Education and Experience

Justine has always been owned by cats. When her cat Alex was diagnosed with Feline Diabetes, Justine decided she wanted to work in the animal pet care field.  After graduating From West Mifflin Area High School in 1990, Justine (Baker) Cosley attended the veterinary assistant program at the Median School of Allied Health Careers (currently the Vet Tech Institute). She graduated in 1991 with a degree as a veterinary assistant and worked for 5 years in both clinic and emergency settings. While there she acquired 13 cats. Yes, 13 cats. Justine was a sucker when people would find cats and kittens on the street and bring them to the vet hospital. Her original brood included cats found in garbage dumpsters, near railroad tracks and 2 feral cats. Some of them were brought in with special needs, including a kitten that was found by the side of the road. The kitten had a horrible upper respiratory infection but Justine nursed it back to health. It was soon discovered that the female kitten had lost an eye to the infection and her other eye was covered with scar tissue. That nearly blind female kitten was named "George Stark" and with only 1 eye, lived to be 16 years of age. 

In 1997 Justine attended the  Pampered Pet School of Dog Grooming and graduated with a certificate in basic pet grooming. Justine worked in a local pet grooming shop for 4 years before opening "Justine's Doggy Styles" in Homestead Pennsylvania. 

Justine regularly attends Industry trade shows to keep up to date with the latest technology and education in the grooming field. She is a Nationally Certified Master Groomer with the NDGAA and is certified in Sporting, Non-Sporting, Long and Short Legged Terriers since 2007. Justine is also a Certified Feline Master Groomer with the National Cat Groomers Association of America. 

Award Winning Grooming

In 2004 Justine attended GroomExpo in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was there that she saw her first creative grooming competition. She was amazed at the artistry that went into the designs. Determined to compete in creative grooming, Justine adopted a 3 year old Standard Poodle named "Silas" from Petfinder.com. 

Justine and Silas competed in their first ever creative grooming competition in September of 2005. Justine styled Silas as the "Roethlispoodle" in honor of the Pittsburgh Steelers. She received 3rd place in the competition as well as the coveted "People's Choice Award" which gave her the opportunity to be on the cover of "Groomer to Groomer" magazine. Since 2005, Justine has placed in 6 out of  nine creative grooming competitions that she has entered, most recently receiving the 1st place award in 2008. Justine was also shown in the NBC Today show coverage of the Creative Grooming Competition at Hershey Pa in 2007.

 Click HERE to see the video. 

Why cats only?

It was at GroomExpo in 2006 that Justine met Danelle German, founder of the National Cat Groomers Institute of America (NCGIA) and realized that there was a great need for specialized cat grooming  in the Pittsburgh Area. Justine had always owned, groomed and had a great love for cats. In 2008 she decided to stop grooming dogs and focus on advancing cat grooming skills.  

What is Certification? 

There are many ways to learn to groom. There are grooming schools, online courses, and apprenticeships, but as it stands now, anyone can purchase a set of clippers and put a sign on their door and call themselves a groomer. As it stands now there is NO LAW in Pennsylvania requiring groomers to be licensed. That's not to say that there aren't some very good uncertified groomers out there. 

Certification is just the voluntary testing process designed for groomers to prove their qualifications. There are 3 certifying groups for dog groomers and 2 for cat groomers. Which one chooses to certify with usually depends on location and reputation. 

How does one Certify? 

Certification involves a lot of work. First of all you have to find the pets. Both dog and cat certification involves time, travel and money. You must find pets with the correct temperament, and in good coat condition. You must then travel to the testing sites to groom the pet in front of a certified instructor. To achieve certification, we have traveled as far as Virginia and Illinois. You must pass various written and practical tests to prove that you have adequate knowledge of breed profile and health issues. It takes great expense to travel and test, but we feel it was worth it.