Susie Penney

As a teenager, Susie worked for a vet for three years before she attended the American School of Dog Grooming in Detroit in 1977. Later that year she opened up her own business in downtown Traverse City, Michigan called The Clipper. Today, Susie is still in the same location where she and her fellow stylist typically groom anywhere from 20 to 35 dogs a day, six days a week. In 2010, despite the economic downturn of our nation, The Clipper had the highest grossing annual sales in the history of the company.

Susie is no stranger to the tradeshow and competition pet show world. Although you will rarely find Susie before a large audience giving a presentation or in the contest arena, she was never very far from the top echelon of our industry. In the early days we could always count on Susie as being our biggest fan. Not only did she attend shows across our nation, but she also traveled with the traveling GroomTeam team members to three world cup competitions as their official ‘cheerleader.’ Susie was also instrumental in getting early funding for GroomTeam to send our top stylist to world team competition. She was a forerunner to the current GroomTeam USA Coordinator – gathering products from vendors and selling raffle tickets by the arm length. Her energy and fun-loving spirit have always put her in the limelight in a very positive way.

When Susie isn’t busy running her shop she enjoys skiing, boating, antique car shows, plus country line and swing dancing. She is ‘owned’ by two Border Terriers, Elvis and Priscilla. She resides in Traverse City Michigan with her husband Dave.