BIOGRAPHY

I am Laurie Smallwood. I grew up in Spencerport, NY as the youngest of three, and I was the one to pester my parents for pets. As a result we progressed from having guinea pigs to dogs (a cocker spaniel named Lady and later a lab mix named Duchess). At some point along the way, Garfield the stray cat adopted us! We loved our pets dearly and it broke our hearts when they passed on.

In my adult life I started with parakeets while living in apartments and was adopted by another stray cat that I convinced my landlady at the time to let me keep. One of the parakeets learned to say pretty bird, peek-a-boo, and meow! I didn’t go around saying meow, so go figure…the precious stray cat that wormed his way in and moved with me from Ohio back to New York is named Roy and he is now twenty years old. He gets wonderful care from the Pumpkin Hill Veterinary Clinic which is ¾ mile east of us on Tower Hill Rd. in Genesee County. Here’s a picture of Roy…

For ten years, our family (my husband Steve, our cat Roy, and I) enjoyed the antics of a pretty little cocker spaniel named Princess who had all the health and behavior problems of that breed and introduced me to the world of dog grooming. I usually groomed her myself, but because I didn’t have training, I made mistakes and there were ways Princess could have fared better if she had gotten professional grooming services. Three specific areas I can pinpoint are her lip fold area which was always red and raw, her ears which saw their fair share of infections and never got plucked, and her paw pads which had too much hair around them and sometimes stayed wet for too long. Oh, and then there were the traumatic times of brushing out hair matts and nail trimming….Princess did not enjoy either of those activities. Nor did I. In fact the snarling and biting caused my husband and I to wonder about her name and empathize with the previous owner who gave her up to a rescue organization at age two. Still, we loved her and miss her dearly. She passed away at age twelve and is buried on the hill by our house. She loved broccoli and deer poop and picking up apples from under the trees around our property. Next to food, her other main enjoyment was going for walks. Like most of our furry best friends, she wanted to be where we were. If you drove down Tower Hill Rd. in the summer, you might have seen her sitting on my lap while I mowed the lawn with our zero-turn mower. Princess is my inspiration for going to the Rochester Institute of Dog Grooming where I graduated on March 3, 2017 after completing the required 450 hour program (426 hours of hands on grooming hours and 24 hours book work). I am beyond thrilled to be on this new adventure. To me a day spent with animals is a day filled with comfort and joy. Their warm wiggly bodies are irresistible to hug and love. It is one of my favorite things to help them look their best and make them comfortable and feel safe in the process. This is Princess in 2009…Untangled Pet Styling Salon opened for business with the approval of the Byron Planning Board on May 4, 2017. It is a small, quiet shop outfitted with state of the art equipment in a picturesque setting you will love.

Laurie has been wanting to expand her business to include cat grooming. After researching cat grooming basics and techniques, she is now starting to take appointments for cat grooming. Laurie is also working on getting cat grooming certification.

Please call ahead and come check us out. We promise to make this a great experience for you and your pet!!

LOCATION

The shop is located in a house at 6027 Tower Hill Road, Byron NY which is just 15 minutes from Batavia in Genesee county, 10 minutes from Clarendon in Orleans county and 15 minutes from Brockport in Monroe county.

It is a very picturesque setting in the woods just 3/4 of a mile directly west of the Pumpkin Hill Veterinary Clinic on Tower Hill Road. The shop is located on the same side of the road as the clinic. The house is located on the north side of the road.