Firstly hello. Thank you for being here.
I'm not going to keep you long.
My name is Kate and I am the owner of Moustache Mondays. Seven years ago I brought home a delicious little Spoodle and promptly called him Monty. A Spoodle or Sproodle or Springerdoodle depending on who you are talking to is a cross between the English Springer Spaniel and the miniature Poodle. They look like a Cockapoo but their noses and flushing instincts tend to make them a bit more troublesome (some call it intelligence - those same people own English Bulldogs and Poms) and a lot more energetic (think Mo Farrah and Micheal Jordan at Studio 66). You haven't lived until you've experienced the nose of a Springer and the quick wit of the Poodle with the stubborn streak of both.
They're a great breed, so great in fact that I now have two of them. For all my research into the breed however, I never truly understood their grooming requirements. It was an arbitrary idea. I had read about it obviously but I didn't even know dog groomers were a thing outside of Crufts. So Monty's hair grew and grew and didn't fall out like my previous dog's fur had. By the time we got to the professionals we were the before and after photo. The cautionary tale of what not to do.
But I was hooked. Seeing all the little floofs inside the chocolatey box shop having every hair teased into long straight Vidal Sassoon tresses, walking on clouds as they left the premises - this was what I wanted to do. How hard could it be?
The first attempts weren't good. Monty walked around with mange like bald patches where I'd accidentally and repeatedly forgotten the guard comb. 'Groom Day' became an actual thing - people could tell when we got to the park that he'd been groomed - not just because of how appalling he looked - but because of his bad attitude as he attended his nightly pupdates.
So I actually went and learnt how to groom dogs. Turns out 'Groom Day' isn't supposed to be held on three consecutive days. The haircut part is only that - a part of a much larger body of knowledge. You actually have to understand things like canine physiology, anatomy, diseases, disorders, the law and a whole array of other complex canine theory. And I loved it all. I scored the top result in the year on my theory test. I understood coat types and clipper blades and what an orbit is compared to the mandible for the first time ever. It was amazing. Most importantly for me, my relationship with Monty actually improved.
College didn't just mean I learned how to care for my dog better, it meant a different dog each week with completely different requirements. College became my best day and felt more like a day off. This was what I was going to do for 'work'. When your doggies come into my salon it still feels the same way. The process of charging money for work I love feels alien. We've got to eat though - so you know how this sentence ends.
And here we are. Monty showed me how I could have the best job ever. He is coiffed to perfection and has never had another mat since. I'm proud to walk him because I know he's receiving the best possible care and his coat health reflects this. Every day I get to combine my love of dogs with my need to create. Creation for me now comes with scissors and doggy hair dye and a full photography studio. The look of horror as my mother found me cutting my sister's hair one time is a distant memory and she even brings me her Chihuahuas.
A dog changes everything - in the best possible way.
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