A beautifully groomed, and well turned-out group of happy clients. Courtesy Photo
Fur Pets Sake comes to you and your pet
Having animals in your circle of best friends creates great relationships and skills you can use in different ways.
Molly-Jean Roach grew up living on a hobby farm surrounded by all kinds of animals. As a result, her passion for animals led her to start up her own mobile grooming service called Fur Pets Sake based in Ingleside.
She performs services like nail trimming, ear cleaning, dental cleanup, pad trim and dematting. She also does baths and blowouts, clipping and scissoring and blueberry facials.
She explained, “I grew up living on a hobby farm and as an adult now with my own children, I’ve acquired many different types of animals to add to our hobby farm. I was and still am a very ‘on-the-go’ type of person, so, having the passion for animals, the skills to groom and love doing it, just made sense to make a career out of it.”
While attending the Veterinary Assistant Program in 2016, Roach was introduced to the aspect of animal grooming and how important it was to animals and their human partners.
“Since then, I’ve been grooming friends and family’s pets as a hobby. I’ve been hearing and reading numerous owners searching for a groomer who are comfortable with reactive pets; owners who have senior pets being turned away from salons due to age and the lumps and bumps that come with it. Owners who lead a busy lifestyle and need someone to come to them,” she said.
Last year she enrolled in the grooming program to further her knowledge.
“I decided to offer the in-your-home service. I’m extremely happy to be able to provide a service to help pets keep their comfort and still keep up with their grooms, that are very much a necessity.”
Roach had no doubt that there was really a need for her grooming business. The only concern was the same as starting out with any new small business.
“With how hard it is to open a local business in our economy, especially a business reliant on fuel, I was nervous. Receiving immediate positive feedback and interest really helped me feel overjoyed to offer this different type of service,” she said.
She works on all kind of pets making pampering them her priority.
“I’ve worked on cats, dogs, rabbits and even chickens. Currently I am only in-your-home grooming, but in the near future I will have a space to welcome your pets to a getaway spa day.”
There are many different temperaments in the animals she is asked to groom.
To ensure she can work with an animal such as a nervous dog for example, she meets with the owner beforehand to find out what, if any issues, she needs to know about before she begins her grooming process.
“With my service, I mostly get reactive animals because they’ve had some type of mistreatment to cause groomers to not give them a chance. I will always meet the owner and animal before plainly saying ‘no’. Every animal is different, just like children. Some jump into your arms for attention, others react immediately because they’re simply just frightened. If there’s a history of being reactive, I follow a calm and non-challenging approach.”
Her non-confrontational strategy with a nervous animal is to approach the animal while not making eye contact.
“I actually sit down to put myself in a completely non dominating position. After this, the animal generally slows down on their vocalness. It can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes, but eventually the animal chooses to come to me, gives me a sniff and they then decide I’m safe. Treats are always a handy method once they’ve accepted you as well and allow you to pet them. Who doesn’t love a cookie?”
Her immediate plans include setting up a salon as a result of all the positive feedback she has received from her clients.
“Not now, but soon I will be renting out a space to offer in salon! I’m extremely excited about it so I can help more animals. It’s definitely something I’m asked often so with the demand being there, I’m going for it!”
Roach plans to complete renovations on her property so that she can offer additional services like a doggy day care and a place to board dogs and farm animals.
Molly-Jean Roach can be reached on Facebook at Fur Pets Sake or at furpetssake@outlook.com or text her at 613-362-6240.
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