GroomPod 471 Groomer to Groomer January 2026 plus Science Bombs and Spare Tires

February 16, 2026

Susy Groom had listeners clear your calendars for March twelfth. The legendary shows his

intent. Sale is back in Tucker, Georgia, and it's bigger than ever. We're talking free door prizes

for everyone, massive raffles from you to me and groomers, mall and a chance to win a canine

dryer from Electric Cleaner Co. Learn from the best with live demos by award winning masters

Nathan and Katie Austin. Plus enjoy free shipping on all shows. Season brand orders placed at

the event. Coffee and lunch are on the house, but you must RSVP for a ticket. Head to Shows

and Grooming dot com right now to register for free. See you at the tent!

Susy Hello, groomers. You found the groom pod. Welcome to our virtual salon. My name is

Susy and I'm your host. I'm a mobile groomer from Seattle, Washington, and anybody who

knows me will tell you I love to talk, especially about my job. And one of my favorite people to

talk to is my friend and mentor and the co-star of the show, the curator of ingredients, Miss

Barbara Bird.

Barbara Hey, Susy. So glad to be with you again. It seems like it's been months.

Susy It has seemed like it's been months, but, you know, happy Super Bowl day. The

Seahawks are in the Super Bowl. I'm wearing my lucky shirt. I hope it's my lucky shirt. Yeah.

Haha.

Barbara I'm all ready to watch Bad Bunny. I found out that I can watch the Super Bowl on

Peacock. Yes, I'm already on Peacock watching the Olympics, so that's perfect. I know I've got

a subscription and I'm just all excited about this game. I'm hoping that Seattle takes care of

business this time.

Susy Oh, it's the entire city is going nuts. We'll have fireworks in the neighborhood. Everybody

around here is having parties except us. I'll just be watching on my phone while I'm working in

the barn. But it's all good. It's very exciting. And welcome to episode four hundred seventy one

of the pod. It is February eighth and we are having an exciting show today. We're going to talk

about the January Grooming or Groomer episode because we're behind and Barbara has a

science bomb she's going to drop on us, which is pretty exciting. So all of this excitement is

made possible by our sponsors. Best shot show season precision sharp grew more in stores,

and if you guys want to be a supporter too, you can do so at our website where you'll find the

donation button. Or you can join us on Patreon. But whatever you do, be sure to tell your

friends to listen to the show. What's new this week is brought to you by GrooMore software.

Susy Is your mobile.

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Susy Okay, guys, obviously Barbara just noticed I'm having way too much fun making these

songs for our sponsors. So as a result, the sponsor ads are a little bit longer, but I'm just

having the best time, so I'm gonna keep putting the songs together. It's so much fun. So,

Barbara, I've got exciting search news. Exciting search news.

Barbara So search news. All right.

Susy Yes, it appears that AI is developing constantly, as we know. I mean, that's just the way

it's going to be, but they are now beginning to be able to search some of our old episodes,

because I did a search and it's now starting to pull out audio and listen to audio and analyze

that. So you can go back to attempting to search for things on Google a little bit. I mean, it's not

perfect, but I was able to do a couple searches. But I also found that if you go to the Green

Pod discussion group, I've posted almost every single episode on the groom pod when they

come out. That entire catalogue is searchable on that website. So if you go to the groom

podcast discussion group at facebook.com slash pod, and you search in the search box for

that group exclusively, all kinds of stuff pops up that doesn't pop up on Google. So just a little,

little bit of a tip. I'm pretty happy that I've found those two ways, even though I'm just going to

continue to do it the way that AI finds us the easiest, which is by downloading a transcript. So if

you ever wanted to just read the show instead of listen to it, you can do so at the blogspot on

our website. So it's up under the menu. So go to the groom comm, pull the menu down and

look for the blog. And you can find every episode transcript for the last four months on there.

So that's cool. Now we have definitely been on hiatus because I had a vacation and Barbara

got a new body part. So how's that going, Barbara?

Barbara Yeah, I got a new knee. Um, I think it's been like ten or so years ago. I got my right

knee replaced. And lately I just, like, been been crippled by my left knee. And so, with the help

of the people around me, I made the jump and got the left knee replaced. And, uh, boy, it was

a good surgery. I mean, if there is such a thing as a good surgery. This was it. They had a

group meeting called, you know, joint camp, joint camp a week before your surgery, and you

go and you learn all about what's going to happen and how you have to clean the wound. Oh,

yeah. They made me use a ton of chlorhexidine and dial soap, which I hate, hate, hate. And

anyway, I was supposed to do it about four or five times, and I did it once. But I did it the

morning of the surgery. Now I'm just a little less fearful of bugs than most people. Me and you.

