Across the country, pet retailers are expanding their grooming departments to increase foot traffic, strengthen customer loyalty, and generate reliable, repeat revenue. While pet grooming may not be the largest revenue driver in pet retail, or the most predictable, it consistently creates value beyond the service itself. Grooming strengthens customer retention, supports store performance, and reinforces brand trust. That value comes with responsibility: retailers need groomers who are trained consistently, understand safety, and deliver a reliable customer experience across every location.
This expansion has brought long-standing workforce challenges into sharper focus. Despite being a multi-billion-dollar market and one of the fastest-growing segments in pet retail, dog grooming historically lacked a formal training structure. There were no national standards, no Department of Labor–recognized apprenticeship, no college-based pathways, and no reliable way for retailers to hire pet groomers who shared the same baseline skills. Training outcomes depended almost entirely on where and with whom an individual learned the trade.
Working alongside educators, employers, and workforce partners, the Groom Curriculum team has consistently seen how fragmented early grooming training can be. For decades, pet groomers were trained according to whatever method their first employer used. This resulted in little continuity across the profession and wide variation in safety practices, handling techniques, and customer communication. In a retail environment built on brand consistency, operational efficiency, and risk management, that variability becomes a significant business problem.
As grooming has become central to retail growth strategies, the absence of standardized workforce development has become impossible to ignore. Retailers increasingly need pet groomers who can work safely, communicate professionally, meet brand expectations, and perform consistently. They need teams that can be trained efficiently, onboarded predictably, and developed over time. Informal, mentor-specific training models make that difficult to achieve at scale.
Compared to other skilled trades, pet grooming has lagged nearly a century behind in formal workforce infrastructure.
A Profession Without Structure
Other skilled trades solved these challenges generations ago. Industries such as cosmetology, HVAC, welding, CDL transportation, and nursing assistance built formal education systems with standardized curriculum, credentialing pathways, and access to workforce funding. These systems allow employers to hire with confidence, knowing that graduates share a common foundation of knowledge and skills.
Pet grooming, by contrast, remained dependent on informal apprenticeships and on-the-job trial-and-error. While many talented professionals emerged from these pathways, the lack of structure made it difficult for retailers to scale grooming services, protect quality, and ensure safe, reliable care for pets. It also limited career mobility for pet groomers, who often had years of experience but few recognized credentials to demonstrate their expertise or advance into leadership roles.
Groom Curriculum was created to address this gap. Founded by pet grooming educator Sierra Elbert and curriculum specialist Patricia Pierce, the organization set out to build what the industry had never had: a national training infrastructure designed specifically for professional dog grooming. While the brand intentionally operates behind the scenes, its framework now supports community colleges, workforce systems, employers, youth programs, and nonprofit partners across the country.
What began as a curriculum developed for community colleges evolved into a comprehensive professional foundation. The system establishes standardized skill expectations, safety and handling frameworks, assessments, and instructor resources that allow training programs to operate consistently across a wide range of environments. These include on-campus labs, off-site salons, entrepreneurial settings, correctional facilities, and employer-based programs.
Colleges use this curriculum to offer grooming as a workforce-ready credential, providing retailers with access to graduates who complete structured education rather than informal, site-specific training. For retailers, that means a stronger talent pipeline, less onboarding friction, and groomers who can deliver predictable results that ultimately support grooming as a reliable revenue driver. For students, it means entering the workforce with recognized skills and clearer career pathways.
Working closely with higher education partners reinforced a critical insight. Community colleges function as a workforce engine that converts potential into economic mobility. Integrating pet grooming into that ecosystem gives the profession a legitimate place alongside other credentialed trades and expands access to training for non-traditional learners.
Apprenticeship Delivers Consistency
To further align grooming with established workforce models, Groom Curriculum helped bring the profession into the national apprenticeship system through a federally approved National Guideline Standard Registered Apprenticeship. This milestone placed dog grooming alongside other recognized skilled trades and provided a framework that benefits both employers and workers.
For retailers, apprenticeship offers predictable onboarding, measurable skill development, and access to state and federal workforce incentives. Apprenticeship structures allow employers to train new hires while maintaining consistent standards across locations. Progress is documented, competencies are clearly defined, and expectations are transparent.
For pet groomers, apprenticeship establishes a recognized career ladder. Instead of relying solely on tenure or informal reputation, groomers can advance through documented skill progression that mirrors training models used in other trades. This creates clearer pathways to senior roles, leadership positions, and long-term career stability.
Feedback from employers reinforces the importance of this approach. Retailers do not simply only need individuals who can groom dogs technically. They need professionals grounded in safety, animal behavior, coat and skin care, customer communication, sanitation protocols, and professional standards. Apprenticeship and standardized curriculum make that baseline consistent and measurable across locations, reducing risk and improving customer trust.
Real Impact
Behind every training system are individuals whose lives change because of it. Many learners entering grooming programs are career changers seeking stable employment, parents returning to the workforce, justice-impacted adults rebuilding their careers, or young people looking for their first professional pathway. Structured education provides more than technical skills. It offers credibility, confidence, and long-term opportunity.
Formal training also supports retention. When learners understand expectations, see clear advancement pathways, and receive consistent instruction, they are more likely to stay in the profession. This stability benefits retailers by reducing turnover and strengthening team culture.
Equally important, professional training improves outcomes for animals. Standardized education reduces injury risk, improves handling and communication practices, and ensures grooming environments support dogs’ physical and emotional wellbeing. Safety protocols, stress-reduction techniques, and ethical handling standards become embedded in daily practice rather than learned through trial and error.
A single well-trained groomer can positively impact hundreds of dogs each year. At scale, that effect becomes substantial and benefits workers, retailers, families, and pets alike.
Dog Grooming Goal
For the first time, dog grooming is developing the workforce foundation long established in other industries. Retailers gain dependable talent pipelines that support growth and consistency. Colleges expand career-relevant offerings aligned with local employer needs. Workforce systems recognize grooming as a viable, high-demand trade. Groomers enter a profession that supports skill development, advancement, and long-term sustainability.
The goal is not to remove the heart from grooming, but to protect it. Structure supports craft. Standards provide the backbone needed to scale responsibly, safeguard animal welfare, and give professionals a pathway to grow without losing the artistry and care that define the field.
As pet retail continues to expand, professional training is no longer optional. It is the infrastructure required for sustainable growth, consistent service, and a healthier future for the people and pets at the center of the industry.
Groom Curriculum partnerships are built for practical implementation and measurable outcomes. If this article reflects priorities you’re navigating such as consistency, safety and a stronger grooming talent pipeline, learn more here.
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Sierra Elbert is the president and founder of Groom Curriculum, where she sets the vision and leads strategy to expand access to standardized, safety-centered professional dog grooming education. She builds national partnerships and guides product development, working hands-on with colleges, employers, and workforce partners to strengthen grooming training and career pathways.
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