The Whole Pet Grooming Academy — Training groomers to grow with purpose.
Innovation in the pet grooming space often rises from people who refuse to accept the old ceiling, and Dara Forleo is one of those rare voices pushing the craft forward with intention.
Her work through The Whole Pet Grooming Academy has introduced structure, science, and confidence to an industry built for hands-on learners with big goals. She transforms instinct into skill and ambition into direction, educating pet groomers who think with clarity and work with purpose.
In this exclusive conversation with PETBIZS, Dara reflects on the path that shaped her leadership, the mindset that fuels her programs, and the movement she’s building for the next generation of grooming professionals.
Let’s get straight to the insightful conversation with Dara Forleo — the Visionary Founder and President of The Whole Pet Grooming Academy
Dara, thank you for taking the time to share your story with PETBIZS. Let’s start with your background. Could you introduce yourself and tell us what inspired you to enter the pet grooming industry?
My name is Dara Forleo, and I’m the founder and president of The Whole Pet Grooming Academy, currently the only licensed, diploma-level grooming school of its kind in the United States for career pet groomers. I started grooming in the late ’90s the same way many groomers do: with a deep love for animals and a desire to work with my hands.
But what truly pulled me into this field was the realization that grooming wasn’t just a trade, it was an essential part of animal health and wellbeing. I saw a gap between “making pets look cute” and actually understanding their skin, coat, behavior, stress responses, and safety. That gap inspired my life’s work: raising the standards of an unregulated industry.
What led you to establish The Whole Pet Grooming Academy? Can you share the vision behind it?
I created The WPGA because the grooming industry desperately needed a modern pathway to education, one rooted in science, humane handling, real business skills, and professional recognition. Too many programs offer quick certificates and outdated information.
My vision has always been to build the “Ivy League of Pet Grooming”: a place where students can earn real credentials, backed by state licensing, academic integrity, and a curriculum designed to produce confident, ethical, highly skilled professionals.
And, that led me to build a school that treats grooming like the career it truly is, not a side hustle, not a hobby, but a respected profession.
The Whole Pet Grooming Academy has gained a reputation for combining technical training with compassionate care. How do you balance professional skills with building a culture of respect for animals?
At The WPGA, we teach that skill means nothing without empathy. Modern groomers must understand animal behavior, stress thresholds, compassionate handling, and safe decision- making.
Our curriculum is built on three pillars:
- Skin & Coat Science
- Behavior & Humane Handling
- Professional Practice (Business & Workflow)
That balance ensures graduates aren’t just “grooming the dog” they’re reading the dog, supporting the dog, and making decisions that protect their wellbeing every step of the way.
Pet grooming requires both artistry and precision. How do you train students to handle different breeds and coat types while also maintaining safety?
At The Whole Pet Grooming Academy (WPGA), we don’t teach students to memorize breed patterns. We teach them to understand the science behind the dog.
Anyone can learn to follow a chart or copy a pattern, that’s what most schools focus on. We go far deeper. Our students learn why a coat behaves the way it does, why a dog reacts a certain way, and why a trim must adapt to the animal’s skin, structure, stress level, and health.
We teach:
- The science of hair and skin
- How growth cycles impact grooming decisions
- In what ways environment, nutrition, and genetics affect coat quality
- How to read behavioral thresholds and adjust handling
- How to groom safely by understanding the biology and psychology involved
Safety doesn’t come from the “how-to.”
Safety comes from understanding the “why.”
When a student understands the dog from the inside out, the physiology, the behavior, the stress signals, the coat chemistry, they can groom any breed or coat type with skill and compassion.
Patterns can be learned anywhere. We teach modern groomers the knowledge that makes those patterns meaningful, adaptable, and safe.
Education models are evolving quickly. What makes The Whole Pet Grooming Academy's curriculum and teaching style different from other grooming schools?
Honestly, grooming education is not evolving quickly, and that’s exactly the problem. Too many programs are still teaching models from the 1980s, recycling the outdated information, and relying on instructors who haven’t upgraded their own knowledge in decades.
The WPGA was built as the solution to that problem.
We are a licensed career school with a curriculum that is modern, regulated, and academically sound. What sets us apart is not just what we teach, but how we ensure the quality behind it:
What makes us different:
- State-approved faculty: Every educator is vetted, trained, and reviewed through a state approval process. We don’t hand the title “instructor” to anyone who can groom, we require the ability to teach, lead, and uphold academic standards.
