Groomability Pet Services were pleased to be recently granted our South Cambridgeshire District Council ‘Animal Boarding Licence’.

Our Boarding Service is available for up to four dogs, from the same owner only, at any one time. It is already being well subscribed by customers from the Dog Grooming side of the business, who already know of our love for dogs. Our clients will be living in our home as part of the family, with all the ‘comings-and-goings’ that entails. With free range of our fully secured garden, as well as plenty of walks in the local countryside, it is well suited to care for your pets whilst you travel away for weekend breaks, or longer holidays.

We recently had a veterinary inspection of our boarding facilities, together with an inspection by the District Environmental Health Officer, who wrote later “Both the vet and I were very pleased with the high standards in evidence during our joint visit.”

The service was made possible by the sad death of ‘Gunner’, our retired German Shepherd Police Dog, at the age of 12 years. This service was not even considered whilst he still ruled the house, but now our clients are able to be new Kings (or Queens) of the house, with no other dogs to disturb them.

Early bookings are recommended as this service is already proving to be exceptionally popular.

Remember how frightened or distressed your pets were last fireworks night? It’s almost that time again, so this year plan ahead and be prepared!

There are many approaches to try, and now is the ideal time to start preparing your pet for the noisiest time of the year.

Firstly have you checked with your vet that there isn’t a medical reason behind their behaviour? You could consider a pet behavioural expert. But here are a couple of DIY approaches you can try as long as you allow some weeks for them to be effective.

Desensitisation – There are many internet downloads or CD/DVDs for purchase which have recordings of fireworks or loud noises. Acclimatise your pet to the noise over as long a period as possible, starting at the lowest volume, increasing gradually. Ideally play the soundtrack every day, whist doing your normal routine, whilst your pet is eating, sleeping or just watching Tv with you.  Dogsandfireworks.com has a video you can try out on-line.

Calming smells – D.A.P. (Dog Appeasing Pheromone) is a synthetic substance, claimed to help keep pets calm by mimicking the pheromone given off by bitches for their puppies. A plug-in diffuser is used 24/7 for at least two weeks before and a week after the worst of the noise – start by mid-October at the latest. Herbal versions are also available using calming herbs, dispensed by a similar diffuser, or as tablet and liquid versions.

On the day, before the noise starts take your pet for a long walk to really tire them out. Then ensuring windows are closed and curtains drawn, create a safe, cosy area, and let them ‘crash out’. Don’t reinforce any fearful behaviour by giving your pet extra attention, thus rewarding it, carry on as normally as possible.

Pets are very astute; they recognise and feed off our feelings. So as much as possible maintain a calm and positive attitude. Don’t get frustrated or angry at the people setting off the fireworks, no matter how much you want to throttle them! Your pet will pick up on this, it will feed their anxiety, and potentially make matters worse.

This Saturday, September 17th 2011, sees the Steeple Morden Harvest Fair take place.

Groomability will be there judging the ‘Scruffs Dog Show’, a ‘just-for-fun’ show for the local dogs and owners to show off at.

Classes include Waggiest Tail, Childs best friend (dogs with a child owner under 12), Golden Oldie (Dogs over 8 years of age), Smiliest Face, and The Dog with the Best Party Trick. Later there will be a Musical SIT contest, and finally The Rolo Cup, which will be awarded to ‘The Dog The Judge Would Most Like To Take Home!’ – but obviously we won’t!!

So, please come down and enter for some of the classes, cost is 20p per class, all entrants can then enter ‘The Rolo Cup’ free of charge.

There is lots of other attractions going on to ensure it will be a great fun event for all the family. We hope to see you there.

To our web wizard, not only for our new look site, but also for being able to train a complete techno-muppet like me to be able to post in the ‘Groomability Blog’.

So, a very big “Thank you” goes to Adam of Cambridge Web Solutions for his help and guidance. We highly recommend him should you be in the market for a website of your own.

Hello, and welcome to the updated ‘Groomability’ website.

Since opening for business in April 2010 Groomability has gone from strength to strength. We currently undertake the number of grooming sessions that we expected at the ‘Year 3’ stage of the business!

Being so popular means that, despite our best efforts, we struggle to keep our booking times below 3-4 weeks. Also we are constrained by the fact that being mobile we can only do so many dogs (Usually 3) in a day! And even dog groomers deserve days off. Obviously Belinda’s arthritis restricts us further, but the wonders of modern medicine are playing their part also.

We do try to slot in the quicker ‘pamper’ sessions for those of our canine friends with short coats where-ever possible, but travelling time does impact on how-often we can do this. And we will NEVER compromise dog welfare, or our quality of work, just so we can fit more dogs in each day.

So if the waiting time for an appointment is too long, please accept our apologies, and we hope you understand. If you just have to have your dog groomed straight away, please do so elsewhere but consider us for your next grooming and maybe book that one now!

If you are new to Groomability we look forward to meeting you and your dog. If you have already experienced ‘The Groomability Effect’, then we hope to meet you again soon.

Martin – August 2011.

Lexi is a very nervous German Shepherd. She needed some severe matts removing from her rear end but just wouldn’t let her owner near them. Belinda managed to gain her trust and she was able to get Lexi much more comfortable without the matts. After a wash and dry she was looking, and feeling, very smart.

Another of our regulars, Benji has a quick growing coat which was neatly trimmed so he can show off to the girls again!

Beatty the Cocker Spaniel was trimmed to how her owner likes her, short, ready for her play-times in the near-by fields. Enjoy!