We wanted to spotlight one of our favorite groomers, Katrina Short. Hailing from Northern California, many of you might know her from her creative grooming skills that she puts to work on Zeus and Kevin aka her Giraffedoodle and Zebradoodle. And if you don’t know who she is, it’s time to hop on the train: with 18.3k follower on Instagram and counting, she has quickly won over the hearts of groomers and non-groomers all over the world.
For those of you that follow her, you are surely familiar with her extensive Instagram stories full of grooming videos, funny rants, stories about her day and clients, and her overall enchanting positivity that draws you into her world. What we love about her (and we're sure you do too) is how REAL she is.
To give some context for this interview, we sent over some questions to Katrina. Her mother, Misti Short, interviewed Katrina for us and sent us the recordings. For those of you that don’t know, Misti is the behind-the-scenes mother/manager (shoutout Kris Jenner) that assists Katrina. Also, keep in mind that Katrina is grooming a dog through the entire interview! What happens next is pure magic:
[Misti] Katrina, tell us about yourself. What did you do before you found grooming?
[Katrina] I was multiple things. I was a waitress at Blank Angus then I was a young receptionist at a chiropractic office, and then I was a baker at the Safeway Bakery.
[Misti] How long have you been grooming?
[Katrina] About 14 years, maybe 15 years.
[Misti] How did you start on the groomer journey?
[Katrina] I wanted to be a veterinarian but at the time, I walked myself into a PetSmart and went into the grooming salon and asked if they were hiring because I loved animals and they took me right away. I started out as a bather and that’s where my career started.
[Misti] So I want to share something about that regarding how you started this journey. I’m Katrina’s mom and back when she was a little girl, we had two Dalmatians and she had a set of Crayola markers, all the different colors. And one day she was outside in the front yard, laying with her dogs, and she was drawing, and she started to color, outline, each one of the spots on the Dalmatians, and before you know it, we had a rainbow-spotted Dalmatian. Kind of looked like a Lisa Frank drawing, it was really cool.
[Misti] Is there anything specific you focus on within your grooming?
[Katrina] Just the small details. Sets my grooming apart.
[Misti] What about in creative grooming?
[Katrina] Just thoroughness.
[Misti] Is creative grooming, your favorite type?
[Katrina] I like both regular grooming and creative grooming. I like creative grooming because I get to use my creativity and my imagination. And I have a lot of clients who honestly just come in and let me do whatever *I* want because they’re just so thrilled I’m doing something on their dog so that’s really cool to have an open, unlimited canvas.
[Misti] How do you get your ideas for the creative grooming?
[Katrina] Sometimes people will tell me kind of what they want and it’s kind of like a tattoo artist where they come in with ideas and you create your own version of their ideas and just go with it. I don’t know, I have to do my research and I really like doing realism and I research, you know, what I’m about to do and put my own spin on it.
[Misti] When you’re doing your research, what do you do? Is it just in your mind? Do you write it down on paper?
[Katrina] I’m a natural artist so I’ll draw it out.
[Misti] You’ll draw it out on paper first? So, you get a little idea, you draw it out, and then you put it on the animal. Where did your inspiration come from to do Zeus and Kevin as a giraffe and zebra?
[Katrina] Well Zeus was actually a Giants-themed baseball player for the San Francisco Giants
[Misti] Buster Posey
[Katrina] Yeah
[Misti] And you were Buster Posy. Explain what that looked like.
[Katrina] So Zeus was creatively colored into a baseball player, his head was formed into a batting helmet, his body was transformed into a uniform. So, he had the baseball pants, the baseball socks, the baseball jersey, um, and then when I went to the San Francisco Giants game, we won! It was dog’s day and we won out of like hundreds of dogs in creative costumes and clothing. And when I came home, I was like ok I’m done. And I started shaving him off and shaving him really down and I already seen the vision of me just turning him into an animal, a different animal other than a dog. With the black already there, I was like why don’t I just do a zebra and that’s what I did. (Click here to see what Zeus looked like as Zeus Posey)
[Misti] So he already had, you already shaved him down to a mohawk, and he had his boots on from the prior socks from the baseball outfit. So, a lot of people don’t know that Zeus was the original zebra.
[Katrina] Yes, Zeus was the original viral zebra bouncing around in my front yard.
[Misti] And then later you turned him in to what?
[Katrina] And then from the zebra, I wanted to do something different and I love giraffes. So that’s when I turned him into his signature giraffe. And I wanted to change him up and do something, but I just can’t seem to remove him from the giraffe. I just feel like it’s his signature trademark now. He’s stuck with it. (This interview took place prior to COVID and during quarantine, Katrina shaved Zeus down and he was so sad! The videos were on her story and he honestly looked heartbroken! He loves the attention he gets).
[Misti] Have you always been fond of savannah animals? Like leopards, zebras
[Katrina] Yeah
[Misti] Giraffes?
[Katrina] Yes
[Misti] Ok so these are feel-goodies. We have to ask, what are your 3 favorite products from Ryan’s Pet Supplies
[Katrina] Um, I love Nature’s Specialties. I love the Paw Brothers Rakke for dematting the pets. And I love the Paw Brothers Low-Low Table.
[Misti] Is there a mentor or someone that inspired you to get you into grooming?
[Katrina] No (Haha we are laughing this is such a Katrina answer)
[Misti] Nobody’s inspired you?