- A science-first curriculum: Skin, coat, behavior, safety, product chemistry, stress responses, and professional practice are the foundation of everything we teach.
- Education you won’t get at a traditional grooming school: We cover the biology, psychology, and professional skills that most schools either skip or don’t understand well enough to teach.
- A modern academic structure: Weekly modules, reflections, assessments, CEUs, business skills, and long-term mentorship, not the typical “learn by watching and try not to fall behind” format.
- We complement practical training, not replace it: You still need hands-on experience, but we give students the knowledge and framework that practical grooming alone cannot
Traditional grooming schools teach technique. We teach the modern groomer how to think, how to assess, how to make safe decisions, and how to build a real career. That’s the difference.
The Whole Pet Grooming Academy (WPGA) is now a multi-layered ecosystem of diploma programs and certifications. Can you talk about how you’re shaping the Modern Grooming Movement and the role of the PCS and MCS pathways?
A major part of shaping the Modern Grooming Movement is correcting one of the biggest misunderstandings in our field: certificates and certification are not the same as formal education.
Right now, there are many organizations offering certificates, online badges, or quick-test certifications, and while they may have value, they do not replace structured education. They don’t meet academic standards, they’re not regulated, and they don’t provide the depth a groomer needs to build a long-term career.
At The WPGA, we flipped the model to reflect what every true profession follows:
Education first. Certification second.
It’s the difference between testing out of high school versus earning your high school diploma. One is a test of knowledge. The other is an education.
That’s why our two diploma pathways are so important to the movement we’re building:
Professional Canine Stylist (PCS)
This is the formal foundational education for the modern groomer. It gives students the science, behavior understanding, professional practice, and technical skills needed to enter the field with competence and confidence.
This pathway represents true advanced mastery, built on deeper science, behavior analysis, professional decision-making, and elevated technical skill. It’s formal advanced education, not a weekend workshop or a test-only credential.
These diplomas give groomers the academic foundation they deserve. Once students have real education beneath them, then certification through The IAPEG becomes meaningful.
This is the modern approach the industry has been missing:
Formal education → then professional certification → then lifelong continuing education.
It’s the same model used in every established profession, cosmetology, esthetics, healthcare, trades, and business. Grooming has simply never had a school operating at that level until now.
The WPGA is building the framework grooming has needed for decades: an academically grounded, science-based path that gives professionals the respect, recognition, and structure they deserve.
The pet grooming industry is expanding with new technologies and products. How do you incorporate innovation into your training programs?
Innovation doesn’t just happen inside the grooming industry, in fact, grooming often lags behind. At The Whole Pet Grooming Academy (WPGA), we don’t wait for the industry to evolve. We are bringing the evolution to the industry.
Our strength is that we learn from outside the grooming bubble as much as we learn within it. If you want to teach at a higher level, you have to learn at a higher level and that means seeking out experts, educators, leaders, and science far beyond what most grooming schools ever access.
Here’s how we stay ahead:
- A constantly evolving academic team: Our administrators and educators are required to continue learning, business, behavior, science, product chemistry, instructional design, safety, communication, leadership, and more.
- Cross-industry knowledge integration: We bring in insight from fields like cosmetology, esthetics, animal behavior, healthcare, entrepreneurship, and even mainstream Grooming is a profession, so we train groomers like professionals.
- Modern product chemistry & skin science: We update our curriculum frequently based on real research, not brand marketing or “this is how we’ve always done it.”
- Technology adoption: CRM systems, workflow software, virtual learning platforms, video education, and digital tools used in other industries are brought into grooming through The WPGA.
- A commitment to forward progress: We are always learning, always testing, and always refining. Innovation is not an afterthought, it’s a requirement.
While most of the grooming world is still trying to catch up, The WPGA is building what the future of grooming will look like.
Running an academy like WPGA is no small task. What challenges have you faced in building and growing your business, and how have you overcome them?
The biggest challenge has been finding the right people who truly want to elevate an industry that historically resists change. Pet grooming has long embraced the mindset of “this is how we’ve always done it,” and our work directly challenges that. We’re not just updating old methods, we’re redefining what modern pet grooming education looks like.
While much of the industry is only now beginning to adopt mainstream processes, training standards, and science-based approaches, we’ve already been operating at that level for years. Our commitment is to continue leading, continue disrupting, and continue raising the bar for what grooming professionals deserve.
