“Since I’ve started grooming, I have grown with it,” says Danielle Gayheart-White, 25. “This has been my calling.”
As Danielle reaches down to lift her dog Lanna onto a grooming table, her daughter Laikynn, 20 months, plays in the corner. Danielle’s gray GMC, marked with a large sticker advertising her small business, is parked outside the historic bright pink building that once housed Ruth Hunt Candies. Now the house is home to both Danielle’s family and Just 4 Paws Grooming, a pet grooming company Danielle started in May 2015.
Danielle traces her love for animals to growing up on a farm. She aimed first to become a vet tech but realized her calling was to become a groomer and open up her own business.
Still, family remains her priority. Danielle’s extended family has helped run the Bluegrass Stockyard East in Mt. Sterling since she can remember. Danielle’s husband, Matt, 29, works at the stockyard as a clerk along with her brother. Her dad manages the place. Danielle welcomes the chance to work there part-time herself.
“It’s always been in the family,” Danielle sys. “If I wasn’t up there, I would feel like I was out of the loop.” Her family works it out so that she can balance both jobs.
Working on her own at Just 4 Paws can get frustrating. “One day I had eight dogs to handle all by myself,” Danielle says. “I had gotten through five and saw that I had three more. I just wanted to cry.” Danielle hopes to expand her space and add employees as the business grows.
But on slow business weeks, Danielle doesn’t worry. Instead she takes the moment to groom her own dogs, Evie, Pebbles, Lanna and Chloe, as Laikynn watches. Danielle is happy that her daughter can be with her at her work. “I feel if you teach kids to love animals then they’ll learn to love just about everyone,” she says.
