After The Last Dog

Are you spending your late nights sifting through hundreds of mismatched resumes on Indeed, only to get ghosted by someone who promised to show up at 9:00 AM? In this episode of After the Last Dog , we dissect exactly why hiring is so exhausting for salon owners and how to fix it. We look at why treating your recruitment like a high-stakes emotional investment is destroying your operational focus....

Why Should the Right Groomer Choose Your Salon? Every salon owner wants one solid groomer. Someone who cares about the dogs, shows up, communicates, and helps make the day easier. But good groomers are looking too. They are not only looking at pay, schedule, or how many dogs they can take. They are paying attention to how pets are handled, how the team works when the day gets busy, whether people...

Ever look around your salon at the end of a chaotic day and wonder why nothing works unless your physical body is standing in the room? Whether you are a groomer-owner or an entrepreneur managing a franchise, relying on your personal hustle to hold the salon floor together creates a natural ceiling. In this episode, we are dipping our toes into problem-solving on a slightly higher level. We dive i...

In this episode of After the Last Dog , Dara talks about something many grooming and pet care business owners know too well: you can be standing in your own salon all day and still not have time to be the owner. When you are grooming, you need to focus on the dog in front of you. But the business does not stop moving while you are behind the table. Staff are making decisions, clients need answers,...

Are you trapped by the very business you built for freedom? If you feel like you can’t step away from your salon for a single day without your staff slacking off, sitting on their phones, or ignoring basic protocols—this episode is your wake-up call. Host Jennifer breaks down the hard truth: your team isn't failing because they are inherently lazy. They are failing because your operational standar...

You leave the salon for an hour, and suddenly your phone is full of questions. Can we fit this dog in? What do I tell the client? Should we charge for this? What do we do now? If your business seems to run smoothly only when you are standing in the building, this episode is for you. Dara names the invisible pressure many grooming and pet care owners carry: becoming the place every unfinished decis...

Why a full schedule does not always mean the business is getting ahead. Your grooming schedule is full. Clients are calling. Dogs are booked. From the outside, the business looks busy and successful. So why does the money still feel tight? In this episode of After the Last Dog , Dara talks about the difference between being booked and actually getting ahead. A full calendar shows demand, but it do...

A full grooming schedule can look successful from the outside. The dogs are there, clients are calling, and the calendar is packed. But what happens when the schedule is full and the business still feels tighter than it should? In this episode, we look at the difference between being busy and actually getting ahead. We’ll talk about why a full calendar can still leave owners questioning where the...

In this short introduction, meet Jennifer Oppel, co-host of After the Last Dog and founder of Growing Groomers. Jennifer has spent 35 years in the grooming industry, including 25 years as a salon owner. Her work focuses on helping grooming and pet care businesses make training clearer, expectations easier to communicate, and daily salon operations more practical for real working businesses. Jennif...

You have the checklist. You have explained the process. You may have even shown the team more than once. So why are they still coming back to you with the same questions? In this episode of After the Last Dog , Dara talks about one of the most common owner frustrations in grooming and pet care businesses: repeat staff questions that should already have an answer. Using a simple cleaning checklist...

I'm Dara Forleo, and before we talk about standards, pricing, hiring, training, and business growth, I want to share why this podcast exists. In this special introduction, I share my journey in the grooming and pet care industry, the lessons I've learned as a business owner, and why I believe owners deserve practical support that respects what they've already built.

A full schedule can look like success from the outside. Dogs are booked. Clients are waiting. The phone keeps ringing. But inside the salon, it may still feel like the whole day depends on the owner keeping every person, pet, and decision moving. In this episode of After the Last Dog , we look at why being booked out does not always mean the business is actually getting ahead. Sometimes the proble...