Daycare & Pawcation – 5 & 6 March 2022

Pick up Katsu – 5 March 2022

We head off to pick Katsu up in the morning, together with our supawvisors as we had plans to bring the fur kids out to our friend’s place. His place has a nice garden for the fur kids to run and explore. We jokingly said it’s like having a personal dog park.

After getting all the details and instructions from Katsu’s pawrent, we’re off for some fun! The car ride with Katsu was different. Although her dad has been calling her a monster, she was relatively well behaved during the journey. She would sit quietly till we arrived at our destination.

Mia will be joining us for daycare, her mummy said she’ll drop her off at our friend’s place instead. She needed to collect her newly purchased bicycle located nearby and since it was on the way, Mia doesn’t need us to fetch her.

The Hyper Doggos

Having a decent size garden seems like a great idea where the fur kids get to run and explore. The best part of it is, that it’s private and solely for us. This means we don’t need to worry about unfamiliar dogs and a fight that might happen. Or at least if there were to be a dog fight, at least we do know how to handle the situation and be responsible for it. We’ve read too many stories online about irresponsible pawrents or guardians who don’t want to be responsible for injuries after a fight between the fur kids.

We let the fur kids run about with supervision and make sure they’re enjoying themselves and most importantly, they get along. With the hyper Katsu and Mia, we had to make sure they get a break and water parade in between their playtime. While they take a break, so do we.

Thunderstorm

It started to get cloudy and we had to get everyone back into the house. True enough, a thunderstorm arrived! Katsu panicked and started crawling up to whoever is willing to give her some comfort. We got to know that she’s scared of thunderstorms after we gave some updates to her daddy.

To be honest, she’s the first fur kid that we doggy sit that’s afraid of thunderstorms. We were a little unsure of what to do and weren’t sure if comforting her is the right way to do it. We’re pretty sure there are many trains of thought for this topic, we’ll definitely do our research about it to prepare us for a future similar situations.

Home Sweet Home

Mia’s mummy picked her up at night after dinner while Katsu head home with us for the night. Guess the girls had a fun time the entire day as Katsu slept well and didn’t disturb us at all.

It was home sweet home for Katsu on the 6th of March. Waited for her daddy to be home before we head over to drop her off. Although it wasn’t our first time looking after Katsu for a day, we were a little reluctant to send her back. Guess fun times always have to come to an end. We’re pretty sure we’ll see Katsu often as the borders start to open up recently.

CNY 2022, Our Adventures

The Start of our peak period

We’ve stopped taking in appointments around late November for CNY 2022. Most of our regulars had booked an appointment by then and our schedules were quite packed.

Our busy period started in early January after our short break in welcoming the year 2022. As usual, it started off slow with a few appointments to start the busy peak period. We didn’t take in any new customers for the month of January, by then our February slots are almost taken up as well. It was scary to us on how fast our following month’s appointments are filling up. We didn’t expect the overwhelming support given to us by our awesome pawrents.

This year’s peak period was a little different as we did continue with our weekly daycare fur kids. And thankfully we did as we’re able to schedule them in for their CNY grooming. With the daycare, it allows us to have a little breather from the traveling in between appointments. So it’s more of a pros and cons of continuing daycare during this period.

Shaver Decided to Retire

Our main shaver, not the tiny one for paw pads, decided to retire amid our busy period. It started to not work when we were grooming our last fur kid on the 17th January. Thinking maybe it’s the wiring issue, we decided to check it out after we end our last grooming session.

Once home, we decided to test it out again. To our horror, it started to smoke, then it died on us completely. Feeling anxious, we didn’t know what to do and was feeling frustrated as it happened at the wrong timing!

After calming down, we texted our fellow groomers to see who have a spare shaver to lend us till we get our replacement. We had to thank 7 Paws for helping us during this busy and difficult time. (If you prefer grooming salon instead of house-call, you may check them out)

East to West, West to East

We had to admit that we didn’t plan well for this year’s CNY appointments. We ended up having to travel from east to west and west to east. Travelling like this was time consuming to be honest. With such poor planning, we had to minimise our appointments.

