Just about every night during the Paris shows this past March, I had the same routine: Go back to the hotel, work, eat a delicious (if kind of sad) dinner from Cojean, the French Pret, that I’d stashed in the minibar earlier, work a bit more—and then, as a reward for making it through yet another day at the coalface of fashion, go to YouTube to watch Girl With the Dogs.
It’s a channel of videos of a Canadian woman who, in all likelihood, wouldn’t tip the scales at 100 pounds wrestling with the likes of a 220-pound hirsute beast of a Caucasian Shepherd (or Ovcharka)—or an adorable Chow who defies every negative association with his breed—to groom them. (Much of Girl With the Dogs’s content is an odyssey into the foibles and idiosyncrasies of breeds you’ll know and those you don’t—to name just one example, it’s only through watching her video of Loki that I discovered the magnificent Leonberger.) There’s a Chihuahua called Pablo who has breathing difficulties, or Angel—an aging rescue who needed to have one eye removed, and yet here she is, looking wonderful, looking loved, looking cared for.
Girl With the Dogs is a real person, Vanessa De Prophetis, who’s based in Niagara Falls, Canada, and for several years has uploaded videos at a rapacious pace (to YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram) of her working with dogs (and cats) who travel to her from across both Canada and the US to be groomed. Each video takes you through the process of transforming them—simultaneously instructional and hilarious and heart-warming (or -rending)—through brushing, clipping, bathing, blow-drying, and treat-dispensing.
Fans of her work know all the references—happy hoodie, murder mittens, Nasty Critter shampoo. The videos are such compulsive viewing for dog owners (or me, a wannabe dog owner) that at the Met Gala one year I ended up telling known canine lover Demi Moore all about them. De Prophetis doesn’t charge anyone for her time—the quid pro quo is that the dogs’ caretakers allow her to film, and then post, their beloved pet being transformed. It’s that simple—and, at the same time, not.
Over the course of the twenty or so minutes of every episode, what you see is someone who’s a miracle worker with the conversational skills of Dr. Dolittle: A soother of nerves, a reader of emotions, a person blessed with being able to bond with just about any canine or feline companion—even those who are, in GWTD vernacular, spicy. De Prophetis’s fun, entertaining, and informative videos should be required viewing for anyone thinking about getting a pet, because what they underscore time and time again is that the human-dog dynamic is a long-term relationship built on responsibility; that it’s one of care, commitment, and choosing just the right breed for you. Well, that’s obvious, you might say. Indeed—but how quickly those three Cs go out the window when confronted by a cute, furry face. (Actually, we could make it 4 Cs: Compassion is a big part of the De Prophetis’s mindset, even for the most difficult of clients.)
If Dogue has gotten you thinking about getting a dog—it’s pretty much all I think about, to be honest—do yourself a favor: Watch and learn from Girl With the Dogs first. Actually, second: Read what De Prophetis has to say here first.
Vogue: Vanessa—tell me how you started Girl With the Dogs.
Vanessa De Prophetis: I had a grooming business for about 12 years, and I would groom about 15 pets a day. When social media started, I did my business and made videos for about two years, and then I had to make a decision as I was working seven days a week—crazy hours—so I ended up closing the business. While I do still work as a pet groomer, every pet I see now is new, and the grooming is just for the video. I don’t take regular clients other than my friends and family—any time you see a recurring animal, it’s because it’s owned by someone who’s close to me.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who looks out for those who appear several times—like Leo, the Chow, who is heart-melting. I first saw him as a few months old, and then a year and a half….
When I do that, it’s to show people what they were like as a puppy and then what you can expect from them as an adult—especially if they’ve been introduced to grooming through their puppyhood: how good they can be as an adult versus some of the puppies who come back as really bad adults, because it’s only the second time they’ve been groomed since they were young. It’s to teach the public that this is what you can expect when you get a puppy—or a kitten—for that matter.
Yes, it’s like the dentist: You’ve got to keep going. How do you select the animals for your videos? What’s your criteria?
