When I interview Katherine Zielinski, master groomer and owner of Hollywoof Pet Salons, she’s driving home with a shiny new trophy, after finishing second in a highly competitive grooming competition.
“I was hoping for honorable mention,” she says.
Katherine has always had a way with animals.
“I used to ask my parents if I could have different kinds of animals,” Katherine tells me, “and their favorite thing to tell me was, ‘If you can catch it, you can keep it.’”
Katherine heard that as a green light, finding a bird, a turtle, a snake, a bunny.
“My parents were like, ‘What is going on here?’" Katherine remembers.
The story sounds sweet. But Katherine is also a child of divorce. For comfort during those difficult times, her animals were her best friends.
“You could talk to them, cry to them, and there would be no judgment ever. It's like they could tell there was something wrong, and they would try so hard to cheer me up. Every emotional need that I had, they helped to fill.
"They gave me a feeling of connection when I felt pretty lost. I wanted to repay that.”
Katherine became a groomer. But she wasn’t satisfied with the level of care she saw.
“I worked in salons locally where the prep was not there. Inexpensive products, get the dogs in and out. And it really didn't matter what they looked like, what kind of experience the dog had.”
With her grandmother supplying the clever name Hollywoof, Katherine opened her first salon.
“I really wanted to offer quality to pet owners who value a positive experience for the dog. We have two groomers at both of our salons that are fear-free certified; they specialize in working with dogs who actually need that extra TLC. And every groomer has the expertise to prep and maintain a dog’s coat on a deeper level.”
From Katherine's words, it seems to me that everything at Hollywoof is done on a deeper level.
“If you show kindness and you make sure they're having positive experience after positive experience, you can build trust," Katherine says. I ask her for an example.
"One dog I was able to rehab went from having to be muzzled the entire groom, to trusting me enough to not have a muzzle on," she recalls. "It was just understanding the dog's body language, the psychology behind the grooming—how to make things a better experience. And I was the only person the dog would trust, because they knew they had good experiences with me.”
Katherine calls the Hollywoof experience 'drab to fab.'
“So many of them are happy when they're leaving, and happy when they're coming back,” Katherine shares. “I love that.”
Katherine’s own happiness is important to her too. She has four dogs: Bentley, Brian Edward, Tamagotchi (“his nickname is Tommy Tsunami,” Katherine adds) and Teddy. I ask her if her fiancé is also a dog lover.
“it never ceases to amaze me because he is allergic to dogs,” Katherine says. Her soon-to-be husband's solution: prescription allergy medication.
“He's six foot two, and I rented a Chevy Spark for us to drive to Arkansas—to go pick up a poodle.”
That kind of love is rare. Yet it seems to match Katherine’s and Hollywood’s loving care for animals.
“Kindness and compassion really drive our company. That is somebody's best friend on my table that I'm grooming, and I want them to know that your friend is in good hands.”
That is somebody's best friend on my table. I want them to know that your friend is in good hands.