We meet Ellie Corbin from Beauty and the Beast Luxury Dog Grooming on Easterly Road ahead of International Dog Day on the 26th August.
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00:00Dogs were my happy place from a very young age.
00:03It was always a running joke in my family that there's only one thing Ellie will get
00:06up for at 7 o'clock in the morning and it's to walk dogs.
00:09Ellie Corbin is the owner of Beauty and the Beast Luxury Dog Grooming on Easterly Road
00:14in Leeds and she's paused to reflect on a decade in the industry.
00:19Her career has seen her become top dog, training dog groomers in salons across the south of
00:25before launching Beauty and the Beast in her Isle of Wight garden cabin.
00:29After moving to Leeds and the birth of her second child, Ellie set her sights on a salon of her own.
00:36I thought if I'm going back to dog grooming, I'm going big.
00:39But I wanted to find the perfect unit and this was the first unit that I saw
00:45and despite how good it looks now, it looked rubbish.
00:48I couldn't see the potential but luckily my partner was like no, you'll be alright, you'll do it.
00:53If you see the salon, it's set up like mirror, mirror, mirror, table, table, table,
00:57like a hairdressing salon has mirror, mirror, mirror, seat, seat, seat.
01:00I just wanted it much more holistic, much more friendly for the dogs, hence the pens, no crate.
01:06Ellie enjoys a thorough consultation with each four-legged friend and their owner,
01:11with each dog and breed having their own grooming needs.
01:15Her numerous pup grades have proved popular, including specialised shampoos, teeth cleaning,
01:22facials and themed photo shoots.
01:25They go into the bath, they have either spa treatment or not,
01:29and then they're dried and then it's clipping, scissoring, finish it all off.
01:34If they've had the spa package then they get the photo shoot in our photo booth.
01:37On average, a dog groom takes two hours, but I don't like to say two hours and you'll be done, come back,
01:43because sometimes dogs are more nervous and they need longer, sometimes they need a break,
01:47sometimes they've got hip problems, arthritis, and standing up for two hours is a lot.
01:52So we would prefer to take longer, put them down for a bit, let them have a chill out,
01:57and then get them back up and finish it.
01:59When I opened here I wanted to kind of be more pushed towards helping the rescues
02:05and the behaviour of dogs that have been blacklisted from other places and stuff like that,
02:10which we did a lot of and still do,
02:12but I organically turned into someone that turns dogs into teddy bears.
02:17Ellie is always keen to build a bond with all dogs, ensuring they have a pawfect experience.
02:23I think there's very, very little aggressive dogs, they are more misunderstood dogs.
02:28So we get a lot of dogs that come in and they're like, the last dog groomer said they had to muzzle them,
02:33that they were not very well behaved and stuff like that,
02:36and the chance are they just need a bit of patience and for someone to respect their boundaries.
02:40So I think in that sense, especially being a rebellious teenager,
02:43I kind of feel for them in that sense, but yeah, they are just joyous.
02:47They're bundles of, even if they're nervous dogs or they're a little bit standoffish,
02:53there's nothing quite like getting a connection with them.