South Coast TODAY: 'I'm happier when the dogs are happier': Popular pet groomer returns to Fairhaven - Shelter Animals Count
08Nov’21
Seth Chitwood
Standard-Times
Published 3:32 a.m. ET Nov. 8, 2021
Updated 9:39 a.m. ET Nov. 8, 2021
FAIRHAVEN — After being away for two years, Mattapoisett’s Kylie Panek has returned to the SouthCoast with the goal of making dogs as happy as humanly possible.
“I love working with the animals. I’ve been working with animals my whole life,” said Panek, 27, owner of 12 Paws Pet Salon in Fairhaven. “Something about making them look cute, making them feel better and seeing the owner’s reaction… I absolutely love it.”
Panek, a Mattapoisett native, started her career with horses, training, breeding and body clipping them for shows. She then transitioned to dogs.
“Dogs are more fun because I get to do a lot more different creative things where horses are kind of like a general grooming.”
In 2013, Panek graduated from Animal Behavior College, an online certification program for dog grooming which required her to work 100 hours at a local groomer. She then worked in the area for six years earning a reputation for her dog-grooming expertise.
Connecting with the dogs
Panek says she loves connecting with animals on a psychological level, too. “I’m all about the animal behavior part. It’s very rewarding,” she said. “Honestly, some people don’t have the patience or want to spend the time doing that. I love that stuff.”
Panek recalled working with a little dog that required a muzzle when she first started working with him because of his severe anxiety.
“He came to me every four weeks, and I couldn’t even touch him, he would just try to eat me, bite me, freak out, he would have an accident, he was horrified.”
The Newbie: Where on the SouthCoast to let the dogs out?
Over time, Panek was able to connect with the dog to the point that she could remove his muzzle and they would have a friendlier interaction. “It just takes some patience to earn the dog’s trust.”
In 2019, Panek moved to Scituate to pursue a pet-grooming opportunity. However, during her two years away, she started to miss the camaraderie in the SouthCoast.
“It was kind of like, ‘Well, here’s my dog. Make it look cute.’ Drop it off and go,” Panek admitted. “And then the people here are more like, ‘Oh my god. So good to see you. How are you? My dog is so excited.’
“I missed the people in this area.”
In September, Panek returned to the Fairhaven area and opened her grooming business near the Mattapoisett line at 416 Huttleston Ave. She said she started booking clients immediately.
“When I came back to the area, I got a lot of my old clients back.” she said, adding that some of the dogs remembered her instantly.
Panek believes that there are more dogs than groomers available in the Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester tri-town area. “A lot of people also got puppies during COVID-19, because they were home. It’s like a really big thing,” she said.
In a USA Today Article, according to Shelter Animals Count, a non-profit that helps share data on shelter animals, the adoption rate for pets was 73% during the pandemic, up from 64% in 2019.
Twenty percent of respondents to a Nielsen survey in July 2020 said they adopted one or more dogs or cats between March and June, up from less than 5% over the same time in 2019.
In the two months of being open, Panek says she’s already groomed 100 dogs and is booking appointments two weeks in advance.
Panek prefers working solo so the dogs aren’t overwhelmed. “I worked in other grooming shops that have been very busy and hectic,” she said. “And I find that the dogs don’t enjoy it, it’s almost too stressful for them.”
However, Panek is never alone.
At 12 Paws Pet Salon, she is always accompanied by her three dogs (the “12 paws” referenced in the salon’s name). Kody, 10, and Kane, 4, are black Labs and Kash, 6, is a chocolate lab.
“They lay on my feet as I’m grooming,” she said. “So I have to stand over them and they’re always covered in hair.”
Panek says she loves making dogs feel better. Besides cutting hair, she wants to make her doggy clients as happy as possible. She even specializes in palm massages.
“When they come in, they get worked up…and then when they go home, they’re all relaxed and happy. And they feel so much better,” she said.
“I’m happier when the dogs are happier.”
Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.