It's hard work being man's best friend. Good
boy. So when our canine pals need to pause for a sec their
owners take them for a bit of a spruce up at their local
groomers.
Turn around.
Good boy. Angela's a pro. A certified master
groomer. She's been in the industry for over 20 years. It
takes a special kind of someone to do this work. I'm pretty
sure hairdressers don't get peed on or pooed on. It's when
you start doing dog grooming or something like this you go no
this is what it means to love your job. Should we shave your
belly? And it requires more than you might think. We're
doing not just a haircut we're doing you know sanitary and
nails and all sorts of things. To do that you need experience
and proper training. For example, when dogs are
restrained while being groomed. This is done for the dog's
safety and so the animal feels secure. For those of us who
enjoy a good pamper for our pooches it may be worth noting
that dog grooming is actually an unregulated industry. Which
means that anyone can start up their own business without any
qualifications or experience. You know we've seen some horror
stories there. And so have you it seems. Fair Go's heard your
tales of bad experiences at the groomers. Heard stories of them
actually cutting through the tendon in the back of the leg
to someone going oh I can't afford a dog groomer so I
bought some Kmart clippers I've been doing my own and then the
neighbor goes oh that's not bad can you do mine and then
suddenly before you know it you've got a grooming business.
Creative yes but the care of animals is no joke. While there
are no specific animal welfare regulations for dog groomers
they should be following the Animal Welfare Act and must
abide by the Code of Welfare for Dogs and the Code of
Welfare for the Temporary Housing of Companion Animals,
which covers things like pet shops and shelters. Sorry I have
a dog escaping from my side just here. And if people breach
these codes this is when the SPCA can step in. If it's a
matter of your pet has come out with a bad haircut then no we
probably can't help you much there. Um but if you have had
an experience where you are concerned about the welfare of
your dog or other animals there then we do encourage people to
step forward and report that to SPCA. Any moves that can help
for pet parents to distinguish where's a good place to take
their pet whereas versus somewhere where you could maybe
steer clear. The Ministry for Primary Industries is also
responsible for animal welfare so Fair Go asked about
regulation. We encourage animal care industries to develop
accreditation and quality assurance schemes. This can be
achieved without new regulation. It's just too small
an industry. This means self regulation. Groups like the Dog
Groomers Association which Angela is a member of and the
New Zealand Pet Groomers Employers Association are
working on it. They're pushing for dog grooming to be
recognized as an NZQA qualification. Nice and short
here so it doesn't fall in his eyes. In the meantime, Angela
teaches dog grooming at her own academy, Angels Grooming in
Tāmaki Makaurau. 99.9% of groomers are amazing. They
absolutely care for the animals and they do the total best that
they can and then you get that tiny 0.1 that go this could be a
good way to make money. Let's just do that. They worry me.
You can do a lot of mental harm to dogs as well as the physical
as well as holding the dog's leg at the wrong angle and
popping out a knee or you know not being secured properly on a
table. There are things that dog owners can do to help. So
if you have a puppy making sure that they're comfortable with
their paws being handled, their ears being lifted up. Um that
really helps them not only with groomers but with vet visits.
Make sure you're using treats. Keep things short and sweet in
the beginning. It's a great favorite of mine is peanut
butter. So dog safe peanut butter. Um can be really
helpful because it takes a while for them to lick. Yep. I
can vouch for that. But what should dog owners be looking for
in a groomer? Hm. Ask your friends who they go to and see
if they've had any good or bad experiences with them. Ask the
groomer that you are choosing you know if they've been
trained. How long they've been working for. It's about helping
the animal, they're helping the customer, helping the groomers
and helping the industry. Quick while they're not
looking. Uh Alistar did you forget something?