Not your average van

Last week I did a story on Le Paw Spa and while I was researching them I came across another interesting company called Wag’n Tails. Dina Perry had heard about vans for mobile pet grooming in the Phoenix area, but she lived in St. Paul Minnesota. Her husband Chuck was very worried about the winter weather, and operating grooming vans during the seven cold months every year. Dina reasoned they could reach more people with vans than with a shop, so she convinced her husband to go along with buying two Dodge vans in 1976. During the mid-80s, the couple moved to Michigan, and the fleet of grooming vans grew to 22. They found there was a shortage of groomers and a plethora of dogs that needed to be groomed. Consequently, they opened the Michigan School of Canine Cosmetology. This school grew very quickly, and people were finding employment not only in their pet salons, but throughout the country. In 1996, they began converting vans into mobile grooming vehicles. By 2005, they had moved into a 24,000 sf building to produce these vehicles. Today, they have sold over a thousand mobile pet vehicles, and this sector of their business employs 23 people.