Local Business: Dog groomer brings years of experience to Sidney Center

Patricia Jordan has devoted her life to dogs.

Jordan, a Sidney Center resident, owns Snupy’s Bark Place Dog Grooming at 5619 state Route 206 in Sidney Center. Though the business is about two years old, Jordan, 58, has been grooming for decades.

“A long time ago, I was walking home from elementary school and there was a dog-grooming shop on the way home,” she said. “I would stop in every single day when I was 11 and stand at the half-door and watch (the owner) groom. I got to know her and really fell in love with what she was doing. She offered me a job; my father came in to talk to her because I was only 11, so I started with cleaning the shop and, after a few months, she let me bathe and brush and dry dogs. By 12, I was doing nails and cleaning ears and I would do this every day after school. I’d hang out about two hours every day, and then she started letting me groom around 14. It went good; I was just into it and had the coordination for it.”

That experience, Jordan said, set the trajectory for her life.

“At 16, I left her and went to another shop — I did about three shops — and at 18, I got a van and went mobile for 10 years in Long Island,” she said. “Then I had a kid and I stopped for a little while, then my ex built me another van, because I had sold the first, and I started taking my little kid with me to work. After the van, I had a shed in the back in Long Island and fixed that into a shop, then we moved to New Jersey and … I started grooming in the basement of our rental. After that, we bought a house in Jersey and built another shed in the back and did it in there. It was my passion.”

Jordan said, after a 10-year position grooming with a veterinarian downstate, she moved upstate. Her ex, she said, had family near Masonville and she had become familiar with the area.

“I moved up here and have been doing it for two years in my tiny home,” she said. “It’s a little eight-by-eight area with a full-size tub and hydraulic table in there; it’s everything I need. I offer bath, brushout, blow-dry, clean the ears, trim the nails, whatever the dog really needs. I cut down and I’m not taking (dogs) over 70 to 80 pounds. If they’re good and not crazy, I’ll do them, but I’ll be 59 and it takes a toll. Some people don’t understand that; when I was 20 and 30, I was doing huge dogs, but I have to be careful now.”

Jordan is, however, accepting new clients. And existing clients, she said, appreciate her approach.

“Everybody’s been great,” she said. “I have about 500 clients and I didn’t pay for any advertising; it’s all been Facebook and word-of-mouth. It’s whoever wants to drive here. I have some people that drive 40 minutes.”

Clients, Jordan said, have also included shelter dogs from Sidney’s Delaware Valley Humane Society.

“Shelter dogs come first,” she said. “I canceled the day (when doing DVHS dogs) to get them in, because they’re in need. I had one yesterday that came in and it was one of the shelter dogs I did, a little Yorkie thing, and it was so cute, and I was so happy she came.”

DVHS Director Erin Insinga called Jordan “one of the very reasons I always encourage people to support those who support DVHS.”

“Without hesitation and refusing payment, Pita stepped up and picked up our group of stranded, neglected and terribly matted Yorkies from Unadilla in desperate need,” Insinga said. “Pita selflessly spent an entire day just on these dogs and she truly made them look and feel like a million bucks. I am forever indebted to her graciousness, and I think it is so important for everyone to know exactly what she did.”

Jordan said she plans to work in her field as long as she’s able.

“I do three dogs a day, five days a week, and I want to just continue to do what I do and work until I can’t,” she said. “It’s a business that’s not for everyone and you have to have a lot of patience … but I just love dogs. I like talking to them and getting kisses and I have all the time in the world because my kids are grown, so I do one at a time, no cages; they come in and get groomed and they go home, so it’s very quiet and stress-free. The key is to start them when they’re young and they can get used to it and to have a good groomer.”

Jordan offers appointments Wednesday through Sunday.

For more information or to book an appointment, call or text Jordan at 609-582-7858. Also, find “Pita Jordan” on Facebook.

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