I like to prioritize certain pets. If it’s a rescue that’s reaching out to me because they have an animal in their care that needs grooming, I’d want to do it—it benefits the animal getting groomed, but it also gets the word out that it needs adopting, or about the rescue itself; we managed to raise over $200,000 for that through our channel, which was incredible. Another thing I do is offer my services for free, and that’s for two reasons: I am earning off of the videos, so ethically I shouldn’t double dip, but more importantly because I’ve been a pet groomer for so many years and have seen animals in really poor condition, and I don’t think people realize what we groomers witness on a daily basis. You’ll have people who book their pets every six to eight weeks, and you have animals who come in once or twice a year in very poor shape—ear infections, ingrown nails, matted hair. People who might not be able to afford grooming will stretch it as far as they can, so I want to be free for those people. Otherwise, I prioritize puppies and kittens because I like to educate the public on the importance of starting grooming early. Then I like to show breeds that people might not have typically heard of so people can make educated decisions about getting one. Oftentimes, people choose a pet on looks and not whether it fits with their lifestyle, and then the pet either gets re-homed or put in a shelter—so hopefully we’re helping to cut the number of pets that happens to.
Can you tell me a bit more about the breeds you feature? I know you like Rottweilers—which I like but am always wary of, as they had bad press in the UK when I was growing up….
I definitely have my favorites. I grew up with Rottweilers, so I love them. I love Yorkshire Terriers. I love Pomeranians. I love German Shepherds. And even though I would never own one, I like the gigantic breeds—the Newfoundlands, the Central Asian Shepherds, the Caucasian Shepherds…so many of them!
I saw your video with the Caucasian Shepherd and he was intimidating and beautiful….
The Caucasian Shepherd is rare, but it’s becoming a little more popular. I like to get them in, as they can be very aggressive dogs—like you mentioned growing up when Rottweilers were seen as aggressive, which is not entirely untrue. The problem is that people who shouldn’t get those breeds get those breeds. That’s one of the other points I try to make: If you get one of those breeds, they can be great, but you have to be fully committed and fully educated on what to do to keep everybody safe.
I saw you had on an American Akita recently, and a Neapolitan Mastiff who came in with this ferocious looking muzzle—like the Darth Vader of muzzles! Is part of what you do about trying to change the public’s perception of any given breed?
Yes and no. For example, we hear about the Pit Bull and how aggressive it can be. They’re banned in so many places. The reality is that the Pit Bull was bred to fight—that’s what it is designed to do. When people say, “Pit Bulls aren’t aggressive,” that’s not true—it is a kind of lie told to the public. I always hear they’re nanny dogs, they were bred to take care of children. None of that is true—they were bred for blood sports. It doesn’t mean you can’t have one; it just means that you have to know this and take appropriate care and action. Maybe you don’t allow your dog off the leash in case it attacks another dog, or a child. Pit Bulls also tend to be more aggressive in groups, so if you’re going to have more than one, it increases the risks of the dogs doubling up on a human or another dog. Obviously there are a lot of Pit Bulls who are great with people and great with other dogs—it’s just a matter of knowing all this to make the right decisions to keep the public safe and your pet safe, so as to stop giving them such a bad reputation.
Given that you are working with so many pets for the first time, how do you know how to handle their temperaments?
I always speak to the owner. If somebody calls me and says, “I have a dog that’s been turned away by other groomers,” I always ask what the problem was. Nine times out of 10 they don’t like their nails being clipped, or the blow dryer. The dog isn’t aggressive—it’s just aggressive to part of the grooming it doesn’t like. When you see me being confident, it’s because I know the dog doesn’t have an issue with being bathed. If another groomer could bathe it, so can I. I also notice signs from the animal that say it is stressed—is the tail up or down, are they panting, are they licking their lips, are they giving you side eye? We joke a lot about the side eye [in the videos], but it’s a sign the dog is nervous. If they’re giving me that, I am more cautious. They might even try to bite you, which is usually a warning sign and not a real bite. Dogs are good at using their mouths. They don’t accidentally miss you. If they miss you, they’re saying, “I don’t like that, please stop.”
I have to say: I am always impressed by how much you look in control and how you never seem fearful.
To say that I am not fearful isn’t true—I’m just not showing the dog I am fearful! Because the minute you do, the dog is thinking, If I can scare her, I can get her away from me. It’s all about staying calm and not reacting. It’s not always possible—if they go to bite you, sometimes you flinch, just because that’s human nature. But if you don’t react, most times the dogs realize, Okay, it’s not working, and they pretty much give up.
