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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - At Borealis Kennels at Kam Lake, Kellan Rosie's touch is gentle and her manner reassuring as her clippers dance across a dog's facial hair. A professional pet groomer, Rosie handles the animals deftly and has a quick sense of humour about her work.

Borealis Kennels' Kellan Rosie works on Bug, a silky terrier puppy. Bug was neutered only a month ago so he was a nervous customer, shaking like a leaf when he first arrived. Rosie put him at ease and he was calm and comfortable on her table. She gave him a dried liver treat when she was done. - Gabriel Zarate/NNSL photo

"Never laugh at a recently groomed dog because they'll poop in your boot," she laughed.

No, seriously. Dogs don't like being laughed at.

Most of Rosie's customers are Shih Tzus, Bichons or cocker spaniels or crosses among the three. She jokes dogs in Yellowknife have a tendency to grow larger than usual for their breed, just as everything else does in town.

"You get show dogs that are supposed to be a certain height but they'll blow the height requirement by four inches."

The smallest dog Rosie groomed was a Maltese weighing only a pound. The largest was a 130-lb King Corseau.

The 25-year Yellowknife resident has been working at Borealis Kennels since they opened in 1992. She is proud of the fact that she does not employ tranquilizers to work on the animals. Instead she is well-versed in careful restraint techniques, but is unwilling to work on badly-tempered animals.

Rosie is a member of the National Dog Groomers' Association of America, the body that creates the grooming requirements for dog shows. Some of the dogs she has groomed have placed highly in competitions in Canada and the U.S.

She works six days a week and usually handles 4-6 dogs per day, trimming and combing, cutting nails and bathing. She prefers not to bathe animals during winter since that can be done at home without taking the animal outside.

Rosie owes her life to animals. She was born five months premature and doctors doubted she would survive. Her family's tom cat climbed into her bassinet and became her companion for months, her "environmentally-friendly hot water bottle." She credits the cat's body heat and the presence of a reassuring heartbeat with her survival.

Fittingly, Rosie has surrounded herself with animals for her entire life. As a child she groomed show horses and cattle and learned to ride both formal dressage and popular rodeo. For a time she worked at Vancouver's quarantine zoo and learned to handle and respect a variety of exotic animals.

Rosie's decision to become a professional pet groomer crystallized when she found out her dog was being tranquilized by its groomer. Her dog was a well-behaved mini/poodle cross and she was horrified to hear the groomer was employing sedatives without a veterinarian's supervision.

Rosie tries to make a new dog comfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings and may ask the owner to take the dog home ungroomed and try again in a few days. Pets, she explains, probably think the place is a veterinary office where they are unpleasantly poked and prodded, and she tries to relieve the animals of that notion.

It might take several visits before the animal is no longer afraid, and ready to be groomed.

"Being around animals all my life I can tell their personality right away," said Rosie.