[Katrina] Uh ok actually yes. (LOL) I had someone I’ve looked up to, that’s Mackensie Murphy, I didn’t go into grooming because of her but after competing and getting to know some of the groomers in the industry, I really love Mackensie Murphy. She’s an amazing competitor.
[Misti] You have many followers that were excited to see you at [the Ryan’s Pet Supplies Booth] at the Groom Expo West. We heard someone say that they came down from Ontario. Another gal drove 4 hours to meet you. How humbling are these experiences to you?
[Katrina] Um, very humbling, I get emotional when other people get emotional. And it’s kind of funny and cute when people come up to me and they get shell shocked and they stutter, and they start crying or …[Misti] Or they don’t know what to say
[Katrina] I think it’s funny because I don’t think I’m this big, you know, like celebrity or person. I just look at myself like a regular normal human being, like one of them. But just the way they react when they see me it’s very humbling. I just hug ‘em and diffuse their like uh what is it, like their …
[Misti] Their fears.
[Katrina] Yeah
[Misti] Yeah, so me being your mom…
[Katrina] They freak out
[Misti] Yeah, me being your mom, and you see it, and seeing people come up and they instantly start crying or they’re shaking or whatever. The way that I see you respond, you’ve always, always, stopped what you’re doing to acknowledge them, and you always say “Hi” and you always hug them. You always make them feel like they are special, and that’s something that me as a mom, seeing you do, that’s very ….
[Katrina] Yeah, I like to make everyone feel validated
[Misti] Very, very sweet. And very, very humbling. Um, yeah. I just love that about you. No matter what, even if like we are in a hurry to go eat, and you haven’t eaten for hours, you still will stop to talk to whoever that wants to talk to you, to meet you, and that’s really cool about you.[Katrina] Yeah. I have a lot of patience.
[Misti] You’ve positively impacted many lives. Where do you get your strength from?
[Katrina] I have my personal inner strength I get my strength from being a mom to two beautiful children. And through the toughest times of my life, my strength came God.
[Misti] What advice would you have for a groomer just starting out?
[Katrina] I believe that an amazing groomer comes from a really good bather. I believe that when you can bathe and properly dry a dog, that makes for a beautiful haircut. So, when I started grooming, I was never rushing to go to grooming school. I really wanted to master being a bather first. Then I feel like a good bather makes the groomer.
[Misti] It’s the start of blank canvas, right? A great foundation. Um ok. Future Plans, now that you are back in a brick and mortar, the Classy Canine Wiggle Rumps, does it feel good to be back in your own grooming shop vs. your home?
[Katrina] Um, I’m not going to lie, I did miss waking up and just rolling out of bed and taking those ten steps to the grooming table. And grooming in my fluffy slippers and my pajamas and my messy bun and my clients didn’t care. But yeah, I missed being in a salon, in a business environment, and having employees. And having access to having MORE people to come to me.
[Misti] Yeah, more people come to you inside the salon. And it’s so nice not having hair all over your house. Ok. You mentioned you might enter the creative styling event at Super Zoo this year. If so, can you give us an idea on what you might do?
[Katrina] It will be possibly another animal. There’s been some recent movies. And I’ve come across some ideas. So, I do like keeping it animal related and realistic so you might see me do another form of wild animal.
[Misti] What do you think the future holds for Katrina Short?
[Katrina] I hope my future holds more traveling. I would love to travel the world and groom. I would love to travel the world and teach and visit and make appearances in other salons. I know there’s a salon in Ireland who they keep begging me to come out there to work with them in their salon. Um, but I think that would be really cool to travel and teach and groom and be a traveling groomer.
[Misti] And you’ve also been approached by TV Shows
[Katrina] Mhhm.
[Misti] But we just haven’t found the right one, to accept the right one. Yeah. Possibly TV in the future.
So, what is the farthest anyone has traveled to meet you?
[Katrina] I had someone come from Canada to have their dog groomed by me. And then I had some really cool Katrina Short fans and Zeus fans that travelled all the way from Puerto Rico just to come to my salon and bring my cupcakes and take pictures and they just hung out in the reception area and went home.
[Misti] Did you know they were coming?
[Katrina] Uhm, no. Until like the day of. They asked me like what I like, and they said, “We’re coming in tomorrow!” and I was like “Ok!” And when they came, they said they were from Puerto Rico and I could not believe it.
[Misti] How humbling was that?
[Katrina] That was really cool. She still has me as her screen saver on her phone.
[Misti] Ok. Anything else you’d like to add?
[Katrina] Nope. That’s it.
[Misti] Ok signing off.
Katrina and Misti, thank you for taking the time to work with us at Ryan’s Pet Supplies. We are so excited to work with such amazing women. Katrina is truly an inspiration. At Ryan’s Pet Supplies, we are all fans of her. We enjoy watching the engaging stories she shares each night. She has a way of making you feel like you have known her forever!
We were so excited to have her at our booth at Groom Expo West and to have such a special relationship with her. We only booked her for Saturday, but she came back on Sunday just because the people wanted more! And that just goes to show how enchanting Katrina Short truly is. We can’t wait to see what she does next. Thank you, Katrina, for everything that you bring to the grooming industry.
You can (should) follower her on Instagram or Facebook – and don’t forget to check out her website.
If you liked this blog post, comment on Facebook or Instagram and tell us who we should interview next. You can also follow us on social media for giveaways, contests, and more. Until next time, stay safe groomers!