Being a huge animal lover I was very excited to go & spend the day with Sandra Foxall at Wagtails Grooming Salon in Pernera & try my hand at some pooch pampering! Sandra holds a Diploma in dog grooming & salon management & offers nail cutting, ear plucking, bathing, clipping, scissor work & hygiene grooming to around 25 dogs a week!
I arrive at 9am & the kettles on (always a good sign). Sandra talks me through the appointments of the day, we will be bathing & grooming Daisy, a Collie Cross, washing & clipping Champion, a Cyprus Poodle, bathing & clipping Janga, a mixed breed & washing & clipping Anna a Cyprus Poodle. It’s a jam packed day & I cannot wait for our first customer. In the meantime Sandra explains to me the client card system. Each dog has a card which has details of their name, breed & age, their owners name & contact number, any background information on the dog, for example if it is spayed or if it was a stray & any vaccinations given by their Vet. The card acts as a log of all treatments & appointments, it also has a picture of the dog in question, & a diagram of a dogs body which is used to highlight any distinguishing features, moles, warts or unusual markings & their location. This system is very comprehensive & also shows if the animal has any skin complaints, if they have a brother or sister that is also a Wagtails customer & all importantly how they react to the different treatments that Wagtails offer. Soon Daisy arrives with her owner, he chats to me about Daisy & about her trips to Wagtails, as with all the owners I meet during the day he has nothing but praise for Sandra & the work she does. Listening to the owners I soon realise that the most important aspect of the service Sandra provides is the element of trust. Dogs to many of us are part of our families & just like a child, our protective instinct ensures that we only ever leave them with someone who we know will treat them with respect, affection & professionalism at all times. They need to be with someone they feel comfortable with, this is clearly the case with the dogs that come to Wagtails. My first task is to bathe Daisy, that is once I have mastered the correct way to lift a dog into the bath. Some hysterical giggles later at my lack of knowledge on this subject & rather cumbersome technique, Daisy is finally in the bath! Sandra shows me how to mix the shampoo with an action reminiscent of the Shake & Vac advert & we get to work wetting Daisy with the shower head & applying shampoo liberally. Sandra describes this motion as being like putting vinegar on your chips. Those of you who know me well will know that once Sandra mentioned Chips I fully understood & embraced the technique!
Daisy is really well behaved even when we dry her with the huge dog hair drying hose. Daisy’s owner arrives & I fill out the diary for next time & give him an appointment card which will be followed up by text the day before as a reminder. All appointments are made there & then either 4 or 8 weeks later depending on the treatment required. We say goodbye to Daisy who leaves with a glossy, shiny coat. In between customers, the phone rings with enquiries, appointments & some calls relating to the charity ‘Cyprus to UK Project’ that Sandra is heavily involved in, a project that re-homes strays to the UK. There is also a lot of cleaning work to be done including sweeping up dog hair, washing & hanging out towels & occasionally the use of a ‘pooper scooper’ is required, fortunately not on the day I was there! More customers arrive, Champion is next, a gorgeous, black, Cyprus poodle who we bathe & then clip. Using the clipper on a dog was pretty nerve racking, fortunately Champion was very well behaved. Using a specific blade number (the higher the blade number the shorter the cut) I copy Sandra in the correct direction with the clippers to get a fine & even finish. Champion also requires some scissor work for the hygiene areas of his body & once finished, his coat is very shiny & he looks gorgeous with his poodle, pomme pomme tail. Just as we are about to finish, Champion spies his owner arriving outside, the seemingly placid dog suddenly tries diving off the table towards the door, it takes both myself & Sandra to hold him still whilst we finish, crazy, hyperactive dogs are a daily occurance according to Sandra! Throughout the day I also get to spend time washing & grooming Janga a beautiful, black, mixed breed & Anna a white Cyprus Poodle with the prettiest eyes I have ever seen. They are both so well behaved & affectionate. The day Sandra & I spent together was actually Wagtails 5th Anniversary of grooming in Cyprus. I’m not surprised Sandra has built up the business she has in the past five years, in my days experience I found her to give a professional, reliable, caring & trustworthy service. Her rapport with the animals & their owners is tantamount to their trust & respect for Sandra & the exceptional job she does.
10/10 The dogs responded well to Natalie who is clearly an animal lover, which the dogs must have sensed as they were more than happy with her handling them. Thank you Natalie from Sandra & all the dogs!