Meet Swayze, an Australian Shepherd

“When I was in the Coast Guard everybody called me Sway because we could only use that many letters on our hard hat. So I always thought that when I got my own dog, Swayze would be a cool name. After I got her and named her, my sister informed me that there was a famous guy named Patrick Swayze and I should totally know who that is. So now everyone thinks she’s a he and I named her after Patrick Swayze. 

“I’m a mobile pet groomer, and she goes to work with me every day. Whenever I get out of the bus she jumps in the front seat, and it looks like she’s driving. Everyone loves taking pictures of her.”

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“I had been wanting my own dog since I was 6,” she said. “It wasn’t until I was 23 that I finally got one.”

Now, Swayze the Australian Shepherd is her constant companion.

Megan, 27, doesn’t have to wait for Take Your Dog to Work Day for them to be together. They are joined at the hip, sometimes up to 14 hours a day.

They put in those long hours on the Dirty Paws mobile dog grooming bus. And they have plenty of company, as 10-20 dogs a day come aboard to have their shaggy appearances transformed into best-of-show looks.

Megan has come a long way from a childhood of helping an aunt with her horses and dreaming of being a vet, to running her own business.

Coast Guard calling

After graduating from La Porte High School in 2008, Megan knew college wasn’t for her. But she wasn’t quite sure which direction to follow. So she opted for adventure and joined the U.S. Coast Guard.

“I always wanted to travel, and I sure got that opportunity with the Coast Guard,” she said.

For four years, Megan enjoyed the sights in Oregon, Washington and Alaska. She also spent time in Florida, helping with cleanup efforts for the BP oil spill disaster.

Along the way, she gained several attributes that have helped her become a successful small business owner. Tops among them are a willingness to work hard and attention to detail.

“When you’re in the military, you can’t wake up and say, ‘Oh, I don’t feel like doing this today.’ You have a list of things to do every day and you are expected to complete them,” she said.

Dog groomer on wheels

When she left the Coast Guard, a suggestion from a friend led Megan to begin learning the grooming trade at a shop in Spring. It didn’t hurt that she loved dogs.

While gaining additional experience with a groomer in Richmond, she began to retrofit an old church bus and made plans to launch a mobile grooming service.

“It’s been big in Houston for a while, but there really wasn’t much out this way,” said Megan, who lives in Beach City. “Still, it was scary at first, wondering if it would catch on, if I would do a good job, if people would like my work.”

There are no such worries today. About four years into the business, Megan has several employees, and they all keep busy.

She drives to customers’ homes in Baytown and the surrounding area. Her helpers wash and blow-dry the dogs, and Megan takes care of the clipping and styling.

Some owners have multiple dogs. “One time I did about 10 dogs at a person’s house. It took about five hours,” said Megan, who also provides pet sitting and dog walking services.

You name a dog breed, and she has probably groomed it. Standard poodles and goldendoodles (golden retriever-poodle mix) are among the most challenging because of the detailed work involved.

“Dogs are like members of your family, so people are pretty particular about how they want them to look,” Megan said.

To keep pace with her business growth, she is putting the finishing touches on a second grooming bus.

“My ultimate dream is to build kennels so I can board dogs,” Megan said. “That’s why I’m working so hard now, so I can achieve that one day.”

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“My father was a towboat captain, my grandfather was a towboat captain and all my uncles were towboat captains. I grew up wanting to emulate my dad, since he was my hero.

“When I was 4½, he started taking me out on the boat with him. When I was 16, I began working on the boat during the summer. Then when I turned 19, I joined the Coast Guard, and I was in there for 10 years.

“When I got out, I tried everything I could think of to stay away from the water. Nothing worked out for me. So I thought, well, I’ll just fall back on what I know, and I went to work on towboats. I did that for more than 40 years, pushing barges up and down the intercoastal waterway.

“When I was young, I had a lot of romantic notions about being a towboat captain. But when I actually got into the work, it was no longer romantic. I wasn’t free to do what I wanted to do, like I was when I was a kid. It was just making a paycheck, although the money was great.”

When did you retire?
“I stopped when I was 72. My supervisor was constantly telling everybody that whatever I decided on the boat as the captain, he would back me up 110 percent. I had a disagreement with one of the fellas on my boat, so I called my supervisor and told him I want to get this guy off the boat. My supervisor said we can’t just arbitrarily get rid of people because you don’t want him. I said, well, you either get him off the boat or you get me off the boat. I’m leaving today if he doesn’t leave because I’m not going to get in fisticuffs with him. He’s 25 and I’m over 70. But he wouldn’t help me out, so I just walked off the boat. That was my last day.”

— Jay Railey

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