DAYTON - Erin Gibson got her start as a pet groomer when she worked as a receptionist at a veterinarian clinic in a suburb of Portland.

She'd always been an animal lover, growing up in a household that bred Labradors, so she couldn't resist sneaking to the back of the clinic where the kennels were.

"I fell into it by chance," said Gibson, 28. "I started by helping out giving them baths, clipping their nails, drying them."

After about a year, she was busy as a full-fledged groomer at the store next to the clinic and she stayed for another year before finding work as an on-hand groomer at a s...