What do they do?
You have been a banker for 19 years, and one fine afternoon during the lunch break you step into a pet store to pick up biscuits for your dogs at home and get struck by an interesting thought. What if you leave the world of tellers and accountants and loans and fixed deposits and spend all your time with the furry objects of your affection?
Says Sanjeev Kumar, the ex-banker, who with his wife Preeti now runs Scoopy Scrub, a professional pet grooming parlour and dog salon in Delhi-NCR, “that very evening (after the idea struck) when I got back home, my wife and I discussed the pros and cons of opening a pet shop.” Within a month, with Preeti leading the way as Kumar still held on to his job, the couple opened Pet Bytes, their first pet shop. Its success encouraged Kumar to quit the bank and start a chain of pet shops providing pet-related services like boarding and lodging, dog training, guard dog and handlers, home bathing, fish aquariums and servicing and pet transportation. Then, sensing the lack of grooming services in Delhi, the Kumars did a grooming course in Thailand and opened Scoopy Scrub in early 2007.
For Yashodhara, who runs Yashbans Kennels and Fuzzy Wuzzy Pet Styling Studio and Spa with daughters Rishya and Radhiya in Bangalore, the idea of a pet parlour came up when she saw how difficult it was for families (especially working couples) to keep hygienically clean pets. The experience of owning and breeding show dogs also made Yashodhara notice that many outstanding specimens were losing out in dog shows as cosmetic grooming was never considered by their owners, either to enhance their pets’ looks or to camouflage their defects. “There are numerous breeds of dogs in the world but most people stick to the regular common breeds basically because they need the minimum grooming. However, people were open to the idea of keeping various breeds of dogs and cats and other pets, provided they get someone else to maintain their hygiene and cosmetic looks. As I already understood the intricacies of grooming pets, I opened the parlour,” she says.
Yashodhara started out with just Rs 50,000 in a place she owned. And then word spread.
Training has definitely helped. Both Yashodhara and Rishya are trained veterinary assistants and find it easier to identify various skin ailments in pets and treat these accordingly. “During my various trips abroad, I have always made it a point to stay with breeders who were specialists in certain breeds.
Watching them groom and experimenting on my own under their guidance, gave me that extra edge,” says Yashodhara.
Keeping in mind the expenses involved in training abroad, both Sanjeev Kumar and Yashodhara now offer training to potential groomers.
Where clientele is concerned, the Kumars say they cater to all and have something special like an aromatherapy bath for a small dog priced at only Rs 200. “The upper middle-class, upper class and the elite go in for specialised services like massages, and breed-specific cuts for their pets,” adds Kumar. Yashodhara has business people, entrepreneurs, and industrialists walking into her salon, “though I do get others like movie stars, models and teachers,” she adds.
Work can be fun. Yashodhara says she likes to to style pets as per their breed standards, but sometimes clients want the punk look for their pets or request that fur be trimmed to give their longhaired dogs overhanging eyebrows or a beard to make them look like old men. “The best styles that work for longhaired pets is either a teddy bear look, or a summer clip, with options like featherings on the legs or tufts on legs and tails,” she adds.
At the end of the day, “we feel there is nothing better than the wagging tails, loving licks and the happy ‘woofs’ of appreciation that our customers bestow upon us,” says Kumar.
