Saukville Groomer Moves into Port Location, Grows Business

When one door closes, another one opens — and that's kind of the case for a new dog groomer moving into Port Washington.

is shutting down in Port Washington, and Amanda Wampner of Dawgs in Motion of Saukville will expand her grooming services to that location, 309 N. Franklin St., planning to pick up the customer base from Vicky's Pet Parlor. 

Set to open on Thursday, Wampner has already hired a new groomer, Sue Thomas, for the Port Washington location of Pretty Paws. This will be the second Pretty Paws location, with the first located within Wampner's mom's dog training and daycare business, Dawgs in Motion.

Wampner was the first of the pair to take interest in dogs, having spent time in high school working at a kennel. 

After graduating in 2003 from the Academy of Dog Grooming in Illinois — the same year she graduated from high school — Wampner groomed dogs independently in Saukville for four years.

As she started growing her own client base for grooming, she said her mom got inspired and they decided to start Dawgs in Motion.

"She saw what I was doing and she kind of took a spin off of me, and was like, 'Hm, let's open a doggy spa,'" Wampner said. In 2008, they constructed a building for the business, 580 N. Dekora Woods Blvd.

Wampner said she hopes to have about 200 clients lined up in Port Washington from Vicky's Pet Parlor, which she said has been referring clients to her. She said their Saukville location currently has a customer base of 400 to 500 dogs. On average, she said dogs come back about every six to eight weeks for grooming.

"She has a large customer base, and there won't really be anyone there to serve them, so we decided to provide that service for people in Port," Wampner said. 

While the groomers currently only do dogs, 'Pretty Paws Port' will also groom cats. It will also include a retail space about twice the size of the one offered in Saukville. 

Sara Grover, Port Washington Main Street's executive director, said she thinks the groomers will be successful in Port. 

"They are established business women, and they're actually following up on clientele leaving another place, and riding that wave to absorb those clients," Grover said. "And they're adding retail, so they'll have clients coming specifically for the service and people walking around seeing the retail."

Thomas will be the primary groomer at the Port location, although Wampner will have a presence there as well. Wampner said she hopes to be serving the community for a long time. 

"I’ll probably do it for the rest of my life," Wampner said, referring to the profession of dog grooming. "Every day is different, and I'm always meeting new dogs — so it's always interesting."