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In March, Judy White and her daughter April White-Beach officially opened Fido’s Fine Fur Barkery and Mercantile to Pike County.

The duo are part of three generations of pet groomers that have grooming salons in multiple locations, as well as a long-standing mobile pet grooming service. White originally graduated pet grooming school in 1981 in Wisconsin and went on to do mobile grooming out of a van for a number of years in Georgia and Florida. She also opened a grooming and boarding facility in Florida before opening one in Wetumpka. After selling that location, she and her husband moved to the Troy area.

White-Beach originally said she wanted to be a doctor – and then a veterinarian – before choosing an alternative career path.

“I decided I wanted a job that came with some respect, so I decided to be a burlesque performer,” White-Beach said with a big laugh. “I chose that road instead of veterinarian school, to become a show producer and burlesque performer. I produce shows in Panama City and travel as much as I can with that.”

Her other career, though, has always been in pet grooming. She originally started in 1998, using her brother’s old van that was used for his band.

“He and his band mates used it to bring all their gear to their shows,” she remembered. “They cut the top out of an old Econoline van and made the new top out of plywood and fiberglass.”

After moving up to a 1983 Dodge Ram Camper, that she purchased for $50 from a seafood restaurant, she eventually bought a 1999 van that she converted into her new mobile groomer.

“I probably put 400,000 miles on that van. We’d go out from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. at night,” she remembered. “That is, until I blew a head gasket. I took it to Dodge and they said I needed a new engine, $6,500. My heart just sank. I told them not to worry, I would get it handled.

“Every day I would change my route where I went out and every day I would have to change the oil. I’d slide under my van, pull the drain plug and let the entire thing of water and oil drain out. I did that for six months until I could get the new engine.”

She would go on to eventually purchase a nice mobile groomer in later years until partnering with her daughter to launch LeBoneTemps, a grooming salon, in Panama City, Fla.

“My daughter has taken over the business there in Panama City and probably 25-50 dogs come through there every day,” White-Beach said.

Judy White had decided her pet grooming days were over until passing by an old – what looked to be abandoned – filling station on Alabama Highway 87 just outside of Troy.

“That building just called to me,” White said.

The building itself has a history almost as fascinating as the grooming duo. White said that one day a man stopped in and said that his family originally built the old store and he lived in the back of the building with them.

White-Beach said that he told them that it was originally built as a General Store in the 1940s before being converted into a gas station. With Pike County being a dry county at the time, it would eventually become an underground speakeasy. White-Beach said that the man recalled the sheriff’s office showing up one night and raiding the location.

“My mother was here watching them pull whiskey and beer out from under the bed and out of all the cabinets,” the man recalled. “After the chaos, momma said, ‘You’ll never hide this whiskey under my bed again’ and PawPaw said, ‘That’s right, I’ll hide it under the floorboards instead.’”

White-Beach had moved up to Pike County originally to work as a groomer for a local veterinarian, as well. After purchasing the building, the family fixed it up and decided to start their own dog grooming and retail store there.

“It’s been going good. Everyone seems to be happy with us,” White-Beach said. “I feel like we have an advantage because we’ve done this for a very long time and we’re very good at it. I don’t mean that in an arrogant way, I’m just able to be very efficient and I’m able to get people in really quickly. I’m a good listener, so I give people what they want. We also have good handling skills, so we’re able to work with older pets and difficult pets.”

While White-Beach grew up in Wisconsin – and is used to the country life – she said she always preferred the city life. Since coming to Troy, though, she’s starting to warm up to it.

“I grew up in a tiny little Midwestern town with acres and acres of fields everywhere, and I hated country living,” she said. “Since being here, though, I’ve been able to put a lot of thought into my shows I’m producing and it also helps me stay grounded, because if there’s so much going on around me I lose focus. So, now it’s more like I love to hate it. This is exactly how I grew up except it was cold and we had better cheese.”

Fido’s Fine Fur Barkery and Mercantile is located at 8906 Alabama Highway 87 just outside of Troy. Their Facebook is located at, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556746990496.