If you are a current customer, I greatly appreciate your patronage and trust in caring for your fur baby. If you’re new and came here to learn more… Welcome to my website! Please contact me if your questions do not get answered here.

I started Tonya’s Tender Touch in 1999 in my garage in Fenton Michigan, near the intersection of Thompson and Torrey roads. We continue to serve clients of Genessee, Oakland, Livingston, and Shiawassee Counties from the same location.

Tonya’s Tender Touch is more than just me. Over the years I’ve been very blessed to work beside very caring and detail-oriented bathers and groomers. 

We offer a low-stress environment for your pet as we are a small facility and have no more than a couple of pets on the premises at a time. We do not use cages!

Tonya

How it all began

Often the question comes up of how Tonya’s Tender Touch began. So, here is that story.

In 1995, I was a single mother of three looking for work. My girlfriend Randi Schoch and her mother owned a dog kennel and grooming business. They approached me about needed a bather washing/drying dogs and cats, so I accepted the job… Often washing up to 20 dogs a day.

I watched how the groomers made the dogs they were working on so stinking cute and decided that’s what I wanted to do! To me, it was like creating a masterpiece of art. I approached Randi about being a groomer and she told me; “Buy your own equipment and I will train you”.

Randi was an expert groomer as well as a phenomenal teacher (Rest her soul). I feel very blessed to have learned the trade from her. After three months of training, I was a full-fledged groomer! I worked for Randi and continued to learn from her for nearly five years before starting my own little grooming business in 1999.

Getting my business going was a tough but very rewarding task. My brother In-law, Tony, did all the carpentry to create a groom room in my garage. My dad designed and printed thousands of promotional flyers. My son Joe, 8 then, and I handed out every single flyer in every subdivision in Fenton. After I pulled up to a mailbox, Joe would stretch out the window to attach a flyer to the box. Between the flyers and word of mouth from satisfied customers, I was rolling! 

I once read; When you are doing a service for people you have to be the best at what you do… The very BEST!! Those words drove me when I started all those years ago. I always kept in mind, that’s what it was going to take for me to succeed and remain successful.