Though Singapore is relatively small compared to our neighbouring countries, but travelling does takes up most of our time. Not to mention the occasional bad traffic. And with the ongoing construction work at SLE towards BKE from our place, the traffic was slow as drivers had to slowly merge from a 3 Lane traffic into 2 Lane.

With this year’s bad planning, we’ve learnt our lesson. We will be making some changes and improvements for the following year. And hopefully, the operation will go on smoothly.

End of Peak Period

We managed to survive another peak period. And we’re thankful for everyone’s support and patience during CNY. Weirdly, this year’s peak period just went by without us knowing. It feels like time does pass fast.

Despite the hectic schedule, we’ve enjoyed every session with each fur kid that we groomed. Their warm happy welcome keeps us motivated to keep going. Despite the tiredness, seeing them gives us that burst of energy to get them groomed before the festive season.

Though we’re not looking forward to the annual peak period, but we’ll definitely see everyone again. Do book early when our CNY 2023 slots are open to avoid disappointment.

Daycare – 15 Jan 2022

Dropoff

New fur kid to our daycare, Mia the Wired Fox Terrier. We don’t do weekend daycare, but her pawrent needed help looking after her for the day. Since we had an extra pair of hands, our very silent partner who was available that very weekend, we agreed.

Mia’s mummy dropped her off in the morning while we were waiting for our morning appointment to arrive. Yes, sometimes we groom from home. Either we would provide the pet transport, or the pawrent would drop the fur kid(s) at our place.

Grooming

Mia’s pawrent requested for a basic groom session during the daycare, and since we had the time while waiting for Phoebe’s pawrent to pick her up, we decided to do the basic groom.

We did have a session once last year, we remembered Mia to be well behaved and would just let us groom her. But she’s no longer that cooperative girl. Her pawrent did mention that Mia does have an attitude of her own now. We wouldn’t say it’s difficult to groom her, it’s more of her walking around the grooming table. We would say she’s just a curious girl in a new environment.

Playtime

We took Mia along on to our next appointment, but of course, we did seek permission before bringing her over. It’s at one of our friend’s place and we’re there to groom his fur kid. He stays at landed property and has ample garden space for the fur kids to run around. What’s a better way to release Mia’s energy by letting her go crazy in a garden right?

Mia’s pawrent did give us the instruction to manually stop her once in a while before she tires herself out. Mia doesn’t know her limit and she’ll continue to play. The fear of her being exhausted is real.

In order to stop her and get some rest, we had to get her back into our friend’s room to enjoy the nice cool aircon. It’s the only way to separate her from Mozart and take a rest before she tires herself out completely.

Dinner

Mia’s pawrent has forgotten to pack her dinner, and we had to shamelessly ask Mozart to spare her some kibbles as they both are taking the same brand. We even cooked hardboiled egg to add to the kibbles to entice Mia to eat. We were told that she might be picky sometimes and just hope it doesn’t happen during our care.

She finished them without hesitation and started asking for more. We never knew she could be a glutton. But we didn’t give in to her request as we know that she’s got a sensitive tummy and feeding her more or something new, we got to consult with her mummy.

Home Sweet Home

We ended the day late at Mozart’s place. Since Mia’s pawrent was still out partying, we took Mia home with us instead. Once back to our humble abode, Mia completely went off to bed. She’s got not much energy left in her to be jumpy like she was during the day.

After bidding farewell to her, our day ended and we’re in turn the one with low energy. We’ll definitely see her again on our next adventure.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Greetings from GPS

Happy Lunar New Year! We’ve come to an end to our peak month and we’re thankful for everyone’s support. For without you, we probably wouldn’t survive this period. The fur kids are always our motivation to push forward to strive for the better.

On this joyous occasion, we wished everybody good health to both the pawrents and fur kids. And may whatever we wish for do come true.

CNY 2022 Personal Reflection

To be honest, this peak month is our annual dreaded month. It’s a stressful moment trying to fit everybody in to be on schedule to look awesome for the lunar new year. But there’s always a handful that we have to disappoint due to our packed schedule.

