The people behind the clippers
A three-groomer studio in a West Asheville bungalow, built by someone whose own dog was banned from two salons.
Started because of a difficult dog
In 2017, Maya Torres’s rescue collie Juniper was turned away from her second salon for “being too much work.” Maya, then a vet tech, decided the problem wasn’t the dog.
She rented a bungalow on Haywood Road, threw out the cages, capped the studio at one pet at a time, and booked nothing but “difficult” dogs for the first year. Word spread the way it does when shaking dogs stop shaking. Nine years and two groomers later, the rule hasn’t changed: the animal sets the pace.
2017
The year Juniper
got her groom
Nine years of patient grooming
We count the numbers that say something about trust, not turnover. These are the four we’re proudest of.
Three groomers, one philosophy
Small on purpose. You always know whose hands your pet is in, and they’re the same hands at every visit.
Maya Torres
Founder & senior groomer — anxious and bite-history dogs
Lena Park
Groomer — small breeds, puppies and hand-scissoring
Dan Whitfield
Groomer — double coats, de-shedding and the cat mornings
What we run the studio by
Four commitments, in the order we’d sacrifice everything else to keep them.
The animal sets the pace
Appointment times flex around the pet, not the other way. We’d rather run late than push through.
One pair of hands
The groomer who says hello does the bath, the cut and the goodbye. No hand-offs mid-visit.
Tell owners everything
Lumps, sore hips, bad teeth — if we notice it, you hear about it at pickup, in writing.
Stay small
Three groomers is the most this house can hold without becoming the loud salon we left.
Juniper
Still supervising
the yard, age 12