Issue #2 October 2025

Hey Team Dog 🐾

October has been a blast! We’ve had plenty more adventures, and puppy season has started with many young faces coming through the salon, much to everyone’s delight.

OCTOBER ADVENTURES 🐾

As it’s peak avalanche season combined with the windy weather we’ve been having, we have stayed lower to the ground this month.

Leanne and Pearl went to Stewart Island for a few nights and explored their little hearts out. They hiked, fished, visited Ulva Island, collected, and gorged on pāua. They loved meeting all the resident dogs on the island.

Some new dog-friendly trails were walked, and one in particular that we all enjoyed was the Invercargill Estuary walk, which was a surprising little gem!

We roamed the Hunter Hills with the dogs and our bows, looking for wallabies. Our Honey Hound Dog Balm was a savior for the humans after many tangles with the matagouri.

So far, we have tried unsuccessfully to catch an elephant fish, as the season is now bringing them close to shore. Unfortunately, it seems we have become experts at catching the dreaded spiky dogfish!

Josh has been very busy this month, knuckling down and getting chapters written for Volume 2 of Peaks & Paws. Both Leanne and Josh have been spending their rainy indoor days making fishing flies in preparation for the November 1st opening of our favorite lakes.

THE GROOMING PARLOUR AND SCHOOL 🐾

With puppy season in full swing, we’ve had so many clever owners taking advantage of our Puppy Package offered to puppies under 16 weeks old. The Puppy Package includes seven visits to us—six are for a wash, dry, brush, comb out, and nails, while the seventh is a full groom, if the owners wish; many prefer to keep the puppy coat for as long as possible, and of course, many breeds won’t need haircuts. This package covers so much more than just grooming. There is no dog in the world that wouldn’t benefit from this type of exposure in their formative weeks. 

It covers socialising with other animals, humans, lead training, crate training, separation from their families, and so much more, all in a safe, secure, and controlled environment. Any of the things in life that you want your pup to be okay with should ideally be introduced as early as possible. Car rides, other animals, separation, and of course grooming should be included! By 16 weeks old, that ship is already beginning to sail. Many responsible breeders have already introduced their puppies to washing, drying, and clipper work before they leave for their new homes.

Dogs that young generally haven’t developed behavioral issues and are very much blank canvases, taking everything in their stride. It’s before their personalities and traits have developed, and on the whole, they are very accepting of most things. The puppies introduced to grooming prior to 16 weeks are the ones that drag their owners up the drive to us, are a breeze to groom, and show no signs of stress during the process. 

Those that come after 20 weeks are quite the opposite; it can be a very overwhelming and frightful experience for them to be introduced later in life. It doesn’t matter how skilled and loving we are—it's simply terrifying for many. They’re often matted later in life, and having a painful comb and brush-out leaves negative associations for the dog, especially when it’s their first experience. It’s not to say they won’t be okay, but unfortunately many of them are not, and as their groomer, it is heartbreaking to see them like this when an early visit could have averted it completely.

There is nothing you can do at home that can realistically recreate the sights and sounds of a working parlor. A bath by the hands that have always held and loved them in the place they call home simply does not compare to the parlor with strangers, buzzing clippers, other animals, and that very loud dryer! Trying to hold them down in DIY baths in town is not the solution either.

In my 25 years, I’ve started thousands of puppies, and the things I’ve noticed time and again are that the ones that come in early are happy, while the “nervous, problem, aggressive,” etc., ones were started later. Even if your pooch doesn’t need a groom physically yet, emotionally, they’re desperate to experience it in order to be settled when they’re older. 

A few common breeds that typically don’t need grooming until much later in life due to their coats not reaching full growth until then are Border Collies, Golden Retrievers, Spaniels, German Shepherds, Samoyeds, and basically any breed that’s not fluffy from birth. Often, people overlook getting these guys in early because they don’t need much coat maintenance done in the first year. Then all of a sudden, you have a large, strong breed that needs its first groom while fully grown, which is very hard on everyone involved.

One of the kindest things you can do is get your pup to a good groomer as early as possible! 🐾♥️

We’re excited to introduce Jane, a fresh and new groomer from Palmerston North who’s here for a bit while we train her. We are also very sad but excited for her, to see Rebecca leave after completing four months of training. She is going to be amazing, and any dogs that end up in her arms are going to be super lucky!

Kingsbury & Co are very passionate about giving back, and October has seen us sponsor many dog organizations such as Mobility Dogs NZ, Barkfest, and GroomWars, New Zealand’s biggest grooming event. We are very invested in giving back to our wonderful dog community.

SPECIALS 🐾

Free shipping on orders over $80!

Thank you again for your continued support! We can’t wait to see what Spring and Summer holds for us all!

Warmest regards,  
Josh and Leanne Kingsbury