That's something that we have in common, is that I really don't think we need to be quite as

afraid and meticulous about it. I don't yeah, I don't I don't want to remove all the bacteria from

the planet. Excuse me. I don't want to remove it all from my shop. Uh, I just don't want to have

a surplus. And, um. That's how it is.

Susy I think it's so important to let our immune system fight off some of this stuff and get

stronger and figure out what it is. I think it's a big mistake to take over the job of your immune

system. And I think that's why we have peanut allergies and seafood allergies and all this kind

of stuff, I don't know, but I know that my immune system is strong and powerful. Although

anybody who watches my personal Facebook page knows that I was at Disneyland and Knott's

Berry Farm and California Adventure this last week, and there was somebody running around

with the measles. I'm vaccinated for that, so I wasn't too worried about that. But they were all

over Disneyland in the same spots that we were. But I always seem to come home with a

crappy snotty nose from the airplane. So I did have a snotty nose last week and Barbara

wasn't feeling one hundred percent. So we started out to record, but it just didn't really happen

and then didn't work. Then the day after, I lost my voice, so there was no going back from that.

But obviously I'm sounding good and strong now. I still have a little bit of a cough occasionally,

but for the most part I'm all healed up thanks to my mighty immune system, so I feel good

about that.

Barbara Yeah, I'm doing real well too, and it's largely because I engaged in a three week

physical therapy before the surgery. So I got both my knees all tuned up and ready to go. And

it made a big difference in my recovery. In fact, last Friday when I was at PT, both therapists,

they have a team. Both therapists, told me that I was at the top of all patients for speed of

recovery.

Susy Oh that's fantastic.

Barbara Yeah, yeah. You know, and the and my incision looks good. My skin is healthy and

strong, and it's just cool. I'm just way ahead of my age group, and I. That is where I want to be.

Because when I feel my age, it sucks.

Susy So anybody who's going to go to groomed, the plan is that Barbara is going to go to

groomed. Yeah.

Barbara I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it and I'm going to have a scooter that's kind of a

backup. And, you know, like just to stretch out my endurance on the floor. Um, I'm going to

have a scooter so that I can, like, really zip around. So I'm, I'm real excited. Look for the pink

hair. And, uh, by all means, come up and say hi to me. If you see me, just shout at me and I'll

way back or come over and just talk. I like that.

Susy A personal tip is that Barbara's really fun to hang out with, and if you just follow that

scooter around, you will have a fantastic time at groomed. I can promise you that. She might

even get up and do a celebration dance. You never know.

Barbara Oh, you never know.

Susy It's pretty cool.

Barbara One of my main goals for having my knee done was so that I can dance again. That's

kind of a little more than you need to know. Personal information. But not being able to dance

was very depressing to me because that is all. Dancing has always been a physical expression

of self. It's always who I've been, you know? And it's not that I have the greatest moves, it's

just that I have the greatest motivation to move to the music.

Susy Absolutely.

Barbara I'm just like, so excited. I'm excited about the Super Bowl tonight because I might

even be able to dance to Bad Bunny.

Susy Yeah.

Barbara I'm excited about tonight because it might be my. I'm going to be all by myself, my

little dogs. And we'll just. I've got the floor. I've got the rug taken up so that I would have clear

little area that I can move around in if I want to.

Susy Good, I like it. That sounds perfect. Well, adventures in mobile grooming are. Barbara

didn't make a face she must not be anticipating. Okay, Barbara, I'm glad you're sitting down.

Barbara Okay.

Susy I had a blowout yesterday.

Barbara A tire blowout. Yeah. Oh, fuck. Oh, no.

Susy You know what? I've had so many of them. I'm no longer afraid of trailer tire blowouts.

They make the rims so crappy now that if you hit a pothole, it just wrecks your rim and then

your tire blows. I mean, basically, that's what happened. But I had a limited lifespan left on this

tire. Anyway, on my tires, you know, it was I probably had another four months, five months,

and I would have had to replace that tire anyway. But I was driving down alongside Lake

Stevens and I must have hit a pothole that I didn't see. And I'm continued on like I always look

back there and I didn't see anything unusual. Well, by the time I pulled up in to the house

driveway and blocked their driveway, the rest of my tire leaked all the air out. So there I was at

the house for my first groom to Australian Shepherds, one of them which is the size of a

freaking elephant. He did not start out this big. I don't know how the poor mom delivered this

dog. Um, it it's just huge. He's probably three and a half or four now, and I bet he weighs one

hundred and ten pounds and he's height. Weight proportionate.

Barbara For heaven's sake.

