Ellington

Shaggy dogs walk in Woofles Pet Grooming on Highway 58 and walk back out resembling show dogs.

The grooming business is celebrating 28 years in the same spot near the Harrison border.

“I’ve been in the grooming business for almost 40 years,” said Woofles Pet Grooming manager/groomer Lynda Hunerwadel, who joined the Woofles team a few years ago after selling her own grooming shops. “We groom all breeds of cats and dogs. We even groom wolves and wolf hybrids, but owners must stay for those. No pet is turned away unless it’s a vicious dog.”

She said business booms on Fridays and Saturdays and when holidays are approaching.

“This is one of the most lucrative pet grooming shops in Chattanooga due to the geography,” said Hunerwadel. “We also have a lot of pet grooming experience here. If you do a good job there is always business, and we do great work.”

Inside the shop on a typical Friday, 15 to 30 pets are groomed from head to toe. Hunerwadel and fellow groomer Cynthia Wortman, a Harrison resident, trim the nails and hair of pets while bather Joyce Moore, who lives on Highway 58, shampoos, rinses and dries pets.

Hunerwadel, who recently shaved down a marmalade domestic short haired cat named Tigger that stayed still for most of the experience, said Woofles will shave animals’ back, belly and chest but not the head or tail.

At Woofles, workers prep or bathe the pet, then trim the hair to determine if the pet has skin issues before drying the pet. If the pet has fleas or skin problems a special shampoo is used to treat the condition during the bathing process.

“Dogs need to be groomed to keep from getting matted,” said Hunerwadel. “We groom a lot of Yorkshire Terriers and Shih Tzus.”

At Woofles, groomers also talk to pet owners about the importance of spaying and neutering as well as proper pet grooming and flea prevention care and console the owner if their pet passes away.

The groomers sometimes end up owning stray dogs, said Hunerwadel. She owns three rescues: Snow, a bird mix dog, Shadow, a lab mix, and Chipper, a Border Collie mix that is blind and deaf.

“I recommend mixed breeds; I don’t get purebreds,” she said, adding that many dogs need a rescue home. “In the pet grooming business you bring lots of pets home that wander up. About one pet a month is left here by the owner that we take home too. The owner can pick their pet up later.”