ALDER SLOPE — Want to spoil your dog? Or maybe just clean up a canine companion? Friday and Friends is the place for you.

Penney Reed opened her all-purpose dog grooming studio Saturday, June 10, in a shop outside the house on Alder Slope that had belonged to her parents.

Her friend FridayHer business is named for a canine friend she had for many years.

“Friday was a dog many years ago. She was a one-in-a-million dog,” Reed said of the Labrador retriever mix. “She was the one who got me into showing and grooming dogs. … She was like owning a raccoon — mischievous — a great dog.”

Although Friday was a Lab, Reed got into raising and showing German shepherds, one of her favorite breeds. Friday would help.

“She’d teach them to play and beg and dig and do all the naughty things dogs do,” Reed said. “I have a great time with German shepherds. She was friends with everybody. She likes the cows and everybody. She was a big part of the family for 17 years.”

Full service

In a small shop out back, Reed offers her full-service grooming, which includes bathing, brushing and nail trimming for all sizes of dogs. She’ll even take a grinder to the particularly rough nails and de-mat particularly tangled coats.

“This is a full-service dog-grooming shop. You can get just a toenail clipping or a bath all the way up to fancy hairdos,” Reed said. “I also have do-it-yourself bathing. That’s for people like, with a beagle, who didn’t want to trash their bathroom and didn’t want to do it outside. You come here and use my tub, my soap and wash your dog. I’ll clean up and dry ‘em off. Then you get to take your nice, clean dog home and I’ll clean up your mess.”

The DIY bath is one of the least expensive services at just $20. Add another $5 and the dog’s nails get trimmed.

She said many dogs come in sorely in need of a pedicure.

“Lots of dogs are really bad that way,” she said.

One of the spendiest services is de-matting. Thick, matted coats are most commonly found on larger breeds of dogs with longer coats, such as Saint Bernards.

“A lot of people will come in and say, ‘Hey, my dog’s all hairy and matted.’ And de-matting’s very painful,” Reed said.

De-matting costs about $60 an hour and is as much a training tool for owners as for the dogs.

“That’s supposed to scare them into letting me clip the dog down anyway and then teaching them to brush the dog and start over,” she said. “That’s a scare tactic, plain and simple.”

But most services range from the $20 DIY bath to $80 for a full grooming on an extra-large dog with a long coat.

Reed does give a 10% discount to recipients of WIC and SNAP benefits.

“Those people need some help anyway,” she said.

Dogs are her calling

Reed said she has no family now other than her current black Lab mix that’s about 7 years old.

“I married a couple of times and that didn’t work well,” she said. “I’ve had dogs. People say that’s my calling in life, well, it’s my calling.”

Reed said she spent a career as a show dog handler until she was hurt in 2003 and had to stop. She started grooming in the 1980s. Before her new shop in Enterprise, she had one in Union.

As a professional, she received training but learned most of her skills from showing. She even won some awards and showed at prestigious shows. She had one German shepherd dog that was the youngest to win an American Kennel Club championship and was the youngest to be invited to the prestigious show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. She prized the invitation, but didn’t go.

“February in New York with 2,500 dogs? No thanks,” she said. “That’s a prestige show and a logistical nightmare, so I passed on that.”

What it comes down to is Reed’s love for canines.

“I love dogs. They’re my life,” she said. “I get up everyday and tend to them. … I just love them. They’re cool.”

What: Dog grooming

Who: Penney Reed

Phone: 541-263-1723

Where: 81667 Reavis Lane

When: Thursday, Friday, Saturday 10 a.m.-mid-afternoon. Closing time varies because some dogs take longer.