Promoting pet welfare already for ten years – toward holistic well-being of pet families
The key objective of Musti Group companies’ wellness services is to promote pet wellness and an ethical pet care culture. We launched our wellness services concept ten years ago by offering grooming services in one location in Finland. Over the years, we noticed that there was also need for other kinds of pet wellness services; hence, our operations have expanded year after year.
Always prioritizing pet welfare
“A grooming service is about much more than making pets look better. It is an important part of a pet’s general welfare, significantly impacting its physical and mental health. Regular and professional grooming can prevent various health problems and improve the quality of a pet’s life. When providing services, we treat both the pet and its owner as individuals and with respect. We are extremely proud of being able to offer high-quality wellness services, thus promoting pet welfare,” says Helen Liiv, Service Business Manager at Musti ja Mirri.
“We do not compromise on pet welfare,” Helen continues. In practice, this means two things: First, we implement all wellness services on the animals’ terms. Musti’s professionals strive to understand what the pets are communicating with their gestures and behavior. Second, all our welfare service providers have a vocational degree or other professional qualifications in their field. For Musti’s specialists, treating pets gently and professionally is of utmost importance.
“We offer pet care services respecting the animal’s individual needs. For example, we never force a pet to undergo a treatment if it is afraid of it or too stressed about it. Instead, we use positive reinforcement like treats. This way we aim to make the experience more pleasant for the pet. If the pet still seems stressed, we cancel the treatment. In situations like this, we set a new date for the treatment with the pet owner,” explains Laura Linna, a professional in grooming and other welfare services.
Musti’s professionals must understand animals’ gestural communication and behavior to be able to always provide services on the animals’ terms. Our goal is to share this knowledge and understanding with the pet parents as well.
“Our mission is to help pet parents better interpret pets’ gestural messages and promote communication between pet parents and their four-legged family members,” says Janica Raudasoja, an animal trainer and expert in animal behavior.
An extensive service offering and tools for pet families
We have expanded our wellness services based on our customers’ needs and feedback. Today, Musti ja Mirri – part of Musti Group – has 38 pet wellness service point locations in its stores in around Finland. In these stores, we offer pet families a diverse range of services: grooming, nail clipping, dog massages, physiotherapy and animal trainer services as well as veterinary services in pet clinics in a few stores. We have also invested in remote services, examples of which include veterinary and animal training services and dietary advice.
Our goal is to help pet parents and their pets build good trust-based communication that is founded on the owner listening to and understanding their pet as well as encouraging it to act as desired. The development of communication skills begins at an early stage of the pet’s life with learning basic social skills and contacts. Musti offers pet families tools for learning skills in the form of, for example, puppy dates, Musti preschool, VIP training and advice on problem behaviors. In addition, our skilled animal trainers can use many means to make both pets’ and their parents’ lives easier and their shared everyday life better. Our professionals consider the individual starting point of each pet family – understanding the background and personality of the pet and its parent.
Musti and its professionals are happy that awareness of pet welfare and the willingness to promote it have increased among pet owners. It is great to notice that old-fashioned attitudes where, for example, pets were seen as submissive and beautiful objects belonging to their owners, are largely disappearing. Today, animals are seen as individuals whose welfare we as people must take responsibility for through our actions.
