Twenty years of experience can quietly be one year of experience, repeated twenty times if nobody ever stopped to ask whether the way your salon actually runs still makes sense. In this episode of After the Last Dog, Jennifer breaks down the difference between a real operational system and inherited motion: the leftover habits, workarounds, and shortcuts that got baked into your business before you were paying close attention. From fast-tracked online certifications to job titles handed out without any real leadership training to inconsistent grooming terminology across your own team, this episode walks through the blind spots that quietly turn a busy salon into a fragile one, and hands you a five-question audit that's part of what coaching clients use to tell the difference between a system you'd build on purpose and one you simply never questioned.

• Schedule a call for more info: https://calendly.com/growing-groomers/better-training-in-salons
• Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass With 25% off Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass
• Onboarding and Training Checklist ($9)
• Business Coaching https://www.growinggroomers.com/offers/BUiqZCEG
• Introduction to the Salon https://www.growinggroomers.com/offers/qPF5DrfV
• Growing GroomersWebsite https://www.growinggroomers.com/
• After The Last Dog Website https://www.afterthelastdog.com/

For too long, parts of the grooming industry have treated exhaustion, physical pain, silence, impossible pace, and “figuring it out” as proof that someone is committed enough to belong. We have praised the people who stay late, take every difficult dog, carry the team, and push through no matter what it costs them. We have called that toughness. We have called it dedication. Sometimes, we have even called it professionalism.

But what if it is not a badge of honor? What if it is evidence that the business has asked someone to carry a burden it should have addressed?

This episode of After the Last Dog asks owners to look at the work we are offering people. Are we giving them a chance to learn, grow, speak up, and build a future? Or are we handing them the same confusion, pressure, physical wear-and-tear, and “figure it out” culture that the last person inherited?

Legacy is not protecting every hardship that came before us. It is not repeating old ways simply because they are familiar, or because they helped someone survive at another time. A legacy takes what was valuable, learns from what was difficult, and leaves the work safer, stronger, more thoughtful, and more sustainable for the next person.

We all need to decide what ends with us.

Deloitte Survey Gen Z and Millennials

Somebody in your shop asks one of your groomers about something they did, maybe a newer person, still new enough to question things. And the groomer looks at them surprised: "that's how I do it." Not defensive, just genuinely caught off guard, like why would you question this? In this episode, Jennifer Oppel (founder of Growing Groomers and creator of the first Missouri pet grooming apprenticeship program and related curriculum) breaks down why salon owners inherit cultures they never questioned, the two owners who can't see what's in front of them (the one who stepped into a business already running, and the dreamer building on excitement), and how to take back the standard without blowing up your team. If you've never stopped to ask whether this is actually how grooming works, this one's for you.

Bather Brusher Course (set the safety standard, stop line & guardrails — the worksheet makes you define them): Bather Brusher Course

Introduction to the Salon https://www.growinggroomers.com/offers/qPF5DrfV

Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass

With 25% off Hiring and Onboarding Masterclass

Whole Pet Grooming Academy https://wholepetnh.com/

Schedule a call: https://calendly.com/growing-groomers/better-training-in-salons

Growing GroomersWebsite https://www.growinggroomers.com/

Apprenticeship Website https://petgroomingapprenticeship.com/

After The Last Dog Website https://www.afterthelastdog.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/growinggroomers/