Every year, we would reflect on how we could do things better. Frankly speaking, there’s none. We’ve tried all sorts of methods and the results are the same. We just can’t fit everybody in our packed schedule and please everyone. This is where we seek everyone’s understanding during this busy period.

Despite everything, we will reflect and hope for the better in the following year. Till then, let us enjoy the year and worry about that later.

Last but not least, thank you everyone for sticking by us.

xoxo
Team Grooming Pit Stop

Pawcation – Jeremy (26 Dec 2021 to 4 Jan 2022)

Pick up – 26 December

After we settled our supawvisors and pawcation fur kids, we head out to pick Jeremy up for his week-long stay with us. Once arrived, he didn’t hesitate to hop into our little hatchback to begin his adventure with us. We were told he loves car rides.

During the journey back to our humble abode, Jeremy kept looking out the windows which we lowered a little for him to enjoy the wind blowing against his face or to take in the smell along the way back.

Once home, Jeremy mingled with our supawvisors and pawcation fur kids. And we got to know, he can get angry from the persistent dog(s) that kept annoying him. We had to separate him and Ruffles before a fight broke out. Thankfully we do have a playpen for such a scenario and it does come in handy in times like this.

Christmas Gathering – 27 December

As we had a Christmas gathering planned with our friend, we seek Jeremy’s pawrents for permission to bring him along. Thankfully, they gave the green light and so we took him along. Together with our supawvisors, we head out for a Christmas party.

Our friend stayed in landed property with a garden big enough for them to run or explore. Jeremy enjoyed himself while he explore this new place. At first, he wasn’t happy with our friend’s Lhasa apso for smelling his butt. But after a while of understanding and leaving one another alone, peace was restored.

We had BBQ for dinner and Jeremy was always loitering around us hoping to have some food. Though we were told he can eat anything except kangaroo, but we refrained from giving him anything as the meats were all marinated which wasn’t suitable to feed the fur kids. And so he just had to take in the aroma of our dinner instead.

The next day, Jeremy and our supawvisors looked so exhausted that none of them were willing to wake up for breakfast. It’s like they partied hard the day before and had some hungover the next day.

Rainy Days

It’s monsoon season and it’s been raining for days. Sometimes it was just passing rain clouds, sometimes it could rain the entire day. It was a little difficult to bring the fur kids out for walks or excursions. And it was much more when Jeremy is outdoor trained. He needs his potty breaks. But we were told he would use the pee pads if the circumstances aren’t to his favor for outdoor potty breaks.

We do bring him out for a quick potty break before the next rain comes. Albeit short outdoor moment, it was the best we could give in such bad weather. However, we did a short walk at the park connector on a good day which Jeremy and our supawvisors enjoyed. We didn’t walk far as we’re afraid of a change of weather without any warning. Walking near home makes it easier to rush home if the weather were to turn bad.

Grooming Day

Jeremy’s pawrents requested a grooming session during his pawcation with us. And we scheduled it nearer to the date before his stay with us ends. We offered to do a video about his grooming session as they were keen to know if he behaved well.

We were told he had never been out for professional grooming before and they were a little worried he might be difficult to handle. They adopted him and had traveled to a few countries before coming to Singapore. Was told the grooming fees overseas were crazily expensive and thus they’ve always groomed him themselves at home. So it’s an honor for us to give him nice professional grooming and we’re glad that the pawrents love it.

Attached is the video on this entry, so do watch it if you’re keen.

Home Sweet Home

It was time for Jeremy to head home. We enjoyed our time spent with him and definitely will miss him. He enjoyed his car ride home and was pretty excited to head home upon seeing his pawrent. Hope we get to see him again and share another adventure together.

Pawcation – Ruffles & Kelly (24 to 26 Dec 2021)

Punggol PCN Walk, Waterway Point

Picked up the daycare fur kids and we’re off to Punggol for a walk at the Park Connector. We started the walk from Waterway Terraces 2 and headed towards Waterway Point.

