Business & Tech
Bonsai Pet Adds Flair to Animal Grooming
Award-winning pet stylist Lori Gulling provides her clients with championship styles and a personal touch at Saukville grooming facility.
Ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up, and many will give you fantasy answers that are likely to change again and again before they hit career age.
“I’ve known ever since I was little,” Lori Gulling said of her calling to work with animals. Gulling now owns Bonsai Pet, a grooming salon in Saukville.
“I’ve always been an animal lover,” she said while grooming one of her many clients in her colorful work space. Gulling herself owns two cats, which occupy Bonsai Pet, and two dogs, a miniature poodle and a lowchen.
Find out what's happening in Port Washington-Saukvillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Gulling began working with animals at a dog kennel, and during her time there was taught to groom. She took to the process immediately, she said, and has been grooming professionally since 1999.
Since that time, she’s received many awards for her grooming skills including Best in Show in 2010 for the Wisconsin Association of Professional Pet Stylists.
Find out what's happening in Port Washington-Saukvillefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Gulling said that what has set her apart in these competitions and in the industry is her scissoring skills and the smooth, symmetrical look she’s able to give pets. Trained to groom a variety of pets, as well as specific types of show dogs, she’s able to "accomplish whatever the owners want," she said.
She also attributes some of her success as a pet stylist to her interest in art.
"I’m pretty artsy," she said. "I like to paint and draw, I like sculpture — and grooming is pretty artsy in my mind.”
Gulling also explained that in addition to her interest in art, her handling of the animals also sets her apart from other stylists.
One of her primary goals at Bonsai Pet is to keep the animals calm and to keep their "stress as low as possible," she said.
Gulling does so by keeping as few pets in her office as possible to keep a quiet, relaxing environment for them. This not only gives her time to bathe and groom the animals carefully, but also to get to know her clients’ different personalities, a perk of the job, according to Gulling.
And, at the end of the day, Gulling is happy to send animals away "clean and sparkly."