Pampering pooches a life's work

From designing the steering of racing yachts to grooming fluffy little pooches - Wanganui's Bianca Carmichael will try anything and is determined to work and support her children.

She has been dealing with dogs since the age of 17 and also spent seven years as a boatbuilder. She has fitted her garage out for her dog-grooming business, B's Hotdogs, so that she can work from home.

And she took herself off the domestic purposes benefit.

"I'm a mum first, but I have got to work," she said.

Miss Carmichael has always loved dogs and started working with them as a volunteer at a Fordell kennels. After leaving there she picked up her own customers, and went on to train in dog and cat grooming in London.

London was full of fluffy little "designer mongrels" that needed haircuts, and their owners could be very particular.

It was while she was in Sydney that she answered an ad for becoming a boat builder. For seven years she designed steering components for grand prix racing yachts, America's Cup boats and Pirates of the Caribbean promotional boats. She worked first in Australia, then in the United Kingdom and then in China.

"I'm one for taking chances and I became good at it," she said.

Returning to New Zealand four years ago, she resumed dog grooming, first in Masterton and now in Wanganui.

As well as working for herself, she grooms dogs for Belmont Boarding Kennels on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. The rest of the week, including weekends, is available for private clients and their pooches.

She has some favourites in the doggy world. One is a labrador cross called Rolf and she has also become fond of Peppy, a shi tzu cross who came from the pound.

Transport is part of her service package. Miss Carmichael will pick up dogs in her car and take them to her garage for grooming. She puts them on a blanket in her car and said they behaved themselves en route. "Dogs usually love going for a car ride."

A full wash, groom, trim and dry takes at least two hours, even for small dogs, and she can do extras like nail trimming and ear cleaning. "I've even done a few mohawks. I love it when people ask for things outside the box."

It's important to let dogs know who is boss within the first five minutes. Bad signs in the dog are growling, twitching and whipping around. Miss Carmichael has never been fully bitten but she has learned to be very quick.

A good telling off was usually enough to assert her dominance, and the next method was to hold the dog under its chin and stare it down. "They hate that," she said.

In the very worst cases, she will resort to muzzling the canine.

"I have to be the boss, otherwise it's just upsetting for the dog and for me."

She has quite a few clients but she wants more. "The goal is to build it up enough so that when the kids go to school mum can be busy."