Have you ever had to stop a groom?
There have been a few where I’ve stopped because continuing would be a danger to the dog; it’s behaving in such a way it could hurt itself. Then I usually have to suggest that the dog gets sedated before it is groomed. There was one dog that I had to send away before we even started. In all my years of grooming, I’ve never met such an aggressive dog. I opened the gate to let it into my backyard, and the dog lunged at my face. She was wearing a muzzle, but it wasn’t properly fitted and she got it off, and the owner had zero control. That was a straight up No—I am not touching this. Surprisingly, the breed was a Portuguese Water Dog—it’s very rare to see that kind of behavior with that kind of dog.
One thing I’ve noticed from watching so many of your videos is that the doodles, which we tend to think of as being so cute and sweet, have been more of a mixed bunch, temperament-wise, than I would have expected….
I’ve groomed plenty of wonderful doodles and plenty of not so wonderful doodles. There are a couple of problems with doodles: Owners are sometimes ill informed about the maintenance, and so a lot of them come in very matted because they’ve not been groomed in a long time. There’s not an understanding that you’ve got to come in regularly [if you have a doodle]. But the real problem is that they’ve become such a fad, and people are breeding them with no health testing, no temperament testing—they have no business being in breeding altogether. They’re producing a lot of animals with anxiety and stress, and of course they just want to make money. They’re not telling their customers what to expect, nor do they care. They don’t know if the dog will shed or not, what its temperament will be like. It’s pretty rare to find an ethical breeder of doodles. At the end of the day, they’re breeding two breeds who shouldn’t really be bred together. If you’re going to get one, find a breeder who actually does health and temperament testing.
What can someone do at home to help their pet with the grooming experience?
Start grooming your pet at home from day one. You bring the puppy home, you give it a bath. Maybe you don’t blow-dry it the first time, as that could be overwhelming, and it doesn’t mean that you have to use shampoo every time you bathe it. Also, play with their paws—and if your dog is going to require haircuts, maybe get an electric toothbrush and rub it on your dog so it gets used to the sound and the vibrations; they’re similar to that of clippers. Maybe teach them a command, and let the groomer know. We have a German Shepherd, and we’ll say “Inspect,” and that way she knows she has to stand and that we are going to touch her. Little things like that can help. I have one lady who had never had a dog, and she got her first, a Cane Corso. My first response was, “You got what kind of puppy?!” I was like, this is going to be a nightmare—this dog is going to be so aggressive; she has no idea what she is in for. (She’d only had cats before.) I got her to bring him into the salon so he could get socialized—I knew which dogs he could play with to reinforce a positive experience—and she did, every day for the first year of his life, and it transformed that dog. He’s called Gucci. I absolutely love him. She did everything right. To socialize a dog, you can’t just bring it to the dog park. You are doing the opposite of socializing.
You see, this is why I shouldn’t get one: I had no idea. I would have thought that would have been good!
You don’t know if the other dogs have had all their vaccinations—so it can be a health hazard—and you don’t know if the other dogs are friendly. If you bring your puppy and it gets attacked, it’s going to ruin its future, because it’s not going to forget that, and it will become fearful of other dogs. Socialize your dog with friends and family and dogs you know.
If you had to pick your top three grooms, what would they be?
There was Romeo, the Sarplaninac, an incredible dog. The breed is typically your aggressive guard dog type, but he was so good for grooming—it was remarkable. Then I groomed a Caucasian Shepherd called Dodge. He was massive, probably the biggest dog I have ever groomed, and his demeanor was just angelic, the sweetest, calmest dog ever. For his size and breed, that was shocking. And my cat! I just got a cat, a British Longhair—I love that breed. They’re known for being calm and lazy and non-aggressive, and she fits that mold completely. She’s a kitten, and I don’t have one scratch on me—which is rare when it comes to kittens!
Lastly, Vanessa, my colleague Margaux also loves watching your videos, and she asked me to ask you about your voice in the videos. Do you use a special one with the animals?
In my voiceovers, I changed my voice to be a bit slower and more of a monotone, because I’m a really fast speaker. With the animals, I might increase my volume if I want them to get excited, and lower my voice if I want them to calm down. But really [laughs]: animals, people—I speak to them the same way!