GoFundMe page set up
Friends and clients are showing support for a local dog groomer whose home was recently destroyed in a fire.
Erin O’Neill said neither she, nor her two children were at home when the fire occurred at the residence in the Wildcat Creek Road area. However, along with her belongings, O’Neill did lose two family members who cannot be replaced -— her dogs, Monty and Oreo.
“I never thought in a million years I’d (come) home to a fire. I pulled into the driveway and, for some reason, I thought it had just started. It was still smoldering and all I saw was smoke and the one wall when you pull in the driveway was still standing. I didn’t even notice the huge holes the fire department had cut in the side of my house, so I thought I might have a chance of saving the dogs,” she said. “The fire department was amazing. They didn’t have to go in, but they knew there was a family with children who lived there, so I was really thankful for that.”
O’Neill said the cause of the early morning fire was a lightning strike.
“There were four (storm) cells that came through in a square mile of my house one after the other that morning,” she said.
O’Neill moved here from New Jersey 16 years ago. She had previously worked as a dog groomer, a veterinary tech and at a New Jersey wildlife rescue organization before starting her own dog grooming business in January.
“I wanted to raise my children in a place better then where we were from. When they say it takes a village to raise a child, then Ellijay was my village. I’ve worked with wildlife and domestic animals and I can read dogs really well. I think I was a dog in a past life,” she said.
“I think about humanity over vanity. It’s all about the dog. It’s their day and I want them to have a good time. If they’re not, I will leave a dog half-groomed and come back another day. I also do a lot of special needs dogs that bite or have anxiety or seizures. I don’t know why, but they don’t bite me. Some dogs just need more patience.”
Her business, Sit and Stay, is still young, but O’Neill has accumulated several satisfied clients in a short time.
“My daughter named it (that) because you sit and stay at home while I do all the work. I started (posting) on Facebook that I offer a service where I will come to your home and groom your dogs and it went crazy. I didn’t think it was going to go like this. I’ve gone all the way down to Cumming and Woodstock and all the way up to Copperhill. Wherever somebody needs me, I will go. I work at their schedule, day or night,” she said.
“I’m not a mobile groomer. I’m an in-home groomer. I don’t have a van and I have to use the (client’s) tub if it’s a big dog. If they don’t want me to come in their house, I can groom on their front porch. I do anything from a bath and nails to a complete full groom, whatever they want.”
One of those satisfied clients, Martha Bertran, has set up a GoFundMe account to help O’Neill get back on her feet.
“She has groomed my two Malteses, who had been show dogs, and she’s done a great job. She’s very well loved in the community and there’s a lot of people who appreciate her,” said Bertran.
Donations can be made to the account by visiting GoFundMe.com and searching for “Erin O’Neill Ellijay, Ga.”
“She lost everything (including) her two dogs, so I’m trying to help her. She’s a single mom and has really been trying to get her life together. Just when she has it all set, she loses it again,” Bertran said.
Ken Ragan, another repeat client of O’Neill’s, spoke highly of the groomer’s knack for handling and
calming dogs.
“We have an adopted rescue dog, a cocker spaniel, and he just loves her. She’s got a good personality and is a glass-half-full type of person,” he noted.
O’Neill said she’s touched by all the support her customers are offering.
“I didn’t think I had a lot of friends, but then I saw everybody’s response. I appreciate everybody doing this,” she added. “To me, it’s a job and I love the animals, but they think of me more as a family member and that made me feel really nice.”
O’Neill said it was difficult getting back to grooming after losing her own pets, but she will continue providing the unique service to dog owners.
“I’m still in shock a little bit. Every day I think I need to go grab this or that and then (realize) that it burned. You don’t think of all those things and every day. It’s something else. There were pictures of my mom and dad I had (that are gone),” she said. “I’m not ready yet, because I don’t have anywhere to keep one right now, but I’m eventually going to get another dog. I’ve never not had a dog. I just need (one) in my life.”