THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - In a way, Destiny Martin owes her business to her dog - a shiatsu named Teddy Bear.

Destiny Martin is co-owner of Sittin' Pretty Pet Salon in Fort Smith. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"He's actually kind of the reason it all started," she said of Sittin' Pretty Pet Salon, a business she co-owns with her mother, Paula Cadwell-Lepine.

Martin said several years ago, the only place to get Teddy Bear groomed in Fort Smith was at a travelling veterinary clinic which came to town once a month, adding it would sometimes take up to three months to get an appointment.

"So I bought a set of clippers, and my mom and I just tried it out and thought, 'You know what, this isn't so bad,'" Martin recalled.

The mother and daughter team then took online courses in pet grooming, and later figured they could go into business.

They launched Sittin' Pretty Pet Salon in July of 2007, and it has been growing ever since.

"People just seem to love their dogs here (in Fort Smith), and, as soon as we opened, we've had client after client, and we're still gaining new clients to this day," Martin said. "It's nice to see. We're doing great."

She said business has been so busy her mother quit another job and earlier this month started working full-time - Tuesday to Saturday - at the pet salon.

Her mother used to be a finance officer with the negotiations secretariat of the Northwest Territory Metis Nation.

When the pet salon opened, Martin and her mother would only groom animals in the evening and their small retail store opened just on Saturdays.

"We had a lot of people saying, 'We want to come to your store, but Saturdays are not good for me. I can never make it down. You need to be open more often.' We just continued hearing that," Martin said.

The retail half of the business, which operates out of Martin's home, sells all-natural pet foods, dog toys and treats, cat toys, rabbit food, bird supplies, houses and toys for gerbils and hamsters, and much more.

"We sell a whole variety of different pet supplies, and we're always willing to order something in specially, if somebody needs it," she said.

When not working at her business, Martin is a student at Aurora College. She has finished the first year of a business administration diploma program, and is now working at a summer position with the Department of Energy and Natural Resources.

She is planning to go back to college in September.

Her grooming business deals mostly with dogs, along with clipping rabbit nails.

"We're slowly working into cats," Martin said.

She and her mother are getting more practice grooming cats, she said. "I've done my own cat for years. But now having other cats where they're not so used to you or know you or anything like that, it's a little bit different."

She said she is only familiar with a few cats that have already been brought in for de-matting.

Martin, who said she loves dogs and grew up around them, said she enjoys working at her business.

"I absolutely love it," she said. "I love seeing the dogs. I wish I could keep them all."

The dogs also seem to enjoy being at Sittin' Pretty Pet Salon, she said. "I think they love having a little pampering all to themselves."