Inside Beauty and the Beast Luxury Dog Grooming in Leeds

We meet Ellie Corbin from Beauty and the Beast Luxury Dog Grooming on Easterly Road ahead of International Dog Day on the 26th August.

Transcript

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.