The walk wasn’t pleasant from the start, because we stepped on dog poop. Sadly, an irresponsible pawrent/walker didn’t pick up the poop. It is something we still can’t understand why is it difficult to just pick up the poop or rinse away the pee? Let’s all be responsible and clear up the mess after the fur kids that we’re caring for. It doesn’t matter if it’s our own or not. It’s part of hygiene reason and keeping the neighbourhood clean is part of everyone’s job.

But of course, we didn’t let the unpleasant start ruin our day. We joked about buying the lottery as we might have some luck after stepping on the poop. We continued our journey along the park connector towards Waterway Point direction. As we noticed Covan is getting slower and a little tired, we decided to u-turn and not walk further. Thankful we did as once we arrived under the void deck, it started to drizzle. And so we ended our walk earlier than expected.

Playtime, Covan’s Shower Time

Got back to our humble abode, it’s playtime for the fur kids while we had our lunch. Covan as usual quickly went to his favourite hiding place to avoid Ruffles’ hyperactiveness. Covan prefers to befriend those that aren’t too active for him and Ruffles isn’t under that category. So it’s a game of Covan running out and back to his hiding spot while Ruffles tried to keep up.

Showered Covan after our lunch. Had to drag him out from under the shelf. Thankfully he was cooperative considering he did try to nib us previously. Sent him home after his shower and we’re pretty sure he’s relieved as no more Ruffles chasing him.

Impromptu Pawcation

Got a call from Ruffles and Kelly’s pawrent who asked if we could keep the fur kids over for a night. She’s doing spring cleaning for the entire house, and there’ll be some moving of furniture. She’s afraid the fur kid will be in the way and disturb the movers, and there will be no peace.

Since our place was available to take them in as pawcation fur kids, we agreed. The first night went well except that Kelly doesn’t want to sleep in our room. She prefers the living room, probably because she finds our room too crowded or she prefers to be alone. On the other hand, Ruffles wanted to be as near us as possible. Anywhere we go, he follows. If we locked him out of the room by accident, he’ll sit by the door and whine till we open the room’s door and let him in.

They had another impromptu extension to one more night as their pawrent was still cleaning up the house and there’s some hiccup over the furniture delivery. As it was a rainy Christmas, we didn’t get any excursion so we had playtime at home instead.

Ruffles & Kelly Meet Jeremy

In the morning of Boxing Day, we head out to pick Jeremy up for his pawcation with us. And so he gets to meet Ruffles and Kelly. It started well, then Ruffles kept annoying Jeremy and thus we had to separate them. Kelly on the other hand didn’t seem to want to interact, she’s in her own world minding her own business.

Home Sweet Home

It’s home sweet home for Ruffles and Kelly after dinner. Their pawcation finally came to an end and we’re glad they’ve enjoyed themselves as much as we enjoyed their short stay here with us. Till then, we’ll have our next adventure again.

Happy 2022!

Greetings from us to you

Happy New Year from team Grooming Pit Stop! May we accomplish what we would want to achieve this year. And of course, good health for all of us.

Our Plan for 2022

As we start the year with a busy schedule due to the annual Chinese New Year, we planned to slow down in our appointments starting from February. Our supawvisors are getting old with health conditions of their own, we wished to spend more time with them and care for them as best as we could.

Apart from taking care of our own fur kids, we would like to take the opportunity to take care of our own health too. With not being able to travel yet and not taking a break, we’re mentally and physically exhausted for the past two years. We experienced burnout and we think it’s time that we treat ourselves better too. Forgive us if our slots are limited from February onwards. We needed our break to keep ourselves charged up to serve the fur kids better.

We will still take in appointments for grooming and daycare while we schedule our off days (which have no fixed date/day) accordingly. Our Mini Pawmart will continue to function online and we’ll schedule the deliveries as best as we could.

2022 will be the year where we will slow down for some selfcare and to give our senior fur kids the care they really needed during their twilight years. We hope everyone will support us in this new arrangement and of course, book early to avoid disappointment.

