Afraid To Try a New Dog Groomer?

Even though there seems to be a huge number of dog groomers throughout Calgary, I'm always shocked at how hard it is to find one that is either readily available or is conveniently located close by.

We've had Mojo for nine years and have taken him to a groomer since he was a puppy. Our first groomer was Katie, she's located in the Douglas Square Vet Clinic. Her rates were always affordable and she was very reliable. As we moved further and further from Douglasdale, the less convenient her location became. But with her affordable rates we continued to use her. We always made our appointments on Mondays and eventually Katie stopped working Mondays and we were unable to continue using her services.

So we had to find another groomer. Which we found stressful!

We tried Groomingdales in McKenzie Towne. We found them to be quite a bit higher priced than Katie and I got this weird feeling going there. I got the impression they were just a high volume business and just wanted to get the dogs in and out. There was no personal touch and I felt almost as if they just treated our dogs like "things". I did not have a bad experience with them, I just felt uneasy leaving my dogs with them. We only gave them one shot and never returned.

Then as luck would have it, Tailblazers in Copperfield had Shampooch open a salon in their store. We were so happy that these groomers were so close by, reputable and their rates were reasonable as well. We continued to use Shampooch for a couple of years. Cheryl and her staff were always so friendly and treated our dogs the way they would treat their own.

We were saddened to hear that Shampooch was going to move their salon to a bigger and better location on Heritage Drive SW. Awesome for them as they grow and continue to be a successful business but sad for us, Cheryl's new location just wasn't convenient for us. Again, we were in a bind to find a reputable, affordable and conveniently located groomer.

We were quickly running out of options but thank goodness for social media! One of pet industry friends had announced a new groomer was opening a location in New Brighton.

We immediately called this new grooming company to see if they were accepting new clients yet. Lucky for us, she was scheduled to open her doors the following weekend! Mrs. Nate booked the boys in for Saturday morning at 8:30 am. Not only are they conveniently located for us, they have awesome hours too!

Shortly after booking our appointment on the phone, we found ourselves enjoying a nice trip to the Auburn Bay dog park. As we were walking a lovely, young lady approached us and handed Mrs. Nate her business card. She told us she had just opened her new grooming business in New Brighton. We looked at the business card and it said, "Puppy In My Pocket Dog Grooming". This was her!

We all had a good laugh after telling her we had already secured an appointment for the upcoming Saturday.

On Saturday morning I grabbed the boys 8:20 am and headed out to drop them off for their spa day. As I drove to her location I realized that her salon was actually situated in a private residence. I started to get a little nervous thinking I would have to knock on her door at 8:30 Saturday morning. As I arrived and approached her house, I saw she actually had a separate entrance directly into her garage which was completely converted into a dog grooming spa. It was complete with holding kennels, a grooming table and all the materials required for her craft.

I was pleasantly surprised, it felt just as if I was dropping off the boys at a professional, commercial location. Tanya and I chatted about what kind of cut the boys would get and I signed a few initial documents required for first time visits. I felt very at ease leaving our boys with her.

At about 10:30 am, we got our call that the job was done and we could pick up Mojo and Oscar whenever we're ready to grab them. Mrs. Nate popped over right away anxious to see how everything turned out. We are happy to report they looked just fabulous!

Her rates were on par with what we were used to paying and it's well worth it!

So if you're in the deep SE area of Calgary and looking for a great, new dog groomer. Please consider giving Tanya a try. She is really passionate about what she does and it shows. With over ten years of grooming experience you can't go wrong.

I know for us, we'll be customers as long as she'll have us.

Visit her website for more details!

Calgary Humane Society 2014 Dog Jog

Every year the Calgary Humane Society hosts its Annual Dog Jog event. This is a huge event with tons of people and their dogs participating in a walk at South Glenmore Park. The participants do their best to raise funds individually or as teams by canvassing their friends and family for donations. It’s similar to most fund raising events like the Mother’s Day walk or Run for the Cure. Each participant or team gets a webpage where donations can be collected and tracked in their name.

Mrs. Nate with Mojo

Each year Mrs. Nate participates. She rolls up her sleeves and hits up everyone she knows to donate to this special cause. This year is no different and I’m proud to say she has so far raised a total of $1175! Great job wife!

Additionally each year, Poooh Busters also provides a nominal sponsorship donation and attends the event. This year we have the privilege of sponsoring the “Watering Hole”. This is a small trailer equipped with fresh drinking water where the participants can refill their water bottles and water bowls for their thirsty pooches. In previous years, we would just show up to hand out poooh bags to the participants at the beginning of the walk, so this Dog Jog is special to us with the extra opportunity of the watering hole sponsorship.

As Mrs. Nate was checking her donation page she noticed that CHS has only reached 53% of its goal for this year. I am sad to hear they are still so far away and there is only two weeks left before the event takes place.

I am writing my blog today to help bring awareness about the Dog Jog and I would like to see CHS event reach its goal of raising approx. $125,000.

If you’d like to make a small donation to this year’s Dog Jog and want to help make Mrs. Nate (Tara Gilbart) a top fundraiser, please go to her donation page any time.

The event is being held June 8^th at South Glenmore Park in Calgary.

For more information visit the Dog Jog website!