FIGHTING FLEAS

From Flea Fighter:

How do you handle fleas on animals that are already using over the counter products, but keep coming into the salon with tons of fleas? Does everyone treat their houses? What about products that make pets violently ill? What's the safest alternative complimentary product with spot on treatments?

Dear Flea Fighter,

Do you have a pesticide license? Do you know what you are exposing yourself and your clients to? Are you relying on the manufacturer to tell you what the pesticide can be mixed with? Topical applications are not the only answer. I have seen dogs and cats crawling with fleas, even after an application of a topical, because their entire house and yard is infested and breeding fleas.

Pesticides are deadly poisons used to kill living organisms. Unless you are thoroughly versed in pesticide use, care and storage, I would leave it up to the owners and the professional pest control operators.

Flea shampoo them off and show the owner a flea free pet when they pick them up, but tell them that as soon as they bring them back into a flea infested house and yard they will get fleas again.

If they bring you the dog, but also own a cat they might as well just throw their grooming dollars out in the street. There are three types of fleas in the US are cat fleas, dog fleas and human fleas. There are very few dog and human fleas in the U.S. They are almost all cat fleas!

Cats groom most of their fleas off by themselves, so it is more evident that the dog has fleas then the cat, but cats are the food source. You must do all the pets the same day that the house and yard is being treated. Three weeks later (21 days) you must do the house and the cats and dogs a second time to break the flea life cycle.

I have seen so many adverse reactions and death due to incorrect pesticide use. Just because it is an EPA labeled product does not mean that it is safe. In fact "safe" is a word that cannot legally be used when discussing an EPA registered pesticide. There are no "safe" pesticides. There are just less toxic ones.

You will not be able to eliminate a flea problem for a client if their home is infested. Educate your customers to hire a Licensed Pest Control operator who will guarantee their work.

I explain not to re-apply the very next day and the day after that and so on. You must live with an infestation because nothing kills the fleas in their pupae cocoon until they hatch. That is why it is so important to pre-treat your home and yard in the early spring. Using an IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) will prevent re-infestation for 7 months.

There is a water-soluble boron called "disodium octoborate tetrahydrate" that is about as toxic as table salt and can be sprayed on the rugs. As long as you do not remove it with hot water extraction, it will work and last forever. It does not work toxically, but mechanically by abrading the flea’s exoskeleton and desiccating them (drying them up). It is a natural IGR.

After many years of study, I have come to the conclusion that a flea infestation is a condition of bad nutrition. We all give off pheromone scents that send a message to nature. A healthy animal will actually produce scents that repel, but a sick or dying animal will produce one that tells fleas to suck their blood until they die, and then they finish the job by helping nature biodegrade them back into the soil.

Take notice of your next infested pets. Are they healthy looking or just the opposite? Along with educating my customers on the causes and remedies for fleas, I also introduce an awareness of better nutrition.

I have asked vets for years why they do not educate their customers on flea control and many have told me, “We sell them yard and kennel spray, premise spray, and topicals but they just return in a few days after reading the warning labels, ask for their money back and just live in the infestation.”

It is a complicated subject, but for your own safety and the safety of your family, employees, and customers you can never learn enough about what you are using or recommending. Request and read the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) on any pesticide you use or recommend. Be careful and be safe.

Advertising Tip - PRINT MEDIA

Newspaper Ads Not Working
Dear SAGE - I'm trying to start up mobile. I'm in a new town, so I don't know lots of people. How long do you think it'll take before I find customers? I have taken cards and flyers to two vets, put flyers up at the library, the coffee shop, taken my trailer to grocery store parking lots and left it, and I have an ad in the paper to run 4 weeks and we're on week 2. I got a few calls before and then the last 3 weeks have been horrible. No calls. What should I be doing to get more business?

I signed up to be in the phone book but that won't go out until the end of the year.
Signed - Client-less

Dear Client-less: I have tried print ads, Yellow pages, and radio ads. In my opinion, they are a waste of money. Word of mouth is where most clients come from, but it takes time for the "word" to get around.

The only ads that ever work for our salon are television. Check out your local cable network. We recently paid $15.00 for 30 second spots on Animal Planet based on a regional purchase. We took the Furminator video and had a great commercial created. Just think how many spots you could get on TV as compared to a "one time" ad in the paper!

Advertising has to be on going, but who can afford it, so you have to get as much free publicity as possible by doing the legwork yourself. Do it full time (unless you have to groom).

A business person needs to be a salesperson. You need to sell yourself and your service. You need to sell your customer into making their next appointment. We all need "Repeat" customers.

Turn your customers into "Preferred Customers" by giving them a 10% discount for booking their next appointment when they pay for their groom. This idea came "From Problems to Profits" so get a copy.

You need to “Network.” Selling yourself - not grooming services - is your most important job right now. Go to civic meetings and introduce yourself. Churches, Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs, etc. Check out the newspaper and go to as many events as possible and park your truck there and mingle. Pass out your business card with a message on the back "10% Off to New Customers." (Of course increase your base price 10% first!)

You never stop selling until you are so booked that you have no more time to put into it. When I do a trade show, I do not just sit there and wait for someone to walk up to me and put money in my pocket. I get up and grab them out of the isle and show them my enthusiasm for my product. If I don't do it, then my sales manager does. We attract a crowd while other vendors are in their booths doing crossword puzzles!