Once again, Happy New Year! Stay safe during this trying time.

xoxo
Team Grooming Pit Stop

Pawcation – Junior (18 to 22 Dec 2021)

Late Night Pickup – 18 December

On a rainy night, we head out to pick Junior up for his pawcation while his pawrents are off for theirs. It started as a drizzle when we exit the car park. But as we drove further at TPE, the rain got heavier and visibility was a blur. We decided to take the left-most lane on the expressway and drove with care.

Upon reaching Junior’s place, he greeted us happily and can’t wait to start his pawcation with us. As he had some skin issues previously, he had his diet changed and we were taking down mental notes of his new feeding instructions. But of course, his mum sent us a text on the feeding instructions in case we forgot or miss out on something.

Thankfully the rain got smaller on our journey back. Once we arrived, walking back from the car park, Junior had his toilet break. Once home, had his feet wiped and he’s off to look for our Toby.

The first night for him wasn’t a pleasant one. He kept asking us to let him out of our room and refused to head back in. We weren’t sure why but we let him as long as he’s comfortable.

Pawcation Days

Junior is a very food motivated boy. When it comes to food, he’s very excited and can’t contain his excitement. We had to heat up his food and let it cool, but he doesn’t want to wait and wanted to dive in right away to chomp down his meal. It took us a while to calm him down during mealtime despite him sitting there impatiently and drooling.

It took us a while to understand why he doesn’t want to sleep with us in the room. When we bring in our extra dog bed into our room, did we notice him climbing up and starting to curl up to sleep. So he had been trying to tell us that an extra bed was missing, we didn’t get the hint. Sorry Junior, but we weren’t late to bring in one for you.

Didn’t get to bring him out for walks as the weather was a little cranky lately. It’s either a rainy day or passing rain clouds. Quite annoying actually. So we spent time with all the fur kids at home by taking turns to give them the attention they needed.

Grooming Day, Home Sweet Home

It’s grooming before heading home. Junior’s pawrents requested for a full groom session. They wanted his fur shorter in order to check on his skin condition. After shaving off his fur, we noticed he is still having some rashes and so we took a picture and update his pawrents.

While he was having his grooming session, he was a little fidgety as he wanted to get off the grooming table and mingle with our supawvisors. Had to talk to him nicely that he’ll get his playtime after the session. It did help a little before he got distracted again.

Sending him back after his dinner. While he watch us pack his stuffs, he got so excited and can’t wait to head home. We’re glad he enjoyed himself and looking forward to care for him again.

Day Care – 16 Dec 2021

Daycare 16 December 2021

Video of the day

Pickup

This week, we pick Covan up first before we head over to the west for Ruffles and Kelly. It was a long car ride for Covan, who gets motion sickness easily. But thankfully, he’s OK and well. Did we share about our first car ride with Covan? He scares the hell out of us by lying in his carrier and being not responsive. Back then we didn’t know he does have motion sickness.

After we pick up Ruffles and Kelly, we’ve decided to head back to the east for our weekly walk before heading home for the fur kids’ playtime.

Excursion at Punggol Settlement

Decided to head over to Punggol Settlement as we remembered the scenery there was awesome. Little did we know, the park’s carpark was full and we had to park at the other open space carpark next to it.

The park’s carpark at the moment is free and only limited slots available. And it’s usually full because non-parkgoers tend to take advantage of it. But it’s OK, the other carpark that we went to, though it’s not free, there’s ample lot available.

Tried taking a class photo of the fur kids, but failed terribly. They were all in their own world minding their own business. But it’s OK, we continued our journey towards Punggol jetty which have tiny steps towards the small beach area. Sadly, it was crowded and the fur kids didn’t get to feel the sands beneath their tiny paws.

We did take a break at the jetty and enjoyed the sea breeze while a toddler kept trying her luck to get close to us but was stopped by her mother. As the sun gets hotter, decided it’s time to head back home before all of us gets a heat stroke. Thankful for the nice weather and that the daycare fur kids get to have their walk for the day.

Shower Day

After our break and playtime, it’s shower day for the daycare fur kids. For Ruffles & Kelly, they’re on a bi-weekly shower schedule. And so the day finally arrives!