Susy I don't know what happened. He must have the giant gene. It's very weird. But anyway, I

was there. I wanted to get the dogs done. So I did the dogs on my flat tire in the driveway,

blocking them out of their parking spot. But that was fine. And as I was grooming, I started to

plan on how I was going to deal with this tire and it was just dumping buckets of rain, but it was

kind of warm and I thought, I'm only sixty four. I should change this tire myself. So I called my

husband and I said, I've got to blow out. I'm going to handle it. And I know and you guys, if you

don't know this, I turn incredibly sexy when I fix my own problems. Doesn't matter how old I

am, I become darn hot. So I finished the dog. I borrowed a jack. Her father in law her know.

What is it? Her stepdad came over and brought a jack and a couple tools for me so that I could

do it. And I pulled that tire off, rolled it up, put it in the back of my truck, disconnected my trailer,

drove to Les Schwab, had a hamburger for lunch. They put a new tire on a new rim for me. I

grabbed it, I went back and I started to jack my trailer jacked up so that I could change the tire.

I kid you not, twenty cars went by me. Not one human being rolled their window down and

said, do you need help? Are you okay? Nobody. I did not need help. I didn't look like I needed

help, but I had to move out of the road every time a car went past. You would think one human

being, one single person would have asked if I was okay. So, friends, listeners, please take a

moment to care about your fellow humans. I was perfectly capable of changing that tire. That's

why I did it. But if I drove by a person in their sixties who was bent over pulling a tire off or

putting one back on a trailer, trailers much easier than the truck, I still would have asked if they

were okay or needed help. I was so surprised. And I was in a neighborhood where people live.

I wasn't like in the middle of downtown or anything. I don't get it. I don't get why nobody

stopped to ask. But I do want to also mention if you're pulling a trailer, please make sure you

know how to change a tire on your own without help. As a matter of fact, the Gen Zer whose

house I was at had never changed a tire. So I pulled her out of her house and I said, come

here, I'm going to tell you how to change a tire. And she watched me and learned how to

change the tire yesterday. But these are things that if you have a car, you should probably

really be able to know the basics of how to pull a tire and how to put another one on. But oh,

I'm so powerful. I'm such a badass. I can't believe I did it. At sixty four years old, I pulled that

tire, I got it replaced, and I put it back on. And I'm very proud of myself.

Barbara Let me tell you a little story about about another person who had a flat tire. This was

the Hanby family and I, which I am now one of happy family went out our like monthly go out

night and there was this guy singing on stage and he and he was, uh, in his fifties, I would say.

And he played guitar and he sang with a very heavy southern accent. It was a little bit

annoying. It was so heavy. But anyway, it's not my genre. But he had a very sparkling

personality and he was very engaging, and he was kind of all stressed out when he came into

the club because he was late for the gig, and he told a story about the night before he had

been driving out in the country where there was no body, no body, and he had a blowout, and

he went to change his changes tire and he couldn't move the nuts. It had been so long at this

vehicle had been maintained, and he said it was just one of the most devastating moments

that he ever had. And I thought, well, what a great guy to share his shame publicly like that. I

automatically kind of liked him. In fact, I got some bills out of my wallet and I sent him up to his

jar. You know, I said, take these up to that guy. And we waved and and I just felt like so bad for

a man to not be able to change his tire. And then we hear the story about how Susie, at sixty

something already, can just no deal, fix her tire. And yours too.

Susy Now I'm proud.

Barbara I want to travel with you, girl.

Susy Oh. Thank you.

Barbara Yeah. I want to travel with you.

Susy Oh, yeah. I'm perfectly capable of handling whatever this world sends at me. I'll just deal

with it. You know, I did come home feeling pretty good. I'm not even sore. I thought I might

have tweaked my shoulder, but it's fine this morning. So I did it, and I feel accomplished. I

actually feel like I got a high from taking care of my own business, and it was nice not to

mention that whole sexy to the husband thing. That's pretty good too. I won't argue with that.

That's all right. Yeah, I know you guys have been waiting on bated breath for us to discuss this

issue of groomer to groomer. So let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. Let me tell you

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best shot in your tub made from the best stuff on Earth. Ready groomers. Here comes our first

appointment. So it's been a few weeks since I looked at this issue of groomer to groomer, but I

did make some good notes. And first I want to mention that I don't know if you saw it, but did

you see all the included references at the bottom of the articles now?

Barbara Yeah, it's. Yeah, I started something, didn't I?

Susy You did. I'm wondering who heard it.

Barbara I'm so happy to see actual references. But beware, because I might check up and see

if they match with what they're claiming to support, because I. I'm a stickler about that. I'm a

bitch. Let's face it.

Susy Barbara, are. You're not so bad. You just like things to be as they should be.

Barbara I'm a science bitch, I own it, I own it.

Susy I agree you do own it.

Barbara But I'm a good witch.

