A Cut Above

Andy Wiltz plays with dogs at Woof’s Play & Stay. KC area employers embrace training program and skills of graduates ready to start their career. By Andrea Byrne If anyone knows how challenging it can be to hire a good dog groomer, it’s owners and managers...

A Bright Future Set in Motion by Boss’ Kindness

By Rebecca Smith You’d be hard-pressed to find a story that better illuminates the life-changing effect of The Grooming Project than that of Kylie Stevens. A recent graduate (April 2021), Kylie’s world right now is one she can barely have imagined a few years ago. She...

Dogs as Healers

How pet grooming can lessen the effects of trauma on humans By Betty Jean Curran When Annie started the program, she was terrified. After spending years living in a trailer with her abusive boyfriend and three children, miles away from any neighbors, she couldn’t...

Rerouting for a Better Future

By Kelly Scanlon When 35-year-old Jeanne Dennison, a recent graduate of The Grooming Project, lost custody of her daughters two years ago, she was facing a long prison sentence for drugs and weapons possession. Losing her children turned out to be a critical turning...

Keeping Promises

A career in pet grooming empowers this mom of three to keep her family together while her husband serves a prison term. By: Barb Pruitt When 32-year-old Ashley Stillings was a little girl, her parents divorced. At just 7 years old, she made a promise to herself to...