Grooming School

Award-Winning Grooming on Edmonton Trail

"Grooming School"

This information is provided without bias for anyone considering a career as a pet groomer. Read this and if you would like more information about our grooming course email us or pop-by to pick up a student package at your convenience.

Grooming Course

At A Royal Touch we are happy to provide a grooming course for people wanting to join the Grooming Community as a groomer.

For those of you considering this as a career, please understand the following…

The grooming industry is NOT licensed. This means you do not need a certificate in grooming to do this for a living. Anyone can buy a pair of clippers and a book and call them selves a pet groomer. Our students put in an amazing amount of time and effort to get that certificate on the wall and are deserving of great respect for the effort entailed in getting it there.

Choosing a school is the most important decision of your career. There are actual government sanctioned schools and private apprenticeships to choose from. Which choice you make depends on a few factors. If you are receiving financial government assistance or if your course is being paid for by any government program you need to go to a school. If you are financing yourself your choices become more varied. You may look into an apprenticeship. There are benefits and drawbacks to both which I will attempt to highlight in a non-biased manner.

In a grooming school the school must produce X amount of students in a given year to maintain their teaching license. Class sizes may me quite large and you may find more than one student working on a dog at the same time. It may or may not be an actual working salon so you may not have the added experience of answering telephones and dealing with clientele.

In an apprenticeship the teacher is more select about the students, because your teaching reputation is only as good as the last student who graduated. Apprenticeship agreements must be legal contracts to protect the student and the salon because you do not have the protection of the Government license which may be revoked if not complied to. An apprenticeship program is very much BUYER BEWARE. It is, however a working salon which will look better on a resume than a school. Ask for a copy of the curriculum, and see whether or not any book work will be done in addition to grooming.

ALWAYS visit more than one place, school or salon. Job shadow for a day. Is it a comfortable atmosphere? Do you feel silly asking questions? Are you happy with the staff? Do you feel welcomed, intimidated? Is it clean and spacious? Do the dogs look happy and well cared for? Ask for references from past students. Call salons in the city and ask would they hire someone with training from___________. Are the students limited in the amount of grooms/day? Expected to handle aggressive dogs? How about equipment? Can you buy your clippers and scissors ect wholesale or is the school going to profit on your equipment? ASK, ASK, ASK! What is the qualification of the teacher? What books do you need. Any other teaching aids?

If you would like more information on the Grooming Course at A Royal Touch, please email and we will send you a copy of our curriculum.

Authors Note:

Due to the quantity of inquiries I receive I have decided to provide a few curriculum details about our course.

Here is the basic information:

It is a sixteen-week FULL TIME course Tuesday-Saturday 9-4 NO WEEKENDS OR EVENINGS.

Our course of study is Practical, Theoretical, and involves BOOK WORK, Video Instruction and Worksheets!

And YES, there is an EXAM!

We provide the equipment for you during training. If and when you buy your own you buy from our WHOLESALERS. Meaning: We don't make a 'retail' profit off of our students!

We have a maximum of four students in-house at any given time. You must BOOK YOUR SPACE EARLY!

Our tuition is $4000 Plus $150 in books, PLUS GST.

Payment terms are debit or certified check only.

We require a $500 non-refundable deposit to hold your space!

Requirements for training:

	Written and Verbal understanding of the English Language
	We are NOT equipped to train people with learning or physical/mental disabilities.
	You must be VERY PATIENT.
	You must NOT BE ALLERGIC to dogs.
	You must NOT BE AFRAID of dogs.
	You must be healthy and strong, able to lift 75 pounds.
	You must NOT HAVE back problems arthritis carpal tunnel etc!!
	You must be able to take constructive criticism at our salon the pet's care comes first.
	You cannot be squeamish at the sight of infection or infestation.
	You MUST be able to say 'no' to the animals and be firm when required. Some dogs do NOT respond to 'please'!

For a FULL CURRICULUM, with all of the 'gory details' email the salon and I'll send it to you!

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