CANINE GROOMER KEEPS DOGS CLASSY

Barbara Brock of Jackson is a professional dog groomer who owns Classy Canine Professional Dog Grooming. She does everything one associates with dog grooming -- cuts their hair, bathes them, cleans their ears and clips their nails.

What sets Brock apart from the pack is the fact that she makes house calls.

"I go to people's homes and groom their dogs," she says. "It's convenient for a lot of people. The elderly sometimes have problems getting out and working people benefit.

"People don't have to be rushing to get their pet to the groomers or rushing to get back to pick them up before they close."

Another benefit to home grooming, she says, is the grooming may be "less traumatic" on the dog in surroundings it is familiar with.

Not just everyone can groom dogs, though. Dog grooming isn't like being a beautician, Brock says. You don't have to have a license but some people do go to dog grooming training schools.

Brock began her dog grooming career by apprenticing in a shop in Illinois 21 years ago. That's a long time of dog hair and toenails. But she considers it paying her dues.

"I started out just washing dogs," she says. Then she began to use the clippers and eventually learned to cut. And there's more to cutting dog hair than one might think.

"There are different patterns you can put in their hair," she says. "Some poodles can look like they're really dressed. I make it look like they have a jacket and pants on."

She eventually got good enough to start her own business in 1991 in Fredericktown. But she's worked as a groomer in Scott City for a while, and then groomed out of a veterinarian's in Cape for three years.

So she's been a dog groomer most of her life.

"I like animals; I like pets -- they're like children," she says. "I like taking a dog that looks shabby and cleaning it up and giving it a little personality."

She says the dogs know they look better, too. "Some of the customers will say that their dogs will start to strut around after a good grooming."

It pleases Brock to see that her customers are satisfied since she tries her best to make the dogs look good.

"That's why I like the personal attention I can give. At a larger grooming shop, there are so many dogs that sometimes the easiest haircut is the one that's given and not the best."

She's groomed all kinds of dogs, but she's noticed certain breeds of dogs tend to pass through her clippers.

"I see a lot of poodles, schnauzers and cocker spaniels," she says. She doesn't see a lot of dogs that are shorter-haired.

"I don't see too many beagles," she says, chuckling.

But it's the house calls that sets her apart from other dog groomers.

"When I got to Jackson, I didn't have a shop. I got to thinking, the one way I could continue grooming was to offer going to people's homes."

She recommends that dogs are groomed every six to eight weeks, but most owners have their dogs groomed every two to three months.

There is a method to this madness, she says. She pretty much sticks to a procedure when she grooms.

"I go to their house and, depending on the situation, I give the dog a bath. Then, I blow dry it out and cut the hair."

She doesn't think it'd be the same as giving a human a hair cut, but she thinks there might be similarities.

"Different dogs have different hair textures, like humans. But I don't touch my husband's hair."

At times she has incorporated techniques she's seen her beautician use like to feather hair and to blend hair.

Then, she checks and cleans their ears. She trims toenails and if the owner wants their dogs to be flea dipped, she'll do it.

She prefers to stick to medium-size dogs, but she has done a Newfoundland, which is larger than a St. Bernard.

The most unusual dog she's groomed was a Bedlington terrier.

"Its hair was like cotton, like a sheep."

And, like most dog groomers, she has one "getting bitten" story. Luckily for her, she's only been bitten once.

"It was pretty unexpected," she said of the incident. "She was a good natured dog. But she had just had surgery not long before and she was a little touchy."

She says she enjoys dog grooming and it is very satisfying.

"Basically, I love to see a little dog that's kind of scruffy looking come out looking cute.

"I think it sort of brings out their personality."

She doesn't like it all, though.

"The one part I don't like is the fleas."

She sees an average of 30 to 35 dogs per month.

She says she misses the days when she had her own shop and hopes to have one again.

"I liked being there when a person would come -- it was nice."

She says she'll continue doing it as long as the service is valuable to the community.