Tail Talk Grooming Chronicles with Hound Therapy

Hound Therapy: Your Pet's Health, Happiness, and Haircuts

• Shannon & Tanya • Episode 1

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Meet the Hosts: Shannon And Tanya With Hound Therapy

Are you aware of the hidden health benefits that grooming offers to your furry friends? In the latest episode of Tail Talk Grooming Chronicles with Hound Therapy, co-hosts Shannon and Tanya share their passionate insights and experiences that highlight how grooming is so much more than just a luxury; it’s an integral aspect of a pet's well-being. From the importance of routine grooming in detecting health issues early to their hands-on methodologies that prioritize the comfort and happiness of pets, this episode is filled with valuable takeaways.

As they navigate through the challenges faced in the grooming industry, including the need for better education and practice standards, Shannon and Tanya provide a candid look at what sets Hound Therapy apart. Their philosophy of 'humanity over vanity' guides their approach, ensuring every pet receives the love and attention they deserve. With engaging stories and expert wisdom, they encourage pet owners to embrace grooming as a vital part of their pets' lives. 

Join the discussion on how you can enhance your pet’s health and happiness!

To learn more about Hound Therapy visit:
https://www.HoundTherapy.com
Hound Therapy
3509 E Park Blvd.
Plano, TX
469-367-0009

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Tail Talk Grooming Chronicles with Hound Therapy, the podcast where we talk all things pet grooming, daycare academy and more. Hosted by Shannon and Tanya of Hound Therapy serving pet owners across North Texas, we're here to share expert tips, hilarious pet stories and the inside scoop on keeping your furry friends happy and healthy. Our motto humanity over vanity. And don't worry, we don't bite. Let's get started. Who let the dogs out? Who let the dogs out?

Speaker 2:

Welcome everyone. I'm Sofia Yvette, co-host and producer, here in the studio with Shannon and Tanya. Shannon and Tanya, how's it going? It's great here. How are you? I'm doing great. So over the years, you've grown a remarkable following. However, some listeners may not be familiar with your whole journey. Let's take it from the top. Could you share a little background about your company and what you do? Absolutely, I'm Shannon. This is my daughter-in-law, tanya.

Speaker 2:

We didn't mean for this to be a family business when we started it, and it's turned out to be just exactly that. Everybody grooms, bathes, dries, office, support. We are all about a connection and working together, which has been really nice, and that started mostly because of COVID. We had some time to go on and I would say, first and foremost, we'd like to thank everybody for joining us. We really appreciate it. For us, our experience is about health and beauty and more about health, coat care, skin care for all of your pet's needs. People go to the vets maybe once a year, sometimes twice, for shots after they're six to nine months old. We see your pet every two, four and six weeks, so we are able to do some early detection. We have a hydration system here that really gets down to the skin, causing a whole lot less time for the dog to be on a table, so we're able to do everything in the tub that we need to do instead of a dog standing on a table. It helps a lot with the older dogs, the younger dogs, but we really focus from the skin out in a medical sort of way, without being docked, because we are by no means none of us here have done our 18 years of school up, because we are by no mean none of us here have done our 18 years of school. That said, we do recumbent air infections and new molds and growths that come up, kind of like your hairdresser would, if you come in and you're like, hey, your hair doesn't look as good or it's not looking as healthy as it did when you first came in.

Speaker 2:

So we have taken our focus and our idea and educating our clients by helping their dogs, and we feel like our clients are our family. We know them by name, we know their dogs by name, we know when they're having babies. So we educate them and look, it might be time to see a vet or you might need to come a little bit more often, or some tips and tricks that you do to take care of your dog. So we're really trying to have an all over. We really want a better solution for pet owners for our care of their animals. Vets are expensive, they're pricey and they're not really worried about the coat of your dog. I mean, I'm not saying that they're not worried about good food and things like that but we're working from the skin out. We're going to make sure your dog smells good, looks good and is healthy when it goes home. We do want to have a good haircut, but that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that your dog comes here and he's happy and when he drives up into the parking lot his tail is wagging because he knows he's getting ready to come in and visit us and see his friends. So that's kind of why we do what we do.

