All About Dogs has closed its doors, at least for now.

Robbie Benoit, the owner of the dog grooming business, said Monday that right now, he needs to focus on getting better after he was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer.

As soon as he's better, he'll be back in business, Benoit said in an interview.

'It just breaks my heart,' he said of closing up shop.

After he was diagnosed, he tried to find another dog groomer to work while he concentrated on getting better, but after a month of searching, he couldn't find anyone.

Benoit, also a local performer who recently released a CD, has been grooming dogs for the last nine years, the last four in Whitehorse.

'I just fell in love with the trade,' he said.

Originally from the territory, he said he 'ran away with the circus' a number of years ago, eventually winding up in Chicago. There, he started dog grooming on the advice of a friend who said he should give it a try.

His own dog, Oscar, would go on to be named best bred at a dog show in 2001. Benoit recently saw an ad for this year's show which featured a picture of Oscar.

It was also in 2001 that he decided it was time to return home to Whitehorse, hoping that business here would be good. It's been better than he had imagined, he said.

'It's been wonderful,' Benoit said, noting a part of the job he loves is dealing such a wide variety of dogs -everything from the smaller pooches to huskies come into the shop.

'There's some really fine dogs here,' he said.

He was seeing anywhere from 10 to 15 dogs a day before he closed the shop.

'It's really frustrating,' he said of shutting down.

As sad as it is though, Benoit said with a laugh he'll now be forced into a holiday of sorts, something he hasn't had in nine years.

It's a shock to not be working, he added, but he wants to focus on getting better. Then he can reopen All About Dogs.

While not all his customers know that he's shut down his business, he's been 'totally amazed and totally humbled' by the reaction of those who do.

Questions about where they can take their dogs have also been accompanied by books to help him out from many customers.

Benoit is hoping to have All About Dogs reopened next winter.