Misty Gieczys

Misty Gieczys’ is a lifelong learner. She is heavily involved in the dog grooming and competition communities, and any chance she gets to learn new techniques or styles, she jumps on the opportunity.

Misty’s introduction to working with dogs started as a PetSmart dog trainer, but eventually transferred to a groomer. She said she was hooked ever since.

Now, nearly 15 years later, Misty is a Certified Master Groomer, owns two salons, teaches upcoming groomers and still furthers her education to become better at her craft.

“Education is my favorite part,” Misty said. “I also love being able to teach someone my skills and my passion and watch them make a living and trade out of it. It would make me giddy if they surpass me.”

Misty, owner of Designer Paws Salon in Ohio, has been going to seminars and expos to learn more for her business since 2009, has been a subscriber to Learn2GroomDogs.com since it launched. At first, the site became a tool to use for her own education, but eventually became an integral part of her own business and training operation.

“I use it for everything,” she said. “Every time we hire a new hire, I have a list of videos they need to watch before they come to me to train.”

Her passion for learning and teaching does not just extend to her business and new hires. Misty said she is a part of multiple Facebook groups that help with grooming education and consistently tells people that Learn2GroomDogs.com is an important and valuable tool for groomers of all levels.

“I always suggest people get a membership,” she said. “It’s less than a DVD per month, and we get close to 900 videos now. I push that quite a bit for people who want to get into the industry, or people who need to know what to look for. There are so many different videos that people who don’t actually groom can get education from.”

Misty said a reason she recommends educational tools to other people is because she believes it is hard to find education readily accessible to groomers to refresh their skills or learn new things without going to Expos, back to school or potentially learning the wrong technique from a YouTube video.

“I don’t think a lot of people in our industry know where to get our education from,” she said. “Some think it’s just the expos, but there are seminars right at the tips of their fingers on Learn2GroomDogs.com”

Realizing there is a need for accessible education, Misty makes it a point to host seminars at her salons and continues to spread positive quality education to groomers who are looking to get into the industry and are experienced in grooming.

Misty falls into a routine of watching videos before competitions or grooming new breeds, some videos she says she has seen a hundred times, and still seems to glean extra information that she didn’t catch before.

“With repetition, you soak it in,” she said. “I recommend Learn2GroomDogs.com to literally everyone. [Learn2GroomDogs.com makes] it a lot easier for people to access that education.”

Misty is continuing her education by pursuing more certifications within the grooming industry and continuing to take her competition grooming to further levels.