Susy Oh, for sure. I don't think there's any question in that. Oh, also, I want to mention that we

won't be talking about Dave stuff because we talked about Dave stuff for a whole episode of

the Groom Pod. So if you want to know about Dave's articles, just listen back a couple

episodes and you'll hear that. So doctor Cliff, who always gets an up front feature.

Barbara Yeah. Doesn't he? He always gets the first or second article.

Susy Yes. And after listening to Dave, I didn't realize that they actually get a topic theme to

write to. And that's kind of how they weave everything together a little bit. So this time it was

old dogs new tricks for doctor Cliff. And I actually liked the idea of this article pretty much. I

especially liked how he mentioned that it's important to like, renew your information and all

that, which is, of course, what the groom is all about. What he did is he mentioned that you

should especially look at how your mentors continue to learn. And my mentor is on this

podcast and she's constantly changing her opinion and learning and growing. And I think that's

so very important. And if your mentors, your personal choice. Mentors are not doing that. Seek

out some new ones. Get out there and listen to the new people talking. You may not agree with

everything they say, and you may not agree with everything anyone says, but there's always

something to learn from every single person. Barbara shaking over there like they're having an

earthquake.

Barbara I know I just bumped into the wall.

Susy So I thought that was an important point, that you should definitely review your own

mentors, see if they're learning and changing.

Barbara I like that he he kind of pointed out the fact that some of our well-known speakers and

influencers and skaters are not on the cutting edge of what is known in scientifically or not

known. And the real science minded person maintains a skeptical aura. You know, like when

you listen, you you listen and you seek it, but be ready to question it. And if your mentors can't

answer or just get defensive, as some people do, you might want to search out someone else.

And furthermore, the more voices you hear saying something, the more of the something

you're likely to actually digest and make your own. That sometimes educators say you need to

repeat yourself three times, that people need to hear something three times before they learn

it. Well, sometimes it's even more depending on the context of those three things. You may

hear something from somebody else that suddenly the light bulb, you know, he'd say, oh, I get

it.

Susy Absolutely.

Barbara Because someone kind of led you in there in a different way.

Susy Today, changes are happening rapidly. The evolution of AI and just development in our

own industries, products and techniques make it very important to get out there. Now, the

beautiful thing about today is you can actually use things like YouTube and social media to

keep in touch with things that are changing, things that are new. Also a thousand different

voices. Like Barbara says, not all of them are one hundred percent right. There's always

something to get out of every single thing you watch, whether it's how to be, how not to be,

how you want to model your business, what things you'd like to learn. I think it's such a

amazing time we're living in that. We have that stuff right at our fingertips. So good on you,

doctor. Cliff, I think that's the first article I really enjoyed reading from him. So then the pictures

from fun in the sun. I think Lindsay's Bichon is a ham. I think that dogs knows how to pose. I

think it loves being in the pictures, and every doggone picture of that dog is spectacular. I know

her grooming is great, but I see that dog's personality. Every time I look at a picture from that

dog. Don't you love it?

Barbara I do, and I. I so miss owning a bouchon because it's a great little breed. It is very, very

willing. And they don't bark as much as Maltese.

Speaker 5 Yeah, I got the barking ones.

Susy So once again, the picture section is just spectacular. I learn a ton from looking at those

dogs one after another. The beautiful grooms on them and the smiling faces behind the dogs.

It just brings me great pride to look at that stuff. I liked to look at the fun styles in the salon

freestyle class. They have some asymmetrical designs in this one and I thought they were

pretty cool, so I looked at that. It's also good to see the beginners out there in their first

competitions. I am less and less enjoying creative.

Speaker 5 Yeah.

Barbara Me too.

Susy It's so beyond anything that's pleasant to look at anymore. It's like a storyboard that you

put up when you're going to work on it on something. It's got all these bits and pieces,

sometimes cohesive, sometimes not so cohesive, but very busy. I like to see more classical

type grooming involved in that. Not so much sculpting. The sculpting is great. Fantastic. Bring

them in, have them sculpt up dogs and feature them. But let's make creative more about

grooming and not as much about color and design.

Barbara More. artistic, more creative.

Susy That's what I mean.

Barbara I always enjoyed the turning the dog into a camel. Kind of creative. I agree with you.

They're getting too busy and repetitive. Even though if you look closely at the detailing, it's not

the same, but it is in the same genre, the same bag. Come on. I'm tired of looking at faces on

dogs.

Susy Yes, I think you're right. I think that the idea of turning a dog into another item is more fun

to look at and to interact with, and to have a show where you're doing a little skit with

something that you've turned into something else, rather than a comic strip type design. Which

one side has three characters on it? You flip the dog over, there's three other characters on it.

It's a cohesive theme, but it's not as fun as turning your miniature dog into a panda bear that

looks like a panda bear and no longer looks like a dog. I like that, and I miss that.

