Company History

Hi! My name is Debbie Stover. In 1980 I moved to Houston, TX to go to work for the top professional handler in the country at the time, Michael Kemp and his very talented assistant, Scott Sommer. You will, no doubt recognize these names from Westminster Kennel Club in NY each February as Group winners and Best in Show winners at The Garden!

I started my career in dogs as a show assistant. I learned everything I know the old fashioned way, by being an apprentice and show kennel assistant. We had anywhere from 50 -150 dogs boarding at any given time. I learned to groom show dogs first, which is very different than pet grooming. When I made the transition from show dogs to pet grooming it gave me an edge many groomers don't have. Many groomers don't have a clue what a specific breed is supposed to look like, much like how to groom it correctly! This is a real detriment to our profession and has made us all look bad at one time or another.

When I started grooming pets, I wanted to be the best at that too so I sought out the best groomers in Houston and went to work for them at an exclusive grooming salon near the Galleria. I honed my scissoring technique to perfection over the next few years. My talents were noticed and sought after at dog shows along with job offers from all over the place.

One of my mentors in my beloved breed used to fly me to Dallas every 6 weeks to groom all their dogs while I was still living in Houston. I hated the heat in Houston so decided to move to Dallas in 1987. I went to work for one of the first mobile grooming services in the country. After several years I decided to move to the top of the hill country and start my own mobile grooming service, Vanity Fur. During this time I designed my set of 6 instructional grooming videos which were produced by one of the earliest grooming/handling videos producers in the country, K9 Video Library/Sonnen Productions. I designed my videos so that anyone could learn to groom dogs professionally from home. Grooming school is very expensive and you have to move away, leave your job and interrupt your entire life. This isn't always feasible for everyone so I came up with a great, affordable alternative so anyone can learn to groom dogs and have a great career as I have.

I sold my grooming van and moved back to Dallas as I really missed city life. I set up a small shop in my home and worked from home as well as for another groomer friend a few days a week. My home clientele consisted of a lot of hand stripping for various show clients. I lost my home in a devastating fire, which you may have read about in the Schnauzer issue of Dog Fancy in 2000. Since I am working toward retirement I decided to go to work for someone else instead of opening a shop. We have one of the largest doggie daycares in the DFW area in addition to a full scale grooming shop and veterinary clinic. We average 40-50 a day in daycare plus another 20-30 in boarding.

I started doing web design several years ago which is just another art form for me. I combined the two things I love most, dogs and web design to create HipDog Web Design© in 1996. I've been asked by many people, friends and colleagues why I haven't written a book about my exciting life but I don't think I could help many people by writing a book. I would rather help people who love dogs as much as I do have a fun, rewarding career by helping them sift through all the junk and get right down to what they need and don't need to start their own mobile grooming service, grooming shop, or doggie daycare/boarding facility. It is my turn to give back to the profession that has given so much to me!

I still show my beloved Giant Schnauzers and selectively handle for clients when I feel like it. I founded the G.I.A.N.T. Schnauzer Rescue Network in 1999, giantschnauzerrescue.net and publish Showdog-magazine.com as well as educate people about puppy mills, back yard breeders and dog abuse on my animal welfare site, thevoicefordogs.org