Speaker 2:

So, shannon and Tanya, when you're not busy running the business, what do you do for fun? Oh well, tanya's got twins yeah, twin babies which come to work. They come to work with me every day. They play in the pen with the dogs. We like to fish both of us, we're outdoorsmen Fish yeah, we like animals inside and out. We cruise, I cruise, I cruise. I've never been on a cruise. She's twin, so she's basically mommy All the time. Well, someday maybe you could take them on a cruise. Yes, that's the plan anyway, hopefully next year. That's a ton of stars, we'll see how many.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we know marketing is key to any business's success. How do you market your business? Most of our marketing has been really through word of mouth. We have some social media. I would say we can probably do better with our social media than we are. We've not really done any big promos. We love the podcast. We're super excited about this. We'd love for people to hear about what we do and how we can better help them impact their lives whether they've got allergies, sad dogs, aggressive dogs, old puppies, all of it but we haven't had a big platform really to do that with. Fortunately, we have a very good community and a good network and a very loyal clientele that really refers. We had referrals every week from other people that are here and we've got pretty good reviews on Google, so Google has helped for new people that have moved into the area. I have a couple of realtors that we deal with too, so if they've just moved in, we'll give them a flyer. Hey, here we are. We're not too far from a dog park either and adoption events. We're starting to do adoption events as well, which has been a lot of fun. We're gonna probably end up with a lot more pets.

Speaker 2:

So you're, shannon and tanya, you both are very busy people, as the book can may tell in your own words. Why are you doing this? So before we, this pet industry is unregulated. It's unregulated throughout the US, not just Texas, throughout everywhere. I also have a barber's license which took 1,500 hours. The state has given me a class that I have to take, hours that I have to complete. They test me every two years to make sure that I have cleanliness, I have good habits, that I know how to cut hair, how I know not to get diseases from one person to another.

Speaker 2:

The state requires that they do not require dog grooming employees or employers or owners to have any kind of education at all whatsoever. So if you can open up a book and say, hey, I'm a dog groomer and I've hired them, so they've been 10, 15 years in. I've hired from big box stores. I've hired little local And've been 10, 15 years in. I've hired from big box stores. I've hired little local and they don't know how to groom or they've been taught by somebody who didn't, and they've got bad habit being taught, bad habit after bad habit. That is a big, big problem.

Speaker 2:

People trust you with your pets or your family and they're handing over this animal and I can't tell you. I have a lady today that came in and you you know she's been coming here for a long time, but she found me because her dog was cut and I explained to them hey, things happen, we work with live animals. People make mistakes Happen, yeah, and I don't know anything about those groomers, but I do know that we've all made mistakes. That said, they were very traumatic and they can be usually avoided if you do things correctly, if you follow the book, if you know your breeds, if you have a very good foundation of what an ear infection looks like, what it smells like, if you can handle a bad dog and you're not afraid of that, if you have some really good conversation and open communication with the people that are coming in about. Hey look, I want to help you make your dog be more active in your family, you know. So, if you take them out, let me show you some training tips, things to work on at home. We really do go above and beyond because we really want those animals to be part of their family and they want that. They want to be able to take them out.

Speaker 2:

We're in a whole new age now where people your dogs go everywhere. It's very European and now it's very Texan. So it's coming this way and I love that kind of life. That's the kind of life that I live. My dog goes with me everywhere. She eats with us, she goes camping with us, she goes to the eye doctors with me. I mean, she's my dog and she's with me and there's never, ever been any question about nobody said me no kids allowed. She is my child. Now my kids are grown.

Speaker 2:

We started this for an education moment. We wanted to educate not only the people that are here that work for us students that come in, but the pet owners like how to better care for your dog and and provide the top level of care with giving them a nice clean, cut haircut as well. So that's really kind of a bonus. The best way I can describe it is if you drop your kid off at daycare, your baby's in daycare, and you're trusting and trusting those people with your child, and if they learn the ABCs, that's like a bonus, right? If they don't, and they're still happy when they leave and come. That's why I dropped them off right? We want them to be happy and safe, but if they can learn something and get something while they're here, that's the ultimate. Oh well, we love it. Shannon and Tanya, we'll catch you in the next episode. Have a fantastic rest of your day. Great Thank you. Fantastic Rest of your day, great Thank you.

Speaker 1:

That's a wrap for this episode of Tail Talk with Hound Therapy. Ready to book your pet's next groom daycare stay or grooming academy tour? Call us at 469-367-0009. That's 469-367-0009 to schedule an appointment, or visit us online at wwwhoundtherapycom. Serving North Texas with expert pet care. Until next time, keep those tails wagging.