Buffalo Rising Online

Oct 14th 2007, 11:45am By Elena Cala Buscarino

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week, when I took my morning cut-through down Chandler Street, I noticed a sign in front of one of my favorite buildings. The Kennel Club, Dog Grooming, All Breeds, it read, with a silhouette of a big poodle on it.

On Saturday morning, there were cars and vans streaming in and out, and curiosity got the best of me. As I parked, I saw people exiting and entering with their dogs. Inside, there were three grooming stations and countless kennels with warm air fans directed on their still damp occupants of all sizes, shapes and breeds.

Henry Sontag is the owner, and this morning, as he trimmed a fluffy Samoyed, we talked about his business. Having moved to the Chandler Street location just this week after 20 years of doing business on Saranac, Henry has a great business philosophy, a sense of altruism about his client's (two and four-legged) welfare and a willingness to help when he can.

Case in point: During our visit, Wayne Zimmerman came in to pick up Gracie and Garvey, the comfort puppies who are residents at Kevin Guest House. Wayne is the executive director of the Guest House, and has been bringing the Cockapoos in since their first grooming in 2005, a task that Henry performs gratis, though Wayne does drop off a bottle when he picks up his little charges.

"Wayne asked my friend, John Higgins from Elmwood Pet, where he could have the dogs groomed and John suggested me. I let Wayne know when he can bring them in, and he has them here," Henry said.

Henry stepped away from the Samoyed when Dennis Gallagher from Gallagher Printing came in with his two Dalmations, Dixie and Blaze. Dixie is deaf and came to Gallagher through his wife, Rita, who has a dalmation rescue program through HEART Animal Rescue & Adoption Team Inc. Henry greeted the dogs and their owner and knelt down to clip their nails, Dixie first.

The dogs all seem to submit to Henry without an ounce of reservation. As he knelt there, trimming, Dennis explained that Henry clips nails for free. Owners walk in, Henry generally takes the two-minute time out from what he's doing, and dogs leave with trimmed nails. "Where's the tip jar?" Dennis asked.

"Right here," Henry's assistant said, coming toward Dennis with her hand out. The light coming through the window created a sort of halo effect over Henry when it toughed the inch thick layer of Samoyed fuzz that covered his baseball cap, shoulders and back.

A sort of matter-of-fact guy, Henry shrugs off the charitable aspect of what he does by saying, "Look, nail trimming is easy for me so I just do it." Henry said he hasn't advertised in 18 years and that he gets clients from Toronto, and the southtowns a lot.

"I'm good with larger dogs, and not-so-nice dogs. I take dogs who've been thrown out of other groomers," Henry said. "I charge by the hour, and only count hands-on time. As I get to know a dog better, the price actually goes down. I'm not about making money, probably hand out $4,000 a year in certificates and services to various charities."

Kennel Club
33 Chandler Street
876-8727