Today we’d like to introduce you to Deanna Vickery.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My husband and I got married in 2009 shortly after that I took a job closer to Valley View where we were living and unfortunately after about nine months, the company folded and I decided to pursue one of my great loves animals so I was fortunate enough to apprentice at a shop in Garland and learn how to dog Groom. About four years after that my husband got very sick and the commute from Valley View to Garland every day got to be too much while trying to get him to doctors appointments and things. I had been invited to teach a how to take care of your dog between grooming by the Gainesville dog club that led me to meet a lovely woman named Mary, who offered me a spot at her kennel Dog grooming. The only caveat was I had to run the business myself. She was giving me the facility, but the business was mine. I quickly jumped on her offer and the Groom room at Puppyville was born. I’ve been there for almost 10 years now and I absolutely love it.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Growing a business from scratch over an hour away from all of your established clientele was difficult for me but being located at a boarding facility helped because there already clients there that would take a chance to get their dog done while they were boarding. For a while. I worked down in Garland four days a week and at my shop three days a week until I built up business, but by far my biggest obstacle was May 25 of 2024 when a tornado ripped through my house and completely took everything we knew and had away, we were in a forced to have to figure out how to rebuild while raising our grandson, with no insurance
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I absolutely love my job being that we are in the country. A lot of what I do is just straight pet grooming short cuts with cute faces while in Dallas I did a lot of aggressive dogs and I quickly learned that a lot of times their aggression was just fear so when I built my shop, I decided that I would be one on one which is something unique in the grooming business when you drop your dog off, I instantly will start on them And complete them and then you pick them right up so the average Groom lasts about an hour maybe an hour and a half on larger dogs. This allows dogs to only be with me for a short time and that tends to ease a lot of their stresses. It also works well for a lot of my elderly clients who will just stay in the shop with me while like room and we will chitchat. It makes a good experience for both the Client and the dog and allows me to groom a lot of elderly dogs, dogs that have medical issues or dogs that overall are just somewhat fearful. I absolutely love my clients in the relationships. I’ve built with them. They’re more than clients their family. We cry when a dog passes. We share joy when new family members come into the family. We also have a Dock diving facility on site at the boarding kennel and I’ve had the pleasure to be a Dock diving coach and I absolutely love sharing in the joys when clients that I’ve worked with get titles on their dogs or we meet up at different competitions on the weekends. It’s a lot of fun to watch people enjoy spending time with their dogs.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I am always looking for new experiences and new things to do in the dog world, but the fact that people trust me with a family member to make sure they look good and stay healthy is amazing if they’re looking for a groomer I’m more than happy to work with them and help them make Their fur baby the best they can be
Pricing:
- Bathes start at $30
- Grooms at $50
Contact Info:
- Facebook: Groom Room at PuppyVille and Red river Diving Dogs
Image Credits
Jennifer Forman photography …
