So, this is how my day starts…
My name is Tanya and this is my business: A Dog’s Tale – mobile dog wash and grooming.
Always loved dogs. Always have loved animals.
And I’d go walking in the afternoons with a friend of mine
and I’d practically accost everybody’s dogs for a cuddle
and to find out what their story was – how old they were and what their breed was –
and my friend suggested I go into business for myself, which challenged me.
And then she suggested that I do something with dogs
because she could see how much I loved being around dogs
and said that ‘I think if you can turn your passion into a job
then you’re 90 per cent of the way there to be really happy.’
I’ve always been either a rep or a consultant or something
like that where I’m driving all the time to appointments.
I literally love seeing my clients and seeing the dogs.
Who’s my good boy?
Fonzee hates having his nails done so I have to be quick.
Good boy! Good boy! Good boy!
Let’s have a look at his ears.
These guys – their ears are normally really good.
And now we’re going to bath him. We’re going to
start off by giving him a nice warm-water rinse,
and he’s going to look a lot smaller in a second. He’ll look like one of
those play toys – add water and they shrink; add air and they blow up again.
This little guy, he normally lets me do whatever I
want with the water and with the dryer and everything.
We’re just rinsing him down!
getting a nice amount of water through the coat.
And now he’s going to have his shampoo, which is a
combination of oatmeal, baking soda and aloe vera.
It also has a really lovely scent that’s not too overpowering.
And I just get fantastic results and the dogs don’t get
itchy afterwards and it’s just something I can rely on.
You like this, don’t you mate?
There are going to be days where it’s raining, it’s cold or it’s really hot
and, you know, doggy after doggy, sometimes, not to
mention if you’ve got other stuff going on in your life,
can be a bit monotonous some days.
It’s on those days that your love of dogs really kicks in because these guys can
really bring you out of a bad slump if you’re feeling a bit down. So, yeah.
Look, a lot of people ask me: ‘Aren’t you afraid of
dogs?’ ‘Aren’t you afraid of getting bitten by dogs?’
So my job, I guess, while I’m grooming them is actually to help make them feel comfortable as well.
So it is a bit of behavioural stuff that goes on and I find that really interesting.
When I started out initially I was part of a franchise and the franchise arranged the training.
As far as I was aware there wasn’t a lot of training where there were formal courses to do.
So they got me in to be trained by another groomer who
has his own salon and he gave me really good basics,
but, yeah, I think it was really just get out there
and hit the ground running and give it a go.
Just spreading coat conditioner around Fonzee’s coat,
so I’m just going to give him a quick brush now
and it just helps with the brushing. Anything to help keep the doggy comfortable.
And this particular one happens to have essential
oils in it, so he comes up smelling gorgeous.
Yes, you’re beautiful!
Would you like to have a bath today? Would you?
The beginning of March would actually be my second year anniversary, and I feel now that the business
is starting to get so busy that I could possibly give somebody else the opportunity to do what I do.
I want somebody who a) Number One thing would be to demonstrate a passion for dogs.
And so one of those ways would obviously be, I think, showing that
you have done some volunteering or you have done some training,
you’ve researched training and been on some training
at different TAFE courses or what have you.
Anything, really, just to show that you are serious and that you are passionate:
looking after friends’ dogs, dog-sitting, walking –
dog-walking in your community – there are a lot of neighbours
probably around that would really love it if someone would volunteer to take their dog for a walk for them.
Lots of people are time-poor these days and it’s also a fantastic way to start
building up a network of potential clients or referrals for the future.
I feel happy every day, I really do. I know that probably sounds a bit cheesy but I do.
I think now that I’m doing something that feels authentic to me,
something that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,
that I’ve finally been blessed enough to actually do now,
I feel happy every day. And for the right person this will be the best career – ever.
You’ll be happy, you’ll be really happy. You’ll love it.