Barbara Do you remember the Bumblebee Dog and Atlanta Pet Fair?

Susy The one that made us both cry.

Barbara Oh, it made us both cry. I wept. That was so cute. And we met the dog in the elevator

a couple of days before the competition. So there had been some bleaching going on, so we

knew kind of what was going. And when they the last step in their creative creation was to put

the wings on the, on the dog. And this was like a miniature poodle, small miniature poodle,

mini toy miniature. And they put the wings on the bumblebee and Suzy and I just lost it. We

just wept. It's so beautiful.

Susy I wouldn't have been surprised if that bumblebee took flight. It looked so fantastic.

Barbara Oh, it looks so fantastic. It was so darn cute. It was so well done. And it was a

bumblebee.

Susy Another one of my favorite ones was Sandy Blackburn with the Clydesdales and the

wagon and the kids. That's fun. Creative. There was an interaction. It definitely turned the dogs

into something unrecognizable as dogs. I love that, and I miss that I want more.

Barbara Yeah. And then there was the three legged dog that she turned into, the wounded

warrior veteran with a uniform and all of that. Oh, my God tastic.

Susy That was very moving. And then we have to, like, pay homage to our friend Don Amboy

and her dragon. Her dragon was spectacular. But not only the dragon, the set, the castle, her

outfit, the whole thing was just a production. I like a production. I miss that they aren't doing the

productions anymore.

Barbara I like a production too.

Susy Yeah, okay, let's move on to the Gen Z article. When you were grooming, did you do a lot

of Gen Z pets?

Barbara Well, I don't know, but I, I have a problem with characterizing humans in two groups

based on age, sex, sexual interest, religion, diet. Come on, why don't you. Why don't you

interview clients who are vegan. It's like that, right?

Susy Right. Exactly. Yeah.

Barbara Marketing to vegan, but marketing to vegan pet owners? Well, yeah. You know,

they're all pet owners. Let's find the commonality, not the differences. And I think that staying in

tune with the times is going to help you take care of whatever kinds of customers come in. But

I just don't like to stereotype groups of people like millennials. I know people who refer to

millennials, like there's some this rotten batch of humans that exist among us.

Susy I would agree completely because we're all so different. But I will say the people who

grow up in the generational group sometimes have different learning styles, and in this case,

computers change the way people learn. So I think, can you tell me if you think this is true? I

think that we are attracted to doing business with people of your own generation. So I don't

have a lot of Gen Z. Most of the Gen Z that I do, I'm related to. It's my nieces and my nephews

and children of clients that I've had for years and things like that. But I am more comfortable

going to a dentist or a doctor that is closer to my age group. Now that's all changing because

they've all aged out and retired. Get ready for that guys. When you get older, all of a sudden

you lose your dentist. You lose your doctor because they age out because they were just

slightly older than you. So now I'm going for slightly younger than me, and I've got some good

service providers, but I mostly deal with because I'm mobile older people or people who are

raising their kids. Those are kind of the eight, the groups that I end up with. And so I just don't

have a ton of experience with the younger generations. What do you think about that?

Barbara Yeah, I can I see what you mean. And and I think it's a good article. I mean, it's not

bad to do that. You have to watch yourself, that you don't make assumptions about people

based on their age group or what generation they are, because they could be a one off.

Susy Yes. Like you or I definitely.

Barbara Like you or I. Right? So if you want to, you want to give room for yourself to be in

there. You might not stereotype, just catch yourself. For me, maturing and developing and

aging gracefully is all about not making assumptions about people. It's all about taking people

as they are.

Susy Now that I'm getting to a certain age and I have no children. Yes, a women of a certain

age. I have no kids. So I am encouraged to, by my own volition, find younger friends like I have

a bunch of younger friends that are going to be there and still active when I become old,

because I'm not there yet. But when I do and I can't change my own tire and I need some

backup for things, I've got a bunch of younger generational friends, not so much clients, but I

do try to cultivate that. So as you're aging, here's a little tip make some younger friends and

keep them forever because they're great. All right. Now, the article I am most excited about in

this whole issue is Pause and Profits for the twenty twenty five Tax Guide by Jason Friedman,

the CPA. Finally, an actual business article. I know it's not what everybody wants to read.

Barbara Oh, yeah? You know what? I didn't read it, I knew it.

Susy I knew it.

Barbara Hey, see how I am. See, I didn't forget this. Didn't even read it because I don't want to

go there.

Susy Right. Well, I'm constantly seeing people asking when they're starting their businesses

and they're on these grooming help groups, you know, what do I need to count? How do I do

my taxes? And this is just a very basic guide in what you need to keep track of. I thought I

thought Jason did a great job. I was thrilled, I was happy. I know it's not fun reading and it

certainly isn't great pictures, but it's really helpful.

