Forget personal grooming, Fido’s first in line for haircut

DOGS will be able to get a haircut before their owners when Pets At Home reopens its grooming sites next week.

The chain, whose 453 shops were allowed to stay open during the outbreak, decided to shut its “groom rooms” to put new social distancing measures in place before they opened again.

This week Pets At Home staff have been bringing their own dogs into work for a trim “to get back into the swing of things as we go into next week for customers”, said Peter Pritchard, the chief executive.

It already has a waiting list of about 40,000 dogs needing a trim and will give priority to those in most in need, depending on when they were last groomed, as well as the breed.

Some puppies have been suffering from heatstroke in recent weeks because of their long fur, Mr Pritchard said. Owners have taken the matter into their own hands and have started giving dog haircuts.

“I’m very worried about the hot weather – it’s a challenge. Some animals have ended up at the vet because [owners] have cut the dogs. Grooming takes 1,200 hours of training – it’s not frivolous,” he said.

The salons were previously enclosed spaces in stores. To protect staff, the retailer has reduced the number of dogs it will groom every hour, but will keep the parlours open for longer.

It has also divided the areas into smaller units separated by plastic screens.

Employees already wore visors before Covid-19 to prevent them from inhaling fur. It has taken eight weeks to implement all the changes.

Before the outbreak, Pets At Home groomed a record 83,000 dogs over three months, with 27,500 in the week before Christmas, worth £1million in sales, and 6,000 on Christmas Eve.

The retailer also benefited from pet owners stocking up on dog and cat food as the nation went into lockdown.

It helped annual sales hit £1billion for the first time, but demand has begun to unwind since.

Mr Pritchard said that more people have been getting kittens and puppies during the outbreak, a trend he expects will continue.

Analysts believe that some owners will splash out even further on accessories to pamper their pets.

The company has had to invest more money in its social distancing measures, although it did not say how much.