Groom First, Color Second: A Warning to Pet Owners from Bullet
The grooming industry is unregulated, unpredictable, and unsafe in the wrong hands. Here’s the story no one else has the guts to tell you.
A Creative Warning for Pet Owners
Recent surveys show that most pet owners are afraid of taking their pets to a groomer. And you should be. This industry is unregulated and a complete free-for-all. The bar is low. No required education. No required continuing education. No oversight. Every year, hundreds of pets are injured in so-called “professional” grooming salons.
Today, I want to give you an example—an example that directly connects to the heavy-handed truth I shared in a previous blog. Creative grooming competitions are pushing boundaries in all the wrong ways. Groomers are shaving fur-bearing breeds like German Shepherds, Jack Russells, and Rottweilers for color placement. FOR RIBBONS. If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is.
A true professional's job is to protect skin and coat health, not sacrifice it for attention. Shaving fur-bearing dogs for creative purposes can lead to:
Post-Clipping Alopecia (source link below)
Folliculitis and Furunculosis (source link below)
Black Skin Disease or Alopecia X (source link below)
It also compromises your pet’s ability to thermoregulate—something that rarely gets talked about but has real effects on your animal's health.
Let’s Talk Dye: The Deadliest Product in the Salon
Coloring products, whether human or labeled "pet-safe," are the most dangerous items used in any salon—especially in untrained hands. You deserve transparency, not filtered Instagram stories.
Here’s a real story. And it's ugly:
A Persian cat was loaned to a creative groomer for a grooming show. She was supposed to be a "demo groomer," a professional. Instead, she proved exactly why this industry is in crisis.
Direct Quotes Used With Owners Permission.
The cat was partially dyed that morning and then almost fully dyed on the day of the show. During the groom, the cat collapsed. The owner stepped in and stopped it.
Later, the cat began having partial seizures known as “chasing episodes.” When the owner contacted the groomer, she was called a hypochondriac. The groomer blamed everything except herself:
The dye
All the hairspray from other competitors
Hypoglycemia
Cleaning products used by maids
But what she never did was take responsibility.
The cat ended up in an emergency vet hospital, placed on oxygen, treated for seizures, and put on medication. He was lucky. After six months, he recovered. But he never should’ve been put in that position.
This groomer—who failed to understand feline skin and coat science, couldn't identify the product ingredients, and admitted panic—TEACHES other groomers how to use color.
Let that sink in.
This is why I fight for regulation. Why I built a 14-week Master Professional Creative Groomer Certification for advanced groomers that covers:
Canine/Feline skin and coat science
Product categorization
Safe coloring practices
Because I believe you don’t play with pets for the sake of "pretty."
You Are Their Voice. Use It.
Pet owners: ask better questions. Don’t assume a groomer knows what they’re doing. Ask about education. Certification. Product safety. And if they get offended? Walk away.
Never let someone dye your pet unless they are a Master Certified Creative Groomer (MCGE) through a credentialed program. Not a weekend workshop. Not a demo class. Not a tradeshow pop-up.
If your gut says no, listen. Because when groomers get it wrong, your pet pays the price.
Real Sources for Real Pet Parents
This is Bullet. I’m not here to sugarcoat. I’m here to call this industry out because someone has to. And if you don’t like it? That’s your problem, not mine.