Pets & Friends opens grooming training centre

Pets & Friends has established a new grooming training centre in its Hucknall store, Nottinghamshire.

The Grooming Academy will become the groomer training base for the pet store group, and in order to help plug the national shortage of dog groomers, will now offer iPET Network qualifications to their employees and general public.

The new, purpose-built Training Centre at Hucknall has been designed specifically to facilitate training sessions, whilst keeping animal welfare as priority number one.

New, and exclusive to Pets and Friends in the UK, DezynaDog electric grooming tables mean that the safety of the dogs, cats and small animals being groomed is ensured while allowing easy access for the training team and students alike.

Interested parties will be able train and qualify in grooming, receive business advice to follow their dreams and turn an interest into a career, all under the supervision of veteran groomer and lead-trainer Kerry Chapman.

Chapman has been teaching dog grooming since 2019, but her entire career has been dedicated to animals working as a horse riding instructor before that.

“Grooming is such a rewarding and creative skill set, it is not something that anyone can simply pick up a pair of scissors and just do, so it is wonderful to see students blossoming into amazing stylists on these courses.

“The brilliant thing about the iPET Network courses is that learners can work at their own pace, and there is a lot of emphasis on handling and welfare too. The welfare of the animal is at the heart of everything that they do and those are our values too.”

The new centre is holding taster sessions for would-be students on June 30 from 3pm until 8pm, and July 2 from 12pm until 6pm.