AUBURN, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Sally Davis started up Top Dog Grooming in Auburn about 10 years ago. A few years in, her husband joined her.
"We laugh if we go a couple of hours without seeing each other," Sally joked.
Sally and John work side by side, clipping nails, and cleaning and trimming dogs of all shapes and sizes.
"It's usually the little tiny ones that are a struggle," says Sally, although admits the big ones can be quite a workout.
Sally Davis grew up thinking she was allergic to dogs, so her family never had one. In fact, when she decided to go to school for grooming, she thought she'd have to take a pill every day.
Turns out, she's allergy free, "I can't imagine not being around dogs all day. You can come in here in a grouchy mood, be upset, but you get a little doggy face in your face, there goes your bad day. You can't be in a bad mood in here, it's the best. They don't argue with you," she jokes.
"It is therapy, people will come in off the street just to look at the dogs."
While she's learned a lot in her 10 years of grooming, Sally says one of the toughest lessons has been the heartbreak. "People call us up and say, 'Oh we have to tell you Ryder passed away, or whomever.' Oh, it's heartbreaking; I wasn't expecting that."
Despite long hours of being a small business owner; the wearing physical labor of lifting and working on their feet; and some serious cleanup,"The old saying, "something" happens? It really does happen here. We're cleaning up all day, that's the reality of it," this husband and wife duo has found their passion.
"I love dogs. I would have many dogs, but we have too many grandchildren for that!"