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The Work We Do: David Borders, Scoshire Kennels

Hi, I’m David Borders. I own Scoshire Kennels. It’s located here in Aquebogue at 324 Church Lane.

We have been out on the North Fork and grooming since 1984. I started grooming in Manhattan in 1965 right after high school and worked for the Animal Medical Center. I ended up going out to San Francisco and I worked out there for a young man and I would get a dollar a dog and do face, feet and tail on a poodle, and wash and dry his dogs for him.

I came back to New York and went to the New York School of Dog Grooming, but I learned so much in California I was too advanced for the classes. I got a job on 50th Street and First Avenue. I worked with a girl there and she wanted to get out of grooming, so I bought her business from her.

I didn’t go to college and grooming was something I could do to give me a profession. I ended up buying an Airedale terrier and competed, showed and bred them.

In ’84, we bought a house in Greenport and I continued to groom at my business in Manhattan and commuted, and groomed out here in the summertime.

I think the best part of the job here is the dogs, and their owners. I think really when you cut hair, you get to know your owners quite personally. I’ve always been very talkative with them and it makes your business.

I get up at 4:30 a.m. every day. I check all the dogs and the birds out here. If I hear any dogs during the night, I get up and check everybody that is boarding. We live on site, and when you have a kennel you have to be reliable and you have to check things. 

I basically open here at 6:30 in the morning and the people drop off their dogs and by now we’re washing, drying and haircutting the dogs so we can get them all finished.

“The Work We Do” is a News-Review multimedia project profiling workers around Riverhead Town. It is made possible by Peconic Landing in Greenport. See more photos on Instagram @riverheadnewsreview