hi guys, my name is maria and i'm a dog groomer. i'm sure we've all seen pooch perfect on tv by now.
if you haven't, it's a tv show on bbc one about dog grooming. groomers are placed in
a competition environment, and every single week they are given a different challenge - some they
seem to be prepared for, and some they aren't. and let me tell you - us groomers, we really appreciate
the chance of being on prime time tv, have our profession shown to a wider audience, so people
understand what we're doing. but unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be the case for the public.
pooch perfect highlights every single aspect of dog grooming: it shows grooming puppies
pet trims, breed standard and the most controversial of them all, creative grooming. and that's the topic
i'm going to be talking about in this video a little bit further, because so many people just
seem to think that creative grooming is abuse, it's neglect, it's all these horrible words you
can imagine. and i just wanted to talk about that with you guys a little bit. so as i said,
we hear the word 'dog abuse' so much, and i just wanted to correct that straight away for you.
animal abuse means neglecting an animal. you know, not feeding it, not giving it water, shelter, not
seeking vet attention when it's necessary, letting your animal get matted to the skin, or ingrown
toe nails. applying a bit of pet safe diet is not animal abuse! please stop throwing that word around,
because that couldn't be further from the truth. and i'm about to tell you exactly why. i'm going to
show you some creative grooming versus some actual neglect, and this is a bit of a trigger warning. if
you're someone who finds pictures of neglected dogs upsetting, i would recommend looking away
for a little bit. but for comparison, would you say this is animal abuse or this? or maybe this or that?
or how about this last one versus that one? do you see my point here? now, is creative grooming
necessary? well of course it isn't, just like doing a breed standard cut on a dog isn't necessary
anymore. now that we're using dogs for work less and less and less, a poodle doesn't need all the
hair around its organs to protect the organs from the cold water, or a terrier need long brows to
protect the eyes while in rat tunnels. but we still do it, and guess what? it is because the owners want
it, because it looks pretty, it's aesthetically pleasing. and this is going to be something we are
going to be doing for years to come. if we only did what was necessary, we'd just be clipping all your
dogs off all in one length and call it a day. many people also claim that dogs are not accessories,
and they should just be left be. but did you know that cavaliers were actually bred to be lap dogs
to keep us warm in the cold winter months? and on top of that, we are also responsible for breeding
dogs for vanity, and this vanity is causing a lot of breeds to have severe health issues.
just think of all the bulldogs - the more wrinkles and the shorter their muzzle, the "better" it is in
the eyes of the current "beauty standard" that surrounds dogs. same with german shepherds - we
have spent decades breeding in this horrifically slopped back, and that is causing severe spinal
and hip issues. many dog breeds are completely different today than they were a hundred years ago,
and that isn't always a good thing. i would really recommend you to look at the history of your own
dog breed and just see how far the breeding has come just in the name of vanity. and we could also
talk about the average diet of our dogs. obviously dog diets are now far more varied than they were
before, the options we can give our dogs is so much better a lot of people are moving on to
raw food or as close as possible. but if you look at the average supermarket kibble, they are more
cereals and derivatives than they are actual nutrition. and on top of that they are heavily
dyed in some cases, but we are still more than happy to give that to our dog on a daily basis.
using a supermarket kibble is like feeding your kids mcdonald's for every single meal, but we are
not shouting about how unnecessary that is. okay, i have gone off and a bit of a tangent, so let's get
back to creative grooming and what it's all about. the process definitely isn't for every single dog,
and no dog is forced into it. if a dog finds a normal grooming appointment stressful, of
course we're not gonna use your dog for creative grooming. if your dog doesn't like its feet being
held, we're not gonna use nail polish on its nails it. it's just common sense. and you know what? the dog
is not going to think "oh i look ridiculous, why do i have pink ears?" or "my dog friends are going to
laugh at me". they are not going to know! all they're thinking about is - oh yay i'm getting a lot more
attention, i'm getting a lot more praise, and i'm getting a lot more treats than i usually do! this
is so much fun, i want this again! and most salon creative - so stuff we can do on a day-to-day basis -
is usually fitted into the same slot as your normal groom would be, so it doesn't take any
longer, we're not putting your dog through any kind of extended period of standing. and any competition
creative is actually done in stages over days or weeks. and all products used in creative grooming
are actually specifically designed to be used on dogs. some of them are food grade, so even if a dog
licks a bit of dye it's not going to be harmful. obviously we try to avoid it, we don't recommend
a dog just licking some dye, but they are designed not to be harmful to a dog. most products used in a
salon environment are only temporary. chalks and blow pens tend to just wash out in one go, you
can use semi permanent that will last a little bit longer, and the permanent dyes are designed
for the very adventurous clients or competition creative. and any responsible groomer will do a
patch test on your dog before starting anything, just like we would do a patch test when we go
to a new hair salon to have our hair done. and at the end of the day creative grooming doesn't have
to be for everyone, and that's absolutely fine! i just want to highlight the fact that a bit of dye
and a bow or a ribbon is not animal abuse. we are dog groomers, we do this job because we love
dogs. the last thing we want to do is to hurt your dog! we all get so attached to our clients and we
do treat them like our own. i think pooch perfect is doing amazing things to the grooming industry
in the uk. they understandably don't have all the time in the world to display every single aspect
of the grooming during the one-hour slot they have, but the bad feedback the public is giving
the show is so unjustified. if you're not sure how something works, please go and research it! have
a chat with your own groomer, see what they think about all the stuff that is happening on the show.
you know we love talking about our work, it is our absolute passion. we wouldn't do this job otherwise.
so please, just have a chat with your own groomer, because i bet they could answer any questions
you have about anything you see on pooch perfect every week. i appreciate that creative grooming is
still a relatively new thing in the uk, but getting the rspca involved is just so unnecessary. and the
statements we've had from rspca about colouring dogs as well is just such an overreaction. you
know a show like this wouldn't have been given a prime time slot on bbc, if anyone thought that
what was happening in the show was not okay. all the people behind the show are also groomers, so
they do know what they're talking about and they wouldn't be displaying anything that they think
is harmful or wrong. okay guys, i think that covers everything i wanted to talk about. i really hope
this clears some of the misconceptions you may have about creative grooming and how it all works,
but if you have any other questions, please do drop them down in the comment section below and i will
do my best to answer all your questions. and if you did like this video, if you found it informative,
do share it with all your friends and family and just get the word out that creative grooming is
okay! and if you wanted to stick around and watch some more dog grooming related content,
do consider subscribing to the channel so you don't miss my next upload. bye guys!