Barbara Now that's important. That kind of keeps the whole issue from being a nothingburger.

And of course, I like Dave Campanella's defense of silicones.

Susy Of course.

Barbara Even though I think he's in something of denial yet about the skin microbiome. But

he'll come along. Yep. You know that skin microbiome that's a little bit challenging to traditional

shampoo manufacturers. It's challenging to market against that. And he that's what he's doing.

He's trying to market against the microbiome like it's just an advertising trend. But it's really

some serious business that's emerging more and more as more and more important as they

begin to investigate and learn about just what the microbiome does. I'm doing a whole new

study of my own into all of that. I mean, I am just like so into keeping my information fresh.

Susy Speaking of that, if you listen to episode four hundred seventy, you'll learn all about

Xymox in which is very conscious of the skin biome and what's going on, and really does honor

that. Uh, shampoo company does honor that. So yeah. Xymox how's the xymox thing going

with the dogs?

Barbara It's going good. It's working. It's helping. It's helping all of us. So I think in case you

didn't hear my summing it up, in my opinion, Xymox is the medicated shampoo to have.

Period. You can start there. Here again, the more holistic, the more kinder, gentler way to

approach the grooming is not to nuke every dog because it has a skin issue. I'm just going to

like, kill all the shit on the dog and get rid of all the bugs. Well, then there's not a balance

anymore. And you're killing the good guys. It's a little bit hard to get in the notion of the

beneficial bacteria, but there are bacteria that are beneficial, and they form an important part of

the skin barrier system. And the more that we recognize that and we stop, just like nuking the

biome in order to kill some stranger, you you may end up there. I'm not saying it's never going

to happen, but you don't need to start out there. So the idea of doing a chlorhexidine shampoo

on every dog, just in case it has a skin problem. Uh.

Susy I've got the best shot med, but I, I haven't used it in so long, It's probably getting out of

date because I also like the kinder, gentler method to treating things. And I also wait until the

vet hands me something through the owner to use before I start doing any diagnostics myself

and deciding that I know better. I just want a clean dog with a healthy biome and let the

medical people deal with the medical things. That's kind of the way I'm working it. So then

there was an article about owner education. And, you know, we've kind of talked about that a

little bit over the past few months. So I think, you know how we feel about that. In my case, my

clients hire me to do the maintenance. I'm a low maintenance kind of groomer, so I don't really

have to deal a lot with having discussions about them maintaining the coats at home. I don't

think they do a great job anyway, and I certainly don't want to rely on them. I would much

prefer to rely on me, just like changing that tire. So I will do a haircut that I can manage and

that I can keep them managed at home during the in-between. Jennifer Bishop Jenkins wrote

the history of groomer to groomer, and I thought that was pretty cool, right?

Barbara Yeah, it was really an homage to Sally and and Gwen, and I thought that was very

nice of her. Apropos. And we need to be reminded of our forebearers the people who started it

all. Yeah. Because without without those women, we wouldn't even have a groomer to groomer

magazine. We'd have no journal.

Susy And we'd probably only have a couple trade shows, if any at all. So I am very

appreciative of Sally and Gwen. I loved hanging out with them. It was fun to watch them work

in the shows. I do miss them not seeing them on the floor. And then there was. The Westie

groom.

Barbara Oh, yeah. I have to say, I didn't like it. I usually am very accepting of the pet modified

grooms that they do in groomer to groomer, and I think that's a good thing to do. But this

Westie grooming, I just thought it was a little bit away from the breed profile. It's a skirted

breed. You don't need to have more than an inch of skirt. You can have a teeny little fringe, but

you want to have that movement when the dog moves. I just wouldn't call it a Westie trim if I

didn't have certain features in there, including the idea of a skirt.

Susy Also, the owner had requested no tipped ears. I'm not sure why you would request that

since it's not a huge thing, but boy, it makes the head look like a Westie.

Barbara Yeah, yeah, well, you know why? Because otherwise you're trying to round that head

all the way up to the top of the ears, and you're getting a real egghead. But if you tip the ears

and how much you take off the ears really should depend on how much ear they have. So that

you can make a circle out of the hair, standing on top of the head and the whole rest of the

frame of the face. Um, a circle, not an egg.

Susy What you're talking about of as the reflection of the actual breed cut. It's like when

people do a cocker spaniel and take off the little crown on the front. The little poof that's up

there. There should always be something up there. I think a little bit of texture and they just go

whack and it's gone.

Barbara And sometimes it's the owner. I had an owner was a man, had a really beautiful little

black cocker, and she could groom up real nice and I would do a nice head on her. And he

thought she looked like a rooster, because their eyes just don't see it the way that your eyes

are. You just gotta get. Just gotta get rid of that rooster shit. Barb. Okay, I got it.

