Animal Grooming Bachelor's Degree

When it comes to working in the animal care field, you may not have to have a degree for some of the things you can do such as run a kennel or work in a pet store. However, there are other exciting careers in the field of animal care that do require you to have a degree. Start out as an animal groomer and work toward that Bachelor's degree. Two such careers include animal trainer and marine biologist. This article will discuss the degrees you'll need to earn if you want to work in either of these two fields, some of the courses you'll need to take, and how much you can expect to make in each career.

As an undergraduate in an animal science program, you'll study both physical science and biology. You'll be preparing yourself to work in the animal training industry as well as the farming and ranch industries. A Bachelor's degree in animal sciences can also prepare you to get a degree in veterinary medicine.

Animal Science programs cover animal care science, but also cover the business end of agriculture production as well. Usually, you have the opportunity to participate in labs where you'll get hands-on instruction. Some of the courses you might take cover:

• Current animal agriculture issues
• Current animal agriculture issues
• Animal management
• Food production and animal products
• Nutrition
• Animal genetics

A Typical Day in the Life of an Animal Groomer

Cindy Koehn, Mobile Dog Groomer
It is my pleasure to speed with college-universities.com today to go over my life as an animal groomer. First off my job is a little different than what you typically would think of when you hear the work animal groomer. I graduated with by my certificate of animal grooming as well as my Bachelor’s degree in animal health. I worked for about a year at a larger big box pet store where I learned all about the business side of owing your own shop. My goal since day one was to own my own animal grooming business but make it easier for my clients.

In 2008 I opened up the first mobile animal grooming truck in my town and it has grown over the years to now 5 employees and 3 trucks. We service the home owner that doesn’t have time to bring their pet into a shop. Our clients range from dog and cat owners to even bird and reptile lovers. Our main area is full-service maintenance for your pets. About 50% of our clients own dogs. They receive a bath, haircut, brushing, teeth cleaning and toe nail clipping. It is hard for some of our clients to keep their animals fit and we even recommend special food and treats.

I love my job and my employees and can’t wait to get to work each day. More than 80% of our clients have been with us for over a year and we come out once a month (sometimes every other week) to service the pets. It always seems to amaze me the different types of pets we encounter on the job. Sometimes I really have to research the animal before coming out so I better service the needs of their pets. Some of the more strange grooming requests we have received have been to braid the hair of some of the dogs with long hair and we even had a couple that wanted us to paint their cat (with animal safe paint) for a football game.

I think the future of animal grooming is in mobile units like ours. Our pricing is very competitive and the great thing is we really get to know the client and their pet, something that retail stores can’t do. My advice to anyone that wants to become an animal groomer is to first get an education. I learned a lot during my certificate training but it really was my Bachelor’s degree that taught me more about the business side of how to run a business successfully. I would choose a school that offered courses in marketing as that was one of my biggest challenges when I first started. I really didn’t understand how I was going to market my business and during my first year basically went door-to-door. I really started getting into social media a few years back and now I let my followers know what dog park I’ll be at and I always get 3-4 clients that show up. They don’t mind waiting and they just let their dogs play at the park until I’m ready for them.