Tub Time Pet Salon now open

By Taryn Plumb
Turley Publications Reporter

STURBRIDGE- For just about 17 years, Holly Zeigler has been pampering and indulging a varied procession of dogs, some cats, even ferrets and guinea pigs.
“I just like making them all pretty,” she said. “I like seeing all the different types (of animals), all the different personalities.”
And after working in several grooming shops in eastern and central Massachusetts for more than 15 years, she's now striking out on her own: In mid-May, she opened Tub Time Pet Salon on 484 Main St.
At her 900-square-foot shop, tucked between the Sunburst Restaurant and the Sturbridge Senior Center at the intersection of Route 20 and Arnold Road, Zeigler offers full and self-serve grooming, as well as nail cuttings.
Because she's still just a one-person shop, she's mostly focusing on dogs, although she also extends her services to small animals, such as ferrets and guinea pigs (but sorry, no cats, as they take a team of two).
And with canines – whom she recommends get a haircut roughly every eight weeks – she's not at all discerning. She'll do them all. “Big, small doesn't matter,” she said.
In her grooming arsenal are FURminator de-shedding tools and a vacuum clipping system, which sucks up fur as she cuts, ultimately minimizing dander and mess.
Also, “It creates a cleaner atmosphere for (the dogs),” she said, and it “Gives them a nice fluffy cut.”
Beyond grooming, Tub Time offers hot oil treatments, Best Shot shedding products, and K9 Advantix, a topical treatment to control fleas, ticks and mosquitoes.
But if you're more the hands-on type? You can wash your dogs in a self-serve area with large, fiberglass, walk-around tubs.
Full-service grooming prices range per dog; self-serve is $20; nails are $10. Zeigler also offers multiple-dog discounts, as well as grooming packages, and incentives for referrals.
All services are by appointment – but with that, Zeigler is flexible: She'll do mornings, afternoons, evenings, weekends. She'll even make herself available if your dog gets sprayed by a skunk late at night.
“I want to be convenient for people,” she said, noting that she understands that people “can't always conform to a business' set hours.”
Also in the interest of time, she said she tries to get animals in and out “in a timely manner.”
That said, though, she noted that, “I do a good job, I don't try to rush.”
Another point she stressed: She likes to keep a clean shop.
So clean, in fact, that she's perfectly comfortable setting up a playroom for her 16-month-old daughter, Riley, in her quaint, two-room shop whose walls are traced with stencils of butterflies and picket fences.
Ultimately, the mother-of-three – that is, if you count her two French Bulldogs, Logan and Paris – emphasized her extensive background with a variety of four-legged clients.
“I have the experience,” she said.
For more information, call Zeigler at 508-347-0033.