Susy And I. And I honor my owners. I honor what they ask for. Like, I have that most

spectacular, beautiful Bishan puppy, Jojo, that my people just got. The buddy replacement dog.

They want me to take the feet short.

Barbara The feet short.

Susy Because the backyard is mud and she's a tomboy. She is out there rolling with the big

dogs, and she just comes in filthy, dirty, and we're trying to keep a pretty decent show cut on

her. And then she's like, you know, I can't take the feed anymore. Just take the feet short. And

I was so disappointed because I'm really trying to work on that. My foot to leg connection and

yeah, now whatever. Anyway, I love her and I love the dog. And so the dog has short feet now.

Alas.

Barbara Yeah. Alas. But it can grow back.

Susy And I work for her. I work for her, and I work for the dog. I'm not the one who's living with

that dog. So she gets to pick. Even as hard as it is every three weeks when I take those feet

off. Anyway, enough of this stuff. Barbara has a science bomb, so we're going to take another

quick break. We'll be right back and we'll hear what it is. I'm super stoked for this one.

Speaker 6 From the straight and the curve to the bend and the the trunk. If your shears aren't

precise, then your finish is bonked. The bobcat is smooth and the lynx isn't beast. Give your

tired hands a holiday or a permanent feast. Slide the thumb ring forward. Slide it way back with

precision. Sharp tack. There's nothing you lack. Lightweight design means no more hand pain.

Just a flawless coat and a whole lot of gas for the engine. Stay sharp. And the fit. That is true.

Precision sharp has the perfect pair for you. Shop the lynx and bobcat at Precision Sharpen.

Com.

Susy Groomers, take your seats. It's time for b birds. Classroom.

Barbara Boy, you just snatched my job away from me.

Susy It is way too fun. Barbara, I know you wanted to write those ads, but it was so exciting for

me to make the songs and but I'm going to mix them in. So you write the ads and I'll mix yours

in there.

Barbara Oh, that's that's okay. I'm going to come up with some videos.

Susy That's perfect. Work on that. I'll work on this.

Barbara And we'll have both.

Susy Here, let me give you a fanfare so that we can announce your science bomb.

Barbara Oh, that was my cue.

Susy That was yours? Yes. That was your fanfare.

Barbara Oh.

Susy That's all right.

Barbara Okay, so what is a science bomb, you might wonder?

Susy Barbara, what.

Barbara Is a.

Susy Science bomb?

Barbara So a science bomb is. I made it up so I can define it right. A science bomb is

scientifically established information that shakes up what you thought you knew or what you

believed in. So we have been told since the get go that the shampoo for the dog needed to be

bound to the dog's skin, right?

Susy Yes, we've heard it a thousand times.

Barbara So here is a finding in a recent study. So I, like I say I am relearning, I am freshening

up all of my knowledge about skin and coat and making sure that I know of any studies, you

know, like twenty twenty or later recent, I would call them any study that's within five years can

be called a recent study. This is a recent study twenty twenty one. And they are finding

conclusion was any skin cleansing product by virtue of its being the same as that of the skin,

does not guarantee that it will be good for the skin. Isn't that something of a of a bomb?

Susy That is.

Barbara The mildness of a cleanser will be determined by the interaction of its surfactants and

other ingredients with the stratum corneum under its formulated pH conditions.

Susy So the whole pH thing is BS.

Barbara Not. Exactly. BS.

Susy But less important.

Barbara It's. It's less important.

Susy Okay.

Barbara Formulators have kind of known this for a long time, because I think I've told you that

often the final piece has to do more with the formulation and all the ingredients being happy

than it does with any goal, like the skin of the subjects. So this is just more affirmation of that

kind of thinking. Only they really did study a bunch of shampoos to determine this. The

mildness of a cleanser will be determined by the interaction of its surfactants and other

ingredients with the stratum corneum under its formulated pH conditions. And here's what I've

always thought. Canine pH is so varied and so individual can vary. By breed, I mean a lot of

variation. It can vary with location on the on the body. It can vary with odor. It can vary with

geography where the dog is living. It's just a it's a lot of differences one to the other. And it's not

a good thing to go chasing after trying to make each shampoo that you use on a dog match

that particular dog's range, it can't be done. You'd go crazy. I do think that it it would be a good

idea as a um, certified canine aesthetician to be able to measure the pH of my individual dogs

just because the the other thing that we have learned more and more recently is that differs

with the condition of the skin barrier. And when it's in bad shape, it's going to be a lot more

basic, less acidic, going to be have a higher pH. And here's another thing. The human being

skin and mantle. We've heard about the acid mantle.

Susy Yep.

