Our Training
Because of their years of experience with many breeds of animals, Mike and
Mary decided that they would establish extremely high grooming standards as part
of the Mission Statement for Groom Waggin Mobile Pet Grooming. To meet this
commitment, Mike decided to seek the highest level of professional instruction.
As part of their search for the best grooming school to provide this training,
they visited several, and explored the credentials of over a dozen other, school
facilities.
Mike graduated from the Florida Institute of Animal Arts, which is located in
the Orlando, Florida area. FIAA was chosen because of it’s excellent course
material and because of the credentials of the school and instructors. In
addition, FIAA has nearly completed the two year process of becoming a fully
accredited institution, an achievement that will make it one of only 3
accredited grooming schools in the country. FIAA not only offers several levels
of grooming instruction, but they also offer a Veterinarian Technician class.
(For more information, log on to their web site via the link we’ve provided on
our "links" page.)
Mike enrolled in the Advanced Pet Grooming class, a 600 hour course of
instruction. This is still the most in depth course offered in pet grooming by
FIAA. The class was taught by Josie Fortier, who is a Nationally Certified
Master Groomer by the National Dog Grooming Association of America (NDGAA) with
over 20 years of experience.
The FIAA Advanced Pet Grooming class includes extensive written and hand’s
on work with all breeds of dogs and cats. The training focuses on all of the
current grooming techniques as they are updated by the NDGAA and the
International Society of Canine Cosmetologists (ISCC), as well as instruction in
canine CPR and animal diseases. Specialty techniques such as hand stripping and
carding are taught along with techniques to "create the illusion of the
perfect pet"… in other words using the finish scissoring of the coat to
make the pet appear to meet their specific breed standard. These techniques are
essential to creating the finest possible finished groom of the pet.
Mike’s happy to report that upon graduation he achieved the FIAA "Student
Achievement" award as well as the "Student Recognition"
award. To attain the Achievement award, a student must graduate with a 95% grade
point average in 10 quiz tests, a 100 question final exam, and 5 hand’s on
test dogs… Mike is proud to have graduated with a 98% overall grade point
average!
Continuing Education:
To meet our commitments made in our Mission Statement, we decided that it is
essential for continuing education to be mandatory for our company. Mike and
Mary attended the NDGAA convention in the fall 2000, attending seminars on the
latest techniques in cat and dog grooming. Seminars included topics such as:
creative cat grooming patterns, holistic and aromatherapy for pets, symmetry and
balance techniques, and more. For more information on the NDGAA and the ISCC,
please see our page of links to other interesting sites for the pet owner.
For More Information Contact:
Groom Waggin Mobile Pet Grooming
Davie, Florida
Tel: 954-474-PETS (7387)
FAX: 954-474-7387
Internet: GroomWaggin@aol.com
