Sammie had worked as a veterinary nurse for over a decade. It was a career she’d committed to for years, but over time she felt ready for something different.
“I was a veterinary nurse for over 10… maybe 13 years. I didn’t even realise it had been that long.”
She’d occasionally groomed her mum’s dogs, and slowly grooming began to feel like the natural next step. With children at home, whatever she chose had to fit around family life. Long, rigid days weren’t going to work.
“When I saw the 9:30 till 2, it was a no-brainer. It fitted around school drop-offs and pick-ups.”
She travelled about an hour each way, but the shorter sessions made it manageable. In the early stages, learning alongside other students helped her piece things together.
“You’d see how someone else approached it, then it would be explained again. Every little helped.”
Seeing students who were further ahead also reassured her.
“You can see where you’re heading.”
The moment everything clicked came when she completed a full groom entirely on her own.
“When I did my first dog completely by myself – head, body, everything – that was it. It all just slotted into place. I knew I wasn’t going backwards from there.”
Alongside training, she and her partner began converting their own mobile grooming van. Rather than buying a ready-made one, they built it themselves, focusing on good equipment and a reliable setup.
“I did so much research. I didn’t want to be blowing fuses or relying on plugging into people’s houses.”
She now runs fully mobile, powered by a generator with her own water and drainage system – something she’s proud to have built from scratch.
As for dogs, she laughs that her favourite types are bully breeds.
“I just love their big, squishy faces.”
Her advice to anyone considering grooming is grounded in her own experience.
“Watch someone first if you can. And be consistent. Doing two or three days a week kept my brain in it.”
Now fully mobile and running her own business, Sammie looks back at that first independent groom as the turning point – the moment she realised this wasn’t just a change of direction, but something she could truly build.