Barbara The fact that the human skin is slightly acidic and that acidic ness makes for, um, an

unwelcoming environment for many pathogenic microbes. Unwelcome. And dogs don't have

an acidic pH. They have either a neutral or a slightly basic pH, and so they don't really have an

acid mantle. Susie. So you can't you can't really disrupt their acid mantle if they don't have one

now can you? And would bringing the skin to a lower acidic pH really be harmful? Maybe.

Susy Would you say then, that the pH of a shampoo has more effect on the shampoo cleaning

system than it does on the animal skin? So like the formulator has to use the products. And

that's what affects the pH of the products more than what they're trying to do on the dog skin.

Barbara Yeah. Formulator rules.

Susy Okay.

Barbara Because if you leave the shampoo at a wrong pH point you you might have an

ingredient or two in there that's unhappy. That would either not perform well or would cause

some mischief.

Susy Okay. Yeah that makes sense.

Barbara I think in this day and age of really sophisticated ingredients that the the ingredient

requirement of PF is a little bit more important than the role of the pH of the skin itself. I'm

saying that I haven't read that.

Susy No, I was actually extracting from your brainpower.

Barbara So, um, there's another study that I encountered in my reading. This one verifies or

substantiates what we have, quote, already known, and it is about Pseudomonas aeroginosa,

our favorite enemy. They sampled one hundred and seventeen bottles of grooming products,

ninety seven used from pet grooming salons and twenty used by private pet owners, and they

recorded the following suspected risk factors. Bottle size, relative remaining volume in the

bottle, content, dilution, expiration date and ingredient list, and of all of those risk factors, along

with the fact that almost twelve percent of the samples had Pseudomonas aeroginosa in them.

Susy Wow.

Barbara Significant contamination with Pseudomonas. Almost twelve percent eleven point

nine seven percent and diluted products were contaminated significantly more than compared

to undiluted products. So Wham-O, Wham-O on that. We knew that. We knew that probably it

happened because the preservative gets diluted and it can't be effective. But yes, diluted

products were contaminated significantly more than undiluted products.

Susy This is just another reason to have a bathing beauty because you're not diluting

anything. Yeah.

Barbara You're not diluting and letting stand anything. And that dilution also makes your

solution more mild. You know, I'm grappling and grappling at the moment about whether I

should start advising groomers to use sulfate free shampoos, and it's a reason that I'm

grappling with it, is because our friends from Best Shot and Show Season are manufacturing

sodium laureth sulfate shampoos. So I'm going to continue to grapple with this. But certainly

this study, this shampoo contamination study verifies what we've thought all along that diluted

products could be dangerous to use. And this is that they could induce. The deep follicular

problems that are likely to be, uh, hard to cure and can run into even sepsis.

Susy This brings up an interesting thought for me, because I'll often have a sixteen ounce

bottle in my trailer and a full or partial bottle in my garage, where it's in the cold and the dark.

But now, as I use that shampoo up and get down towards the bottom, and I'm introducing more

air into the mix with the volume, maybe I ought to be topping off my shampoo bottles instead of

letting them go all the way to the bottom, and then cleaning them and then refilling them.

Maybe I should do what they do in the stupid restaurants where they call it side work, and you

have to top off the stupid ketchup bottle and the mustard every time at the end of the day for

the tables. Well, now I kind of am thinking they're doing that to keep it from being exposed to

air within the container, because you can't keep changing the container for the volume you're

using out of there. So maybe I need to top off my bottles.

Barbara Or maybe you need to use it up and and clean the bottle.

Susy Well, I do that. I mean, I use it, I use it till the end, but it may sit there with a quarter of it

full for three weeks.

Barbara But relative remaining volume did not turn up as a significant factor in this study.

Susy Okay. Good enough. That answers that.

Barbara No. Nor did using shampoo after the expiration date. And and they tested for a couple

of different ingredients like aloe vera that wasn't more contaminated. It had to do with the

water.

Susy Okay.

Barbara The pseudomonas just loves the water. And this was just Pseudomonas. This was

this wasn't staph. This wasn't any of the other nasty things that can be floating around our

grooming establishments, but our listeners and Susie would like to know about this. So there

you go.

Susy Definitely.

Barbara We're going to continue to learn and read and, uh, keep our information up to date.

Susy I like it. Okay, guys. Well, thanks for being here and listening to our show. We've run a

little bit long, but since we missed a few episodes there in the past, we'll just keep it long. Why

not? It's fun anyway. We enjoy talking to each other. We enjoy talking to you guys, even though

you don't get to talk back. Except for on the discussion group Facebook pod. Remember to tell

your friends to listen to the show. Remember to support our sponsors. And of course,

remember to turn back for the next episode. Happy grooming everyone! See you next time on

the groom pod. Barbara's watching skating. Bye now.

Barbara Bye. So long.