Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Taylor Kier . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Taylor, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

All my life I have had sensitive skin or problematic skin. I have a lot of contact allergies, reactive skin, eczema, and acne. I went to doctors that gave me little answers until I found one that helped. A huge problem I never knew of was my food allergies causing some of the issues. However a lot of what helped me I discovered on my own. From changing fabric detergent to changing soap and shampoo or finding what skin products my skin toleranted was all something I had to discover and educate myself on through my years of struggling with skin issues. It also meant going deeper into what ingredients were in everything that I ate and used. This made me discover I liked learning about these things and when I heard about an Iv San Bernard course about dogs skin and coat I was all about it. I took the course and loved learning everything for Dr. Favor the vet. Who teaches the course. I learned things I never thought of and started applying it to my grooming clients. I saw it change their skin and coats. It even healed some of their topical issues. At this point in my life I was living alone and was lonely and started looking for a dog to help. I discovered a Boston Terrier at a pug rescue and after reading her story I knew God wanted us together. She had skin and coat issues that the rescue was trying to address. I reached out to them and after approval I adopted Daisy. Daisy was soon renamed Daisy “Quake” Johnson Kier and I started to try to help her skin. She made me realize how uneducated I was on the subject. I reached out to Iv San Bernard to help. I started topically treating her skin infection and hair loss. This process went on for months and had little effect. I was frustrated and reached out to our Vet. They put her on allergy medication which did seem to help her itching. However after being on it for awhile her skin got a lot worse and all I wanted to do was help. She broke out in bruises, huge wounds and lost all her hair at this point. Not knowing what to do I took her to see Dr. Favor and he looked at her and gave us a custom regimen to do weekly. He also suggested she had Cushings. However no other vet thought she did until we had her tested. She had atypical cushings. Which made sense because during the process of getting her tested she developed Calcinosis Cutis which is linked to cushings. I struggled helping her and did end up doing a lot of topical skin and coat work to help her. I was successful in helping the infection and calcinosis cutis but sadly i lost her in 2020. This pushed me to never be this lost on how to help a dog again. I started taking more skin and coat classes. I became a Certfied Canine Esthetician. Took more courses with the creator of this space in the dog grooming world and I am currently working on becoming a Master Pet Aesthetician. I am still learning but I am proud to say I have helped a lot of dogs with skin and coat issues and hope to continue to do so. That is why I opened Unfurr-Gettable mobile dog grooming to be able to help more dogs with skin and coat issues and hopefully partner with Veterinarian to help even more dogs.

Taylor, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As long as I can remember dogs have been my world and my comfort. I know now it is because of God’s chosen gift for me that this was the case. Growing up in a small town in Illinois my path to work with dogs started young. As a young child and if I am honest even now I have always been a loner and found it difficult to make friends. So in hopes that I would find my path my mom enrolled me in 4-H dog club and dog training with our family’s poodle. I did not honestly think it was my path at first but as I realized I was very good at it and it helped my confidence in myself soar. As I got more confident training dogs I began doing better at it and soon won trophies in 4-h and put titles on my family’s poodle and yorkie. However I was still young and wanted to follow my heart of doing something more creative and artistic. Fast forward a few years and I found the world of Grooming. I again soon realized this was the Path God had chose for me. I realized I could be artistic and work with dogs at the same time. I started to learn how to groom and was soon doing things better then my instructor. Sadly all I was learning was shave downs and the basic and wanted more. I soon discovered Jodi Murphy’s instructional dvds. I started watching them and was in awe. It showed me a whole new side to grooming I did not know. My mother saw how much I was learning and did a life changing thing. She wrote Jodi Murphy an email. That act of kindness from my mother lead me to make a friend with a industry leader. After meeting her and having her believe in me I knew God sent her to ensure me I was on the right path. I soon became better at grooming after working at my mothers Pet store and when she wanted to retire I started my own business. I rented a booth space in another salon and starting growing the business to the point I was able to open a salon on my own. After seven years of owning that shop and having to ask my mother for help grooming dogs we got so busy I was at a place that I was looking for more. I wanted to become more educated and focus on something I realized was a calling deep in my soul I needed to do. I wanted to work with dogs with skin and coat issues and to do that I needed to make a big chance and make it easier for those dog parents to get the help they needed. So I sold the salon to my mother and decided to open a Mobile Grooming spa to help dogs with problem skin.

Have you ever had to pivot?

This year has changed everything for me. I went from owning a brick and mortar salon to going mobile. It was very scary to sell my grooming business and completely change to something unknown. However I knew it was the path God put me on. Everything in my life was moving me out of my old business into a brand new adventure. I have to say I love it but it been scary and has tested my faith more then I thought. I am very thankful that I have had amazing people helping me in this new business adventure including a Pioneer in this industry the amazing Jodi Murphy! With her support and the support of an amazing man in my life I couldn’t have done this amazing but scary change.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My mission for my business is to show people grooming is not about a perfect haircut but about caring for the skin and coat of your canine best friend. However I can not take credit for that idea. I have to give credit to Dr. Cliff Favor and Michelle Knowles for showing me where my heart belongs in this vast industry. While some love showing for shows and style my heart as always been focused for caring for our beloved canines skin and coat. I think that is particularly due to my own struggles with my skin and hair and mostly due to an amazing Boston terrier that helped me see what grooming should be about. My seeet daisy had so many skin issue when I rescued her from a pug rescue. My heart felt for her so much that I bettered my knowledge of canine skin and coat in order to help her. However even with gaining knowledge I still needed help and thankfully Dr. Cliff Favor helped me with her care and helped me give her a better few years before she passed. Knowing how I helped her made me want to help other canine’s with skin and coat issues. Now I am a certified canine Esthetician working on becoming a Master Pet Aesthetician. This was I am able to help dogs with skin and coat issues and help educate owners and other groomers about how to help them too.

Contact Info:

• Website: Mobiledoggroominginirmosc.com
• Instagram: @unfurrgettabledoggrooming
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnfurrGettable/
• Yelp: https://yelp.to/7avZHX3kUtb

Image Credits
The photo of me is taken by @pinkelephantphotography