A recipe for burnout if you're a groomer - Pet Stylist PetSmart Employee Review

1.0
Jul 18, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Working wth animals, and for the most part, the coworkers and clients.The day goes by before you know it.

Cons

Being expected to not only groom your scheduled dogs as quickly as possible while also stopping every five seconds to answer the phone and take every walk in nail trim that comes through the door...nearly impossible on a busy day. They are too cheap to hire a receptionist...the bathers and groomers are expected to do all this at the expense of our clients who actually made appointments. Then you have to put up with people being angry at you when their dog isn't done on time. The store managers, for the most part, seem to have no clue that "PetStylists", as they say, are not just "back there playing with dogs all day". Two general managers they hired at my store had never worked with animals at all. Grooming is dirty work. Its grueling, its very physical, and you go home wiped out at the end of the day. Also, they hire bathers with no animal handling experience and instead of the salon managers actually training them, they're almost immediately thrown into their job...and customers wonder why they quick every dog's nails that they trim. As a groomer, you're expected to "train" the new bathers on top of everything else, even though the job description clearly states that the "Petstylists" hae no obligation to supervise anybody. General air of disrespect from most of the store managers. I have on several occassions witnessed true bullying from them. Its just a bad atmosphere in general. And I had been there a long time, and I have ten plus years experience as a groomer. I've seen a LOT of good groomers lose it and quit because they expect the impossible.

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5.0
Jul 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing space to work. Benefits great.

Cons

Sometimes communication falls apart. Not to mention.

1.0
Jul 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The staff care a lot and try their hardest but it leads to burn out and being taken advantage of by a company the does not care about YOU.

Cons

Poor management. No work life balance. Bad scheduling. Bad pay. No communication. Leads expected to work more than 10 hours a day during high volume periods, Be responsible for too many things. You run around like a chicken with it's head chopped off the whole time you're at work. Staff are snippy, and rude. A few are okay. Company has you working bare bones, and does not care. Pet parent's are weird, and I don't think have realistic expectations that the boarding facility is more like dropping your dog off at a dog shelter for a week while you go on vacation than a "fun time" for your dog. Dogs get fed, watered, pottied. If that is all you care about, then use the PetHotel. If you want your dog to have fun, and be out of a stressful environment (few dogs do well with constant barking and noise all day, plus being stuck in a cement run, thrown in with a bunch of other dogs who have never been properly socialized) just do in home boarding. I would never board my dog at a place like this.

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