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Chris with a client's dog

Chris Cox, 25 from Wollaston, was laid off from his building site 12 months ago and after struggling to find work, decided to embark on a total career change.

"I've got a dog at home - a three year old St. Bernard called Bernie," he said. "He always needed grooming and it was costing me £40 a time, every month. So I thought I'd start doing it myself to save money."

Chris quickly discovered he had a flare for combing and bathing Bernie and after doing some research he enrolled on a professional dog grooming course.

"I learnt the basics originally and then decided to give it a go as a full time job," he explained. "I set up in my parent's garage and made it completely dog friendly with all the right equipment and placed a few ads in the local paper."

Word-of-mouth soon spread and Chris reckons he's personally groomed about 350 dogs and has 120 regular clients.

Probably could do with a trim...

"It's just grown and grown," he said. "I'm ecstatic. One of the things I was adamant about was that I didn't want to use dog cages and would only have one animal in the garage at a time. A lot of people have told me they were put off by other groomers because dogs would be cooped up for hours in cages waiting for their turn. The animals would hate it."

Chris, who's set up an official business - Bow Wow Grooming - to cope with demand, personally collects any four-legged customers in his van free of charge, if they live in a four mile radius.

The lucky mutt gets the full service - a wash and dry, a haircut, nail clipping and even a special bow or bandana as a souvenir.

"The dogs seem to love it," he says. "So far I've not had one instance of an animal getting agitated or biting me."

Chris outside his house

Chris has hopes of expanding his business empire and even has designs on setting up a hydrotherapy dog swimming pool to help out the older doggies suffering from aches and pains.

The final question though has to be asked: what on earth do Chris' old builder mates think of his new profession?

"When I first said I was going to do it they thought I was barmy," he laughs. "But now I groom their dogs! I love it and wish I'd thought of it years ago."