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For years, Melissa Peters and her husband, Jason, drove by 16020 Dix Toledo Road in Southgate and felt like God was telling them that they would one day open their own dog grooming shop there. On Feb. 21, Missykins K-9 Grooming opened its doors to its first customers.
Peters knew she wanted to be a dog groomer from a young age. She grew up with a Shepherd dog, one that her family got from the animal shelter for $5.
When she was fresh out of high school, she applied to work at AAA Pet Services in Taylor. At that point, Peters had worked several different jobs for short periods of time — fast food, roofing, flooring, retail — but none of it brought her as much joy as being around dogs.
When she didn’t hear back on her application, she called the pet shop to ask what was going on.
On the other end of the phone, the woman said they were concerned about hiring her because she might not be reliable since she’s jumped around from job to job so much.
“I’m very reliable, just nobody will give me a chance,” Peters recalled saying.
AAA Pets agreed to start her off in the kennels, but she gradually moved her way up to bathing the dogs and then learned how to groom them.
The first time she bathed a dog it was a Doberman. Peters was extremely cautious and terrified to hurt the dog on accident. Her supervisor at the time came over to her and said words that changed her life.
“I see that you have potential and because you’re so scared to hurt the dog, that’s why you’re going to be good at what you do,” Peters recalled her then-supervisor saying.
Throughout the years, Peters said she became especially skilled with handling dogs that have difficulties at the groomer.
“God has blessed me with a gift to be able to handle bad dogs,” she said. “I’ve been bit a few times.”
For 32 years, Peters worked at AAA Pets — until she was unexpectedly fired via text in January.
Five years ago, Peters was driving her grandson when she looked over at the small building at the corner of Reeck Road and Dix-Toledo Road and she said she saw it in a way she’d never seen it before. She felt like it was a sign from God.
Two weeks after that, Jason, Peters’ husband, pulled into the parking lot and saw someone at the building. He started talking to the man and found out that the people who owned the corner were looking to sell it — the small building and the house next to it. Peters’ husband expressed Peters’ desire to make the building a dog grooming shop.
Two and a half years after that interaction, the man reached out to Jason.
“Were you the one I was talking to about dog grooming?” Peters recalled the man inquiring.
Jason confirmed it was them, and the lengthy process of acquiring the property started.
When Peters’ mom died in 2013, Peters said she had guardianship of her mother, which meant she inherited all of her mother’s debt and had to file for bankruptcy. Because of this, she wasn’t able to acquire a loan until after January 2024.
Throughout the process, they were continually denied loans to get the property and even wound up selling their house to acquire it. They just wanted the small building, but Peters said the court denied her request to separate the house from the building so they didn’t have to buy both.
Then, on Sept. 6, 2024, Peters and her husband moved into their new house, which was right next to the small building that would soon become Missykins K-9 Grooming.
Things were finally looking up as they started the work on the house and the shop. Then, on Jan. 8, Peters got a text from AAA Pets, her employer for 32 years, that she was fired. They said that it was a conflict of interest for her to keep working there when she was so close to opening her own shop.
“I was devastated. I cried for two weeks,” Peters said.
Then, after years of fighting for the building, fighting for a loan and fighting for what she felt God calling her to, she opened her shop for the first time Feb. 21.
“It’s kind of difficult because people say, ‘oh, it’s so awesome to see your dream come true.’ It’s like, yeah, no, this isn’t my dream. This is not what I want to do. This is definitely what God had us do,” she said.
Even though Peters just opened her shop, she has two dog groomers who are ready to come on board once her business takes off a bit more.
Peters charges $50 for small dogs and $85 for bigger dogs or doodles.
“I always said I would always make it affordable because everybody deserves to have an animal,” she said.
When the dogs are dropped off, Peters starts by giving them a haircut or a shave, depending on the pet. Then, she washes them and then uses a dog hairdryer to blow the water off a bit because letting the dog rest in a cage for about 20 minutes to continue drying off. After that, she takes the dog back out of the cage and dries them more if needed and then adds whatever finishing touches might be needed on their haircut. Sometimes, she’ll even take the dog outside for a walk to help them dry off more before their owners come to pick them up.
“Over the years, my customers have been very respectful. They understand that I will do what’s best for the pet. I will override what they want for their dog and it’s worked out very well,” she said.
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