It takes time to build a business. Remember your job now is to Sell Sell Sell. Your ability to hold on while building your business is what is most important. Hang in there and keep asking questions. Turn your gloom into groom by becoming a dynamic salesperson and get a plan you can work.

Chained for Life

Chained by the neck, they exist without respect, love, exercise, social interaction, and sometimes even basic nourishment. They live as prisoners, yet long to be pets. Yes, we are talking about pets and mainly dogs.

Chaining is not only inhumane for dogs, but has taken a severe toll on this nation’s children as well. In the period from October 2003 through June 2008, there were at least 214 children killed or seriously injured by chained dogs across the country. Chained dogs, unsocialized with humans, can become very territorial of their tiny space, and any two year old who wanders into this space can be attacked and killed before adults can intervene. A recent attack in Texas in March, 2007 left 2 year old Carolina Sotello dead from head and neck wounds. She was attacked and killed by an unneutered male dog chained in the backyard, next to an unspayed female with puppies.

Would you for one second choose to live the life of these dogs? No matter what reason is given, the bottom line is that it is NOT ok to chain a dog for life. Dogs should not have to live chained or penned as prisoners, yearning for a place in a family, craving acknowledgement, respect, and love. They DESERVE BETTER, and we as caretakers have the obligation to provide it for them.

Please consider today how you can help the dogs in your neighborhood. If you see a chained dog or a penned dog daily, it is time to take action.

And please visit our new web site - www.saveamericaspets.org - for more information on how you can be a part of the solution.

No-Show Policy

From No-Show/No-Call:
I have a customer who called for an appointment and now has too many no-show/no-calls on record. When I brought this to his attention, he told me that my receptionist must have made a mistake.

I told him that he will have to become a pre-pay customer and that it is nothing personal, just business. He very rudely informed me that he should not be penalized for my receptionist being so dumb. Now what?

Dear No-Show,
When you want to rent a car, or a hotel room, or an airline ticket, they make you guarantee or pay up front. It is a standard practice.We give our customers the benefit of the doubt, so they get one chance to no-show/no-call.

If they want to make an appointment after the first no-show, we explain our cancellation policy to them. All no-show/no-call clients are asked for a credit card to hold their next appointment. Appointments may be cancelled with a 24 hour notice or they will be charged for the missed appointment.

We not only mail them a reminder card one week prior, but also call the night before. Just knowing this, they call and reschedule or cancel as they do not want to be charged. I honestly can’t remember ever charging anyone because it works.

New Posts - Same Old Grooming Problems

Greetings! I am starting this blog to support my new site - SAGE Advice. It will feature questions from the pet grooming community and answers from the SAGE. Over the years, I have become a Salon and Grooming Expert - a SAGE. I would like to share my experience with pet groomers and stylists around the world. Here is a question I received about BITING.

Dear SAGE - The new groomer got a bad bite today!
I feel so sorry for her, she has only been working here for a week. We got this 15 year old husky mix in and the owner told us to shave her down. I was already doing a shave down on a big dog so I told the new groomer she could do this one. The owner handed the dog over and walked out without a word. The whole time she was grooming this dog it was snapping and complaining, I finaly told her to muzzle it and after that everything was fine.

The owners teen son shows to get the dog, the next thing I know the groomer is coming to the front with a towel wrapped around her hand asking for the owner to get the dog out of the cage. He goes back lets the dog out and leaves (as she is bleeding through the towel!) Not even a sorry. When she reached in to get the dog it bit her hand putting a canine tooth right through the tender part of her hand (between the thumb and index finger).

Dear Bitten - PLEASE REMEMBER - Dogs protect their den!

Sorry for the bite. We need to teach all our employees especially the new ones, "Bite Abatement". If we do not, we are asking for trouble.

I have also said that you have to work with the dog's natural instincts and never let your guard down. Reaching into a kennel is like reaching for a dog's food while they are eating. Dogs are den animals. In the wild they would dig a den and protect it with their lives. That is why they go under the bed or end table when it is storming out.

You can get some dogs into a kennel but try and get them out and they will bite, protecting their den (space). We see the whole demeanor of the dog change once they pass the threshhold of the kennel door. It is like night and day. I believe that this is called "Kennel Shy."

A lot of dogs are like this and I believe that it is worse during certain times of the year, like breeding season, the full moon. We hang a kennel lead outside the cage with a dog known to be "Kennel Shy" so we can pull them out without having to go in. We will also do this with any new client until we know they are ok to handle in the kennel.

Instinct is strong, work with it or it will bite you. Keep a rabies pole on hand. Bite gloves can be used for those first time clients.

Some tips include:

Never put your face within biting distance.

Let the owner hand off the lead so you may gain control before picking up the dog.

Hold the lead so you may pull the dogs muzzle away from your face.

Never "corner" a dog with it's owner. Have the owner lead the dog into the shop and hand it off instead of dragging the dog away from the owner.

Keep a kennel lead by each kennel so you may avoid beibg bitten when you try to pull the dog out.

If you are afraid of the dog get another to handle it. Chew some gum. They smell your fear in your breath!

Bites can be avoided with understanding and training. We put safety first with new employees. I have an employee who was a vet tech and went to pick up a dog from a customer. The dog jumped up and bit her on the lips, not badly, but she realized that being in a hurry is no excuse for bite awareness and incorrect handling.