FOCUS: Canterbury Tales Pet Grooming

Meg Williamson grooms every pet with the same TLC.

The Williamsons know dogs. Meg, 50, and Keith, 54, who have been married for 27 years, are very active in showing dogs, especially the Standard Long-Hair Dachshund. Meg has been active for 20 years with the American Kennel Club, the Canadian Kennel Club and United Kennel Club and they continue to show dogs for the UKC every couple of months. Together they have bred and finished 30 champions over the past 18 years. Meg has even been a professional handler for hire.

Because of their respected credentials in the industry, they are recommended by vets, pet shops and animal shelters from Riverview to Wayne.

A lifetime of experience

Meg’s parents used to show Irish Setters, and at 8 years old, Meg learned how to use clippers. She has been grooming dogs since she was 11 years old on Canterbury Avenue on Grosse Ile. While all of her friends were babysitting, she was grooming dogs.

Husband Keith joined in the business in 1991.

She and her best friend, who eventually became a Vet Tech in Montana, started grooming pets together and invented the name, Canterbury Tails, spelling it “tails” instead of “tales”.

Meg also once worked in sales at Dix Pet Shop in Southgate. The owner offered that if she received formal training in grooming, he’d turn the house next door into a pet grooming salon. Even though Michigan does not require licensing for pet grooming, Meg attended grooming school in Dayton, OH.

The tale of Canterbury Tails

Canterbury Tails has been at this location since 2003. Before that, they groomed out their Allen Park home. Around the time their oldest son, Jason, 24, was two, they had a shop at Allen and Wick (also, formerly Papa John’s Pizza) called “Best of Breeds”. They also lay claim to the first pet grooming salon on Grosse Ile, and later they opened “Puppy Love” in Riverview, which is still in operation today under different management.

Service with wagging tails

They offer grooming, bathing, trimming, and supplies sales; they service dogs, cats, rabbits, and clip bird wings. Canterbury Tails carries and uses many different shampoos for different skins, coats and conditions that may be prescribed by a vet. They also groom for the animal shelter. Although they have titled dogs for obedience, they don’t obedience train, mainly because dachshunds are not easy to train.

Canterbury Tails employs one other person who does administrative work for them as well as web, reception, and other duties.

Meg and Keith have two sons; Justin (24) attends Baker College pursuing a degree in Web Graphics and Design, and Patrick (14), is a middle-school student.

FocusAllenPark asked the Williamsons for any tips that they could offer our readers. They offered these helpful tips:

FocusAllenPark.com sincerely thanks Canterbury Tails for their support. Please visit their FocusAllenPark.com webpage for coupons and for a more complete list of services.