The One Where It All Begins.

Hi, welcome. My name is Adrian and I own Rainy Day Grooming. Writing that I own a pet salon feels a little strange; I began my grooming career in October of 2009, and to open a new pet grooming salon 12 years later feels very surreal. I started my grooming path at PetSmart and was very fortunate to work with seasoned groomers who became friends and mentors. I can’t speak for all of PetSmart however, again I was so lucky to work in salons that focused on safety and compassion. I learned so much and would never ask to take that experience away.

The biggest drawbacks I experienced working in the corporate setting was the cookie cutter mentality for every pet and lack of continuing education. As many did during the lock-down stage of the pandemic, I reevaluated what was important to me and what I could offer in grooming.

So, I left PetSmart and I worked very briefly at two different local pet grooming companies neither of which were a good fit for me. The first was Comb and Collar which is a fabulous mobile grooming provider I highly recommend their services. The groomers, some I have known for years, are caring and very good at what they do. The second I will not mention by name because although they groomers are very sweet and good at what they do the working conditions are not what I would consider healthy.

After I left the second salon, I knew I didn’t want to go back to corporate grooming and mobile didn’t fit, I thought what do I do now? Then I remembered that a lifetime ago I earned a business degree. So why not take all that I had learned from these previous experiences and create a pet salon that doesn’t focus on getting dogs in and out but really address the issues we see in the grooming world, why not actually customize products and services to each pet?

I started with continuing education to update my skills and understanding, then I became Cat and Dog CPR certified and Fear Free certified learning about the importance of stress free grooming techniques. I decided that ongoing education was going to remain important not only for me but all of my team members. Now, here I am almost 9 months later, and I am the owner of Rainy Day Grooming. I have a fabulous team of Fear Free groomers and bathers supporting each other in becoming trusted members of the pet grooming community.

I am so excited about where this journey, and about all of the families and pets I will have the honor of knowing along the way.