Having groomed 45,000 dogs in 45 years, business has been good for Graham Swales.
The Orillia man went into business nearly half a century ago when he opened Noah’s Ark, a pet store and grooming service, on Mississaga Street.
“I’ve always liked to work with animals and we thought the pet shop and grooming would be a good mix,” Swales said. “I realized I enjoyed the grooming side more, so we closed the pet shop part.”
He now runs The Dog Groomer from home and is still going strong.
In 1972, Swales began showing terriers at dog shows and then decided to breed and kennel dogs. Proving it’s been a labour of love from the start, “we never had a vacation for 25, 30 years,” he said.
“We were working seven days a week. I loved what I did. I still love it. I love the people and I love the dogs.”
Even the Old English sheepdog that inflicted a pain Swales will never forget.
“For whatever reason, it took a bite out of me and it went right through the thumbnail,” he recalled.
The bites are uncommon, though, and Swales said the positive experiences far outweigh the negative ones.
One part of the business he has enjoyed most has been introducing younger people to the world of grooming.
He has had high-school co-op students do their placements with him. One of them, after finishing her placement, called him to ask if she could work with him. She’s been there for about eight years.
Swales’s line of work has seen some changes over the decades, the most challenging being the current COVID-19 pandemic.
When it started, Swales immediately put measures in place to ensure the safety of his clients and their dogs. Despite those precautions, he had to close.
“We were surprised that we were among the people who had to close down,” he said. “We weren’t deemed an essential service, so we were closed down. That was tough.”
He was able to reopen a couple of weeks ago and it has “worked out quite well.”
“Our clients have been very patient,” he said.
Plenty of businesses and customers have embraced curbside pickup during the pandemic, and Swales is no different. When a client arrives, Swales takes the dog from the car and brings it inside. No dog owners are allowed in.
Some grooming jobs take most of the day to complete, so Swales does his best to keep the dogs at ease in the absence of their owners. He takes them out to walk and relax in his landscaped yard, where the dogs can be around the gardens and a pond.
“It’s a relaxing setting for them because they’re not inside all the time,” he said.
Swales will turn 71 in the fall and he has no plans to slow down.
“I’m looking forward to my 50th anniversary,” he said. “Maybe then I’ll decide what I’m going to do.”
For more information about The Dog Groomer, call Swales at 705-326-5324.
