What We Learned at Superzoo 2025

SUPERZOO is an annual pet industry convention held in Las Vegas that started in 1950 by the World Pet Association. The event brings together dog groomers and grooming supply companies alongside pet stores, food, treat, and supplement businesses, with toy and enrichment products showcased too. It is considered America’s largest pet retail convention, offering not only innovative products and networking possibilities but also providing education in the form of classes taught by leading experts in their fields.

The A-Team (Amanda, Aaron, and Anna), aka our salon owners, have attended SUPERZOO every year since 2018 (except in 2020 during the pandemic), and each year, the whole Hippie Hounds grooming team benefits from the lessons learned. We’re able to grow more as a business holistically and individually as business owners. This year was SUPERZOO’s 75th anniversary, and we learned more than ever!

Takeaways from This Year’s Event

Education classes at SUPERZOO are broken down into two general categories:

• Grooming Education (with a focus on technique, styling, salon practices, and pet safety); and
• Retail Education (with a focus on maximizing sales, staying ahead of current trends, and innovations).

Both categories also offer classes on how to be a better manager and business owner.

Every year we attend SUPERZOO, we are left reinvigorated, and this year was no exception.

At the end of the day, our focus is on fostering a team culture at our salon that is based on trust in us as leaders by exemplifying accountability and professionalism. It is important to us, as employers, to understand how best to lead and inspire our team, and we were eager to learn more ways to do so.

Communication is crucial in any business, and when pet safety comes into play, the importance is raised even more. As leaders, we should be consistent and clear with our direction. And not only should we be looking at where our team can improve, but also where we can improve ourselves to become the best leaders possible.

This year’s classes sparked great discussions and exercises for communicating with our team and clients more effectively. One class was exclusively focused on communication tools for clarity in the workplace. We were given some scenarios and practiced how we would react in situations, learning some cool tools to help us be clearer when leading our team.

To be completely honest, working in a grooming salon isn’t always a piece of cake. It is hairy, loud, fast-paced, and very physical. We have constant time constraints while working with live animals, so our days aren’t always predictable. Although we can’t always control what’s happening around us, we can always control what’s happening inside of us, and this was an important lesson taught in one of the classes.

Pouring from an empty cup is not possible; therefore, focusing on improving our mental health and the way we react to situations is critical for us to be the best leaders and groomers possible. Once we, as leaders, are solid, we can then expand upon building our dream team. Tools that we use to combat stress and negativity include meditation, breathwork, therapy, journaling, and self-care.

In another class, we confirmed how critical it is to support our staff, from paying livable wages and offering retirement or health benefits to paid time off. It is important that our employees feel supported, led, and encouraged. At Hippie Hounds, we have prided ourselves on these tenets already, but it was great to hear from other grooming salon owners about the unique ways in which they give back to their staff.

We took home some ideas to make our workplace more fun and rewarding. Between keeping the environment clean to stopping workplace drama in its tracks, it is up to us to create a team that can work together to accomplish goals.

Between building a dream team, focusing on our own personal mental health and lives, and being the best leaders that we can be, how is there time to do it all? In another class, we learned how to manage our time more efficiently.

There will be times for us as salon owners and groomers when we need to embrace the bad surprises and roll with the punches, and having a plan in place in case of negative situations will help us handle them smoothly.

A major takeaway from SUPERZOO 2025 for us has been the “One Minute Rule” – if something can be done immediately and in one minute or less, just do it now! These small moves can free up more time later to do the tasks that are more time-consuming.

Finding ways to digitize tasks contributes to efficiency. A lot of what can help with time efficiency is getting the right help, keeping your “eye on the prize”, and creating and following protocols that eliminate the guesswork in a day.

Work/Life balance can also be seen as a Work/Life blend, and it is key to avoiding burnout.

Of course, following policies and procedures also applies to the actual dog grooming part of our job. Although we are considered experts in our field, it is always fascinating to see how other groomers use techniques and tricks to create beautiful grooms.

In one of the grooming classes we took, we watched a demonstration from a groomer working on different head styles. We were confirmed in the importance of styling the pet’s face, but never to a point that makes the dog uncomfortable, something Hippie Hounds strongly believes in.

Grooming trends also evolve constantly, and we were shown different face and head haircut styles on dogs that are becoming popular. It is all about making the dogs smell good, look cute, and feel good too!

The trade show floor is so large that it takes hours to walk around. There is so much to look at! Inside the “Grooming marketplace,” we found some awesome new tools to help make the days easier. One cool item we bought was a mini blow-dryer that sits around our neck and helps gently blow-dry dogs using both of our hands.

We also bought new tub nozzles that have a design inside them to push the water out in a circular motion, giving your dog a massage as they’re bathed! The style is also a lot gentler on our wrists and reduces strain on our hands.

We found another invention that muffles the sound of our blow dryers and doubles as a filter. Every year also gives us the opportunity to “test drive” new shears, and we love upgrading our tool kits!

Exploring so many awesome grooming gadgets and bringing back some of our favorites for the salon? It’s like we’re kids in a candy store!

Extra Perks of Superzoo

Outside of the Grooming section on the trade show floor, you’ll find companies selling pet food, unique pet treats, fun dog toys, and so much more. There are also live animals for sale, such as fish, birds, reptiles, tarantulas, hamsters, and guinea pigs.

One of our many favorite memories at SUPERZOO was interacting with a rescue Parrot group and holding some of their beautiful macaws and cockatoos.

To finish up the convention, every year on the night before the final day of the trade show, the SUPERZOO Beach Party is thrown! It’s our time to be social and network with all the participants while letting loose some steam. There is usually a live band with great music playing, lots of dancing, and it was held this year again at the Mandalay Bay Beach Club. Food and drinks are provided, and it’s such a good time getting to chat with other people in the industry.

With SUPERZOO being held in Las Vegas, we wouldn’t expect anything less than over the top!

The Tail End

SUPERZOO is invigorating, educational, and just fun all around. We are grateful to be able to attend the SUPERZOO trade show every year because it gives us a chance to improve ourselves, our business, and our services, and it always reignites the passion we have for what we do.

Every year that we go, we bring something back to our staff, and the ripple effect carries on. One of our core values is education, and the opportunity for more brings us back to SUPERZOO every year.