From humble beginnings in a wendy house in Kommetjie, the Tennent family have been grooming dogs for almost half a century.
The business has been going for 47 years, but Tennent’s Dog Salon, as we know it today, celebrated its 40th anniversary earlier this year under the ownership of the second Tennent generation.
The forty years span from 1983, when the current owner, Estelle Tennent, joined her mother, Felicity, as an apprentice after she matriculated.
The family arrived in South Africa from the UK on the Union-Castle, a British passenger ship, in 1975.
Estelle was 6 at the time and her sister, Sarah, was a qualified kennel maid and veterinary nurse. She had trained at Bell Mead in the UK. At the time, it was the UK’s most prestigious kennel-staff training college. Her training included grooming.
After their arrival in South Africa, the family lived in Landsdowne for a short while before moving to Kommetjie.
In 1976, Felicity and Sarah started grooming dogs from a wendy house on their Kommetjie property. Sarah had trained Felicity, who became a member of the UK Groomers’ Association.
At the time, Estelle said, her mother had wanted to start a groomers’ association in South Africa, but parlours had baulked at the idea as they had not wanted to be legalised.
Since then, the National Pet Groomers Association of South Africa has been established to enhance the relations between pet groomers and consumers and ensure safety and sanitation within the South African pet-grooming industry.
“My mom wanted to stop dogs from being hurt during grooming, like nicking their skin and burning them with driers. She also wanted to limit the number of dogs being groomed in a day,” said Estelle.
Sarah had started working at a local vet in Fish Hoek as a nurse and had suggested that Estelle help their mom with washing and grooming.
As a member of the UK Groomers’ Association, Felicity was qualified to teach her how to groom.
The family had since moved to Muizenberg and were living at Benguria, a double-storey house next to the Marine Hotel, which is now Checkers.
Felicity’s eldest son, David, and his wife, Stephanie, lived upstairs.
Working from a flat next to the house, Felicity trained Stephanie how to groom, and she joined the mother-and-daughter team.
It was then that Felicity wanted to expand and open a parlour to the wider public so they could gain experience with all dog breeds.
The first official salon, also Tennent’s Dog Salon, was opened in Peter Wright’s building at 9 Church Road, Muizenberg, in 1983. It is currently the Muizenberg Village Centre.
At the time, David and Stephanie moved to Pretoria and another apprentice, Mandy Brookes, also trained by Felicity, joined them.
“Mandy and I groomed as apprentices for many years under Felicity’s guidance and were taught to groom all breeds and their different styles. We became well-known around Cape Town through vet recommendations and advertising,” she said
It was then that they moved the salon two shops down into the corner shop of the Muizenberg Village Centre, where Felicity employed women to do the washing and taught them from scratch how to make sure the shampoo was mixed properly for each dog and check those that needed special shampoos for their sensitive skin.
They were also taught how to dry the dogs and brush out knots.
Ms Brookes currently runs her own salon.
All the salons were also open for public viewing so that pet owners and children could see the grooming process from beginning to end.
The salon sold frozen pet mince, brown rice, bran, dry kibble and dog accessories.
“Together we all learned a lot over the years,” Estelle said.
In 1995, the salon closed, and Felicity moved it to the Tennent family home, which was now on Brandwood Road, Lakeside.
She converted a double garage into a well-equipped and comfortable grooming salon, also open for public viewing.
Estelle said that while working as an apprentice she had found the French poodle, Dutch, and Royal grooming styles to be the hardest as the lines had to be precise.
Scissoring, she said, was a skill on its own, but styles have since changed slightly.
“I loved how you can take a sad dog with dreadlocks and take it all off and find a happy little dog underneath, and to see them wagging their tails when they look up at you after they realise you were helping them.”
Felicity retired in 2012 but still loved to talk to clients. When she died in 2017, Estelle inherited the business and it continues as a family business with her brother, Jonty, as the bookkeeper.
“Tennent’s is where you come to for that special touch where one person grooms your dog from beginning to end. Getting to know your groomer is as important as it is to know your vet.”
