Pet groomer resumes work in GV, Sahuarita areas after year in Dallas

Christina Hankins, who formerly owned Groomingdale’s in Green Valley for about three years, is back in business here in a new location.

Hankins sold the pet grooming shop  when her husband Scotty, who works for Bombardier Aerospace,  was transferred to Dallas, she said.

Now after more than a year in Texas, the couple moved back to this area when a position opened up at her husband’s firm, Hankins said.

The Hankins now live in Rancho Sahuarita with their two daughters and Christina works at Dr. Sophia Kaluzniacki’s Green Valley Animal Hospital, at 220 E. Duval Road.

You can reach Hankins there Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 609-2469.

Prices vary, according to size and breed, Hankins said.

Hankins began work in the pet grooming field shortly after graduating from St, Paul High School in Fayetteville, Ark.

She started out cleaning kennels and bathing dogs and cats at an animal boarding/  grooming facility in Arkansas and learned pet  grooming from a mentor in the field.

Enthusiastic about work

Now 28, she’s been grooming animals for the last 10 years, but hasn’t lost her enthusiasm for the work, which she plans to make her lifelong career.

“I hope to stay in this field forever. I love it; I enjoy it. It’s like art to me and the dogs and cats I groom are like my kids,” she said.

“I’ve been very lucky and I like going to work,” she added.

A grooming gig for your pet with Hankins involves “the whole nine yards”— bathing, blow drying, brushing, clipping nails, cleaning ears,  cologne and, of course, a bow, she said.

To keep her skills sharp and learn new tricks and techniques Hankins participates in  grooming competitions  around the country  three or four times a year.

“The competitions involve a grooming tournament and seminars. I just took part in a competition and went to seminars in March in Atlanta” she related .

The events can be “quite competitive,” she added, since no two groomers work the same way.

Patience counts

The key to pet grooming, she believes, is “being creative and being patient because not every pet enjoys being groomed.”

Hankins  said she appreciates  the fact that there’s a veterinarian close by in case a dog or cat needs a sedative to be groomed.

That’s a rare occurrence, however,  because in more 10 years she’s only encountered five dogs she  couldn’t deal with because she felt they would endanger her and themselves.

The Hankins’ have two daughters, Tetra, 7, who attends Anza Trail School, and Missy Laurelez, 2, who is enrolled in a preschool in Sahuarita.

Hanley said she and her family are “very  happy” to be back in this area.

“I didn’t realize how much I liked it or how much I would miss it until we moved away to a big city, no place to raise kids, ”she said.

kengle@gvnews.com| 547-9732