Sheldon’s Stylz

Sheldon Ballinger loves being around animals.

Maybe it started with her mother’s habit of fostering dogs. Or maybe it’s because she showed her family’s horses for years.

And she’s always wanted to start her own business.

Now, with the opening of Doggy Stylz & Inn, a new grooming and daycare service in Bryant, she gets to do both.

Ballinger, 19, opened her doors in February to furry friends of all breeds and sizes. The business located at 105 E. Hendricks St. (U.S. 27) is fully equipped with a large bath, grooming table, counters, cages and kennels for day-to-day use.

She currently plans to be at the building from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Walk-ins are welcome, although she encourages clients to call first.

A Coldwater High School graduate, Ballinger participated in the Tri Star Vet Tech program, a training class for high schoolers hoping to make careers in animal science or veterinary medicine fields. She was also working part-time in high school at County Animal Clinic in Coldwater.

Alongside her business, Ballinger is taking evening classes in business management at Wright State University’s Lake Campus in Celina. She worked part-time as a groomer and tech assistant at Maria Stein Vet Clinic in Maria Stein, Ohio, during her first year and a half at Wright State.

“I just figured that going to the clinic would be a better idea with college,” Ballinger said. “And then I ended up working 12s and I’m like, ‘You know what, I can do this on my own …’”

For a basic groom, or a bath and brush out, the charge is $40. A touch-up, which includes a bath and trim, is $45, and a full groom, or a bath and full trim, is $50. She will also clean ears and trim nails of all dogs coming in for a groom.

“I’m accepting anything — any sizes, any breeds, any kind of grooms,” she said. “I did a wide variety of dogs while I was at the clinic, so I can do any dog for the most part.”

The garage can house up to five dogs at one time for grooming purposes. She also has six spots available for daycare, although that number may grow as she gets more kennels. Her daycare pricing is $20 a day.

Jamie Westgerdes is a Fort Recovery client of Ballinger’s. Westgerdes said she’s done well grooming her four-year-old golden doodle, Bexley, and she looks forward to seeing how she grooms her puppy, a three-month-old doodle named Olive.

“She was very easy on Bexley and very understanding of her being antsy,” Westgerdes said, adding that she “feel(s) like doodles are very hard groom.”

She also complimented the building, which Sheldon Ballinger is leasing from her father, Don Ballinger.

A registered communications distribution designer and owner of the Coldwater-based NuWave Technology, Don Ballinger purchased a property in Bryant and installed a wireless internet service tower there last year. When his daughter expressed an interest in starting her own business, he suggested the Bryant site. When she agreed, they began work on renovating the interior.

“(It was) pretty much just what I would call a major facelift on the inside,” Don Ballinger said.

They installed new flooring, walls, electric wiring, cabinets, plumbing, a water heater and a furnace. Renovations took four to five months, and they’re still not finished with the exterior. Sheldon Ballinger hopes to add a fenced area on the north side of the building for dogs to run around, along with a few other projects.

At present, clients walk in the front door to a lobby with seating and a front desk. In the next room is Ballinger’s grooming table and counters. The attached garage is equipped with a large bath, a washer and dryer and several cages.

Grooming for each dog takes about two hours, and she is accepting clients who may need to drop their pets off before work and pick them up after work. Appointments can be made by phone at (260) 997-9010, email at [email protected] or on Facebook at Doggy Stylz & Inn.

“I have a pretty open book for anyone interested,” Ballinger said.