As much as they dislike it, but it’s time to make them clean and fresh before heading home. Thankfully, they’re quite cooperative during the session. And we meant there’s no need to chase them around the house just to catch them for their turn.

After showering all the fur kids, we sent Covan home first. And we’re in time before he gets all cranky before his dinner time. We were told he can be cranky nearing his dinner time, so we had to send him back before that.

Nap Time, Dinner Time

It’s nap time for all of us, nanny included. The only time we ever had peace was when they’re all taking a nap. So peaceful and quiet. For the humans, we get to have a quick power nap before all the fur kids are awake. Which also means more chaos as dinner time draws near.

It’s never easy feeding a bunch of fur kids, especially the very eager and excited ones when it comes to food. Luckily, we had extra pair of hands to help. So the impact of dinner time chaos wasn’t that bad.

Home Sweet Home

It’s time to head home after dinner. Sending them back can be quite therapeutic especially when the drive towards their home, we get to enjoy the nice sunset. Of course, provided it doesn’t rain on the day and when we’re not taking the KPE expressway.

Once they’re home, did we finally end our work and have some me-time. Do follow us on our website for the next adventure.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Seasons Greetings!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It’s the time of the year again! Thank you everyone for your continued support both in our grooming as well as retail. We’re grateful and appreciate every support and motivation you’ve given us to strive forward to serve you better.

On this joyous occasion, we wished everybody good health and be happy. Nothing beats staying positive during this trying time.

Year 2021

It’s the time of the year again where we would sit down and reminisce what we’ve been through for the year. The year 2021 is another year where we’re still stuck here due to the covid-19 pandemic, yet we’re embracing the new norm as we led our lives back to the usual as much as we could.

With the many changes to the rules and regulations from the government, we managed to make it through with everybody’s understanding and patience. It wasn’t a great year as we all hope, but we’re hoping that everybody is still as sane as ever. Covid-19 fatigue is real and that many are experiencing a mental breakdown. May you seek help if needed and stay strong! The world isn’t going to end just yet, so we got to encourage one another to move forward as we battle through and move towards the endemic.

Experiencing burnout

To be honest, with two years of not taking a break, we do experience burnout from work. Though we did have a worrying break last year due to the circuit breaker, we weren’t well-rested. We tried our best to serve everybody as best as we could during the circuit breaker exit phase 1, but due to our groomer being the lone ranger, it’s difficult to schedule everybody while we’re on a tight schedule. The per-day restrictions set by the government weren’t helping either as we try to follow the rules as closely as we could.

But of course, we’re still figuring out how to keep ourselves sane during this trying time. Hope everyone will understand if we were to take a few days off to recharge for the sake of our mental health.

GPS Mini Pawmart Venture

We do have a Carousell account since we started Grooming Pit Stop, however, we weren’t actively selling because our main priority in this small business is dog grooming. However, we had to start actively selling last year during the circuit breaker in the hope to bring us a little income to tide us over during the no grooming phase. Though there weren’t any orders coming in, and we were dejected, we decided to give retail another try.

In around September this year, we set up our Shopee page and started listing items that we have on hand to sell. We may have limited products available compared to those bigger players online, we’re contented to start things small and slow. We knew all along that retail isn’t as profitable and it’s difficult to get it all going, we decided to push forward. The first order that came in made us all thrilled and happy that the wait was worth it. And true enough, subsequent order came in. Although it was a small order, it did bring our morale up a little and have that tiny glimpse of hope for retail.

Then we decided to set up our own online store from scratch! To be honest, it wasn’t easy. Took us a while to understand how to use the interface and upload the products onto our online store. It was many trial and error as well as testing the page for transactions. We’ve decided on contactless payments, such as paynow, paylah and google pay instead of a credit card. Simply because most of our customers prefer that mode of payment online. And by paying us through google pay, you get to have rewards. Why not right?

Retail is our new venture which we hope it’ll grow and serve everybody’s needs other than just providing grooming services. We know it’s not easy, but we’ll hang in there. Do come and give us your support and grow with us!

Last but not least, thank you everyone for always being there for us.

xoxo
Team Grooming Pit Stop