Why dog grooming prices vary betweengroomers.

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The Grooming Process & Fees explained

 The grooming process is very time consuming and a lot more goes into it than a bath and then clip. Every dog is individual and the time and cost of each groom is dependent on size, breed, coat type, condition of the coat, style required, temperament and age.
To help customers understand what the process, why it costs what it does and why we cannot do your pet quicker than the time allotted I have written a rough guide of what happens when your dog visits the salon.

1. Check in where we will greet and asses your dog's coat condition for matts and tangles, discuss your requirements and make sure we are clear on style you want and if it is achievable, fill in all relevant information needed, allot a time frame to complete the groom.

1. Checking your dog and rough clip once your dog is left with us we will do a 10-point health check including assessing, eyes ears, teeth, if needed we will rough clip to remove excess hair before bath.

1. Bathing your dog your dog will be placed in the bath where they will be bathed using quality shampoo for type of coat in our hydro bath that penetrates deep into the coat to remove dirt and loose hair. Heads are washed gently by hand, to minimise any water getting into eyes, ears and up their nose. Face is gently scrubbed to remove dirt around eyes and beard, bottoms are cleaned. They are then rinsed and conditioned if needed, then rinsed again until all traces of soap are removed and they are left smelling amazing and squeaky clean.

1. Drying Your dog is rubbed with a clean towels to remove as much excess water as possible then they are placed on the table where they will be dried using a high velocity dryer. This helps to straighten coats and remove dead hair and undercoat, it also helps to show up any skin problems they may have. They are then finished using a finishing dryer, where they will be fluff dried with a brush, then combed through, any knots and matts are painstakingly removed by hand but only if it is viable to not cause pain, distress and suffering to your dog. This is an important part of the groom as the hair has to be matt free so a comb can glide smoothly through the coat before it can be styled. If your dog is a double coated breed dead undercoat is removed until a comb can glide through the coat.

1. Pre-Groom preparation This is where your dog's nails are trimmed, pads are clipped to remove excess hair to prevent dogs slipping on smooth surfaces, bottom and genital area is clipped for hygiene reasons and ears are cleaned if necessary.

1. The full Groom Depending on breed and style your dog will be, if required, clipped on their body running over each section to remove desired length, feet will be scissor tidied, tail scissor tidied, head and ears styled with scissors, legs can be clipped or styled with scissors. If double coated the feet and feathering will be scissor tidied.

In line with the Animal Welfare Act Five Animal Needs we will not spend time de-matting a heavily matted dog. If your dog is heavily matted it takes time to clip through tight matting with clippers and to do so without causing distress, pain and suffering to your dog. This also causes blunting of equipment, this is why heavily matted dogs will incur an extra charge.

For puppies intros I like to end with 5 to 10 mins of play to reward them and so they remember the last part of being at the groomers as fun experience and therefore more willing to come on future visits.

Please be mindful of the fact if you ask for your dog to be done quicker you will not receive the quality of groom we like to achieve and we never work on dogs like a conveyor belt salon. We like to keep the grooming process as stress free as we can by not rushing, this helps with keeping your pet as comfortable as possible whilst being groomed,