gives hope to all you people out there like me that you
can break the mould and turn your hobby into a career.
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You don’t have to be born
into a long line of dog breeders in order to make a career out
of dog grooming. All you need is a love for animals, patience
and a little artistic flair in order to realise your dream. I
feel very lucky to have a job that I love so much – it really is
a vocation and I have to pinch myself every now and again to
confirm that it really is happening! Going to work is a pleasure
for me and I look forward to Monday mornings. How many people
can say that?!
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| If my story has inspired you and you would like to find out more about
becoming a dog groomer please visit the rest of our website and we will
be happy to answer any questions you may have, either by email or
telephone. We look forward to hearing from you.
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Some Examples of our work showing before and after pictures |
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