We’ve tackled challenges through:
- State-level licensing
- Clear academic standards
- Modernized certification (via IAPEG)
- Strong partnerships
- Transparent communication with students and the industry
Another challenge has been stepping forward as a woman who is both an innovative business owner and deeply academic in a field that has operated without structure. When you introduce standards, science, and accountability into an industry that’s been running on outdated rules, not everyone welcomes that change.
There is resistance, not because innovation is wrong, but because it requires people to rethink what they’ve always done. I don’t play by the old rulebook, and that can create tension. But those rules are outdated, and in many cases, they are simply no longer serving the animals, the professionals, or the industry as a whole.
I’ve learned to stay grounded in ethics, quality, and consistency. When you lead with education, transparency, and a commitment to raising the bar, the right people rise with you. And the industry moves forward, whether it’s ready or not.
Many students enter grooming with dreams of turning their passion into a career. How does your academy prepare them for the business side of the industry as well?
Most pet grooming schools skip the business training entirely and that’s exactly where many groomers struggle. Business isn’t just about opening a salon. It’s about work ethic, professionalism, communication, boundaries, and understanding how the industry actually works before you decide to step into ownership.
At The Whole Pet Grooming Academy (WPGA), business education is not optional, because success in grooming requires more than talent with a pair of shears.
We teach students how to be strong professionals first, reliable, ethical, team-focused, and capable of contributing to a salon before trying to run one. Too many pet groomers rush into opening a business simply because they didn’t like where they worked, and that mindset leads to failure. Most businesses don’t survive their first year.
I’ve been in this industry for over 20 years. The WPGA’s growth wasn’t luck, it came from risk, strategy, mentorship, and surrounding myself with people who had already walked the path I wanted to follow. That’s the guidance I now give my students.
Our business curriculum includes:
- Pricing confidence and financial literacy
- Client communication and service standards
- Workflow and scheduling systems
- Policies, boundaries, and team culture
- Marketing, branding, and digital presence
- Leadership, ethics, and professional behavior
And for those who want to take the next step, we offer The Groomer’s Boardroom, a modern business development program designed to help salon owners build profitable, sustainable, long- term careers.
The modern pet groomers need more than skill. They need a business mindset, professional standards, and the confidence to build a career that lasts. That’s what we teach.
Community seems central to your work. Can you talk about the role of mentorship and networking in your academy?
Mentorship is the heartbeat of The Whole Pet Grooming Academy (WPGA), and we are actively redefining what community means in the pet grooming industry.
Students are never alone, they have access to trained faculty mentors, quarterly one-on-one coaching, our Scholar Lounge, The IAPEG networking, and ongoing professional seminars. We do not rely on social media to serve as a learning environment. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are excellent for entertainment and visibility, but they are not educational spaces, and in many ways the trends and performative content circulating there have created confusion, inconsistent messaging, and client alienation.
Our goal is to bring grooming professionals back into a real learning community: a place grounded in respect, skill-building, modern ethics, and shared purpose. We aren’t building a fan base, we’re building a professional ecosystem where pet groomers can grow, collaborate, and elevate their careers together.
Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring pet groomers and entrepreneurs who want to follow a path like yours?
First, commit to learning the right way from the beginning. Shortcuts don’t create careers, they create burnout, inconsistency, and frustration.
Second, honor the animal before anything else. When you let the dog lead the pace, your career becomes safer, more sustainable, and far more rewarding.
Third, treat pet grooming like the profession it is. That means work ethic, professionalism, continuing education, and understanding the business side long before you think about opening one. Talent alone doesn’t build a future, systems, boundaries, and skill do.
And finally, don’t wait for the “perfect time” to begin. Momentum is one of the best teachers you’ll ever have, and growth comes from taking the first step and staying committed to it.
Thank you, Dara, for bringing such clarity, courage, and depth to this conversation. Your work at The Whole Pet Grooming Academy shows how powerful pet grooming can become when guided by structure, science, and intention. Every insight you shared reinforces the momentum you’re creating for a stronger, more confident grooming community.
As this interview wraps, your voice leaves a lasting charge for professionals who want to grow, lead, and raise their craft with purpose. We’re grateful to share your vision on PETBIZS — and even more excited to see how your movement continues shaping the future of grooming.
