The brown terrier mix quietly takes in the hubbub in the makeshift grooming room as Maryann Kos and Becky Effel plan a strategy: First cut off the matted hair, trim the hair around the eyes, focus on the paws and long toenails and then finish with a bath.

Not your typical spa day for stray dogs at any animal shelter. But a group of dedicated volunteers and staff at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society are trying to make sure homeless critters are more comfortable and more adoptable during their time at the facility.

"We have so many dogs that come in looking like this," said Kos, who works in the shelter's Behavior Department. "I just have this crazy desire to make dogs look pretty."

Kos has been getting weekly grooming tips from Effel, who co-owns Companions, Aquatics & Beyond on Cerrillos Road with partner Rick Beaman. The independent pet center's grooming business has blossomed.

"I've always tried to do what I could for the shelter," Effel said, "but now with having a business, it's a lot easier to have dogs come to me rather than me go to the shelter."

Effel visits with shelter staff regularly, sharing her knowledge of canine grooming and handling. A handful of shelter dogs come to her store weekly for special attention.

The work has been paying off. Not only are the dogs more comfortable, but they are quick to find homes, including a 12-year-old cocker spaniel that Effel worked on.

Many of the dogs that come in off the street have multiple health problems, Kos said, and matted hair can be a part of that. Stickers or cactuses can easily get under a thick mat and create abscesses. Clumping and matting can interfere with a dog's sight and even its ability to walk or relieve itself.

Many of the animals that come through the shelter's intake are trimmed before surgery, Kos noted, and the shelter veterinary clinic does a great job in easing their burden. But some dogs have to wait until their stray time is up before they can get proper grooming.

"I'd love to be more proactive and do something to make them more comfortable during their stray time," Kos said.

But it's not just shelter dogs that develop grooming problems, Effel said. While mats and clumps are easy to catch and fix, other issues, such ass long toenails, ticks or earwax, are neglected by even the most attentive of owners.

Good groomers catch all problems, Effel said, because they are checking the whole body. "We deal with every part of the body," she said, "so we notice things."

Grooming also helps under-socialized dogs get used to being touched. That's been the experience of one group of shelter volunteers that has dedicated years to focusing on simply brushing shelter dogs, usually on Fridays.

Ingrid Vollnhofer came up with the idea and recruited several friends to help, including Ann Young and Rhonda Avidon. The women usually work in teams, Young said.

"What we have seen is very positive," Young said. "A lot of the dogs, especially the short-haired ones, are shedding and you can get a lot of hair off by just brushing them. You occasionally see hairy or fuzzy dogs on the shelter website but when you see them in adoptions they are obviously clean."

Most of the dogs love the attention, Young said, and those that aren't used to it slowly come to appreciate the one-on-one. Young uses a soft and gentle brush for those that are nervous and rubs the brush back and forth between their chests.

"They get this, 'oh, that feels nice' look on their face, and sometimes that's all we can do for the week," she said. "But they'll remember the next week and then we can move on to other parts of their bodies."

Effel, the groomer, recommends a lot of breaks between brushing and clipping. She also urges people to go slow. "The poor things have already been traumatized enough."

The longtime Santa Fe groomer started her profession almost by accident. A friend urged her to apply at Companions when it was on Second Street. She was 19 and spent 18 months washing dogs. She remembers wet days, flying dog hair and allergies that made her cry.

But she found herself loving the work, and when she went to college in Vermont, she opened up a grooming service at a pet store. She returned to Santa Fe and focused on the administrative part of Companions.

Eventually, Effel said she decided she wanted to experience a big city and was looking for a job in Denver when she accepted a grooming position in London, England. She managed a dog grooming and hydrotherapy business in West London, then took a job with a veterinarian at three branch offices around the city.

While there, she also did home grooming visits, cycling around the capital city with all her grooming supplies on her bike. She returned to New Mexico and bought Companions in 2008. She joined forces with Beaman's Jurassic Pets last year and moved to the new location.

The comfortable store offers plenty of space for people to get to know the variety of animals on sale or on display, including an alligator. The store has also been fostering shelter kittens.

"There's always some little girl with a kitten in their arms lately," Effel said.

The store's focus on grooming is a natural development. The store has been grooming about 20 dogs a day this summer, but expects an increase this fall.

She said she's happy to share her talents with shelter workers and volunteers to help make more dogs happy, healthy and adoptable.

Dogs like the now-clean terrier mix, shaking its body after a thorough washing.

"This is just one of I don't know how many cases we have," Kos said, admiring the dog. "I just want to make them more comfortable. When they come in, it just makes me cry."