When to Call a Pro for dog grooming

By Margaret H.Bonham

Although you’re ready to invest your time and money in dog grooming, you may run into situations in which you need to rely on the skills and advice of an expert. Precious, your Bearded Collie, may tangle with a sticker bush, and you may not have time or patience to pick every last sticker out of her coat. Maybe Rex, your Great Dane, is easy to bathe and brush but a gigantic pain when you’re trimming his nails and brushing his teeth. Perhaps you adopted a dog who’s never been groomed before, and you need help getting his coat into shape so you can then maintain it. You may even love to keep Sissy, your Standard Poodle, in a New Yorker cut, but you can’t trim your own bangs.

If you’re an honest soul who has admitted to yourself that you have neither the time nor inclination to do it right, there’s no shame in that. And why should there be? You call a plumber when your sink faucet is spraying water. You have a teacher teach your kids. You buy an airline ticket to fly across the country instead of going to flight school. You pay someone else to do plenty of tasks that you can’t or won’t do, so nothing’s wrong with hiring a professional groomer for your dog.

Assigning children to groom the dog usually isn’t a reliable alternative to routinely grooming the dog yourself. No matter how much your kids promise that they’re going to take care of the dog (including grooming), don’t believe them. This task ultimately falls on an adult in the household. Younger children are neither responsible enough to take care of a dog without adult supervision nor capable of tackling the grooming process. I say this from experience. I’ve seen many dogs given up to shelters or given away because they were originally “for the kids,” but when it came down to it, the children weren’t responsible enough to care for a living, breathing being.

Considering the cost

Most pet owners hesitate to look for a professional groomer because, quite frankly, it’s costly. Yet that’s all a matter of perspective. If you take three or four hours to groom your Standard Poodle, paying someone $45 to $65 to bathe, brush, and clip your dog is actually a deal.

The cost of having a professional groom your dog varies widely depending on where you live and what you want done. Time- and skill-intensive procedures like stripping or clipping coats cost more than a simple bath and brush out. Problem coats (matting and tangles) also add to the cost.

Keep these points in mind when considering the cost of grooming:

•         Most groomers charge between $35 and $70 for complete grooming.

•           Some groomers charge more or less depending on the breed, the location  (New York City is more expensive than Great Falls, Montana), the  size of the dog, and the type of work done.

•          Dogs with matted or dirty fur cost more, and so do dogs who need a show trim.

•        Groomers add from $8 to $12 for mats and add at least $40 for show cuts over the average cost of grooming.

Most but not all groomers offer baths, brushing, clipping, stripping, ear cleaning, and nail cutting as part of their services. Ask what the full grooming price includes. Some groomers won’t quote a price until they see your dog and can gauge how much work grooming your dog will be.

Most dog owners who use professional groomers have their pets groomed once a month and then maintain their coats with brushing and combing.

Looking for a professional groomer

Now that you’ve decided to use a professional groomer, you can look for one by simply opening the Yellow Pages to Dog Groomers, closing your eyes, and pointing to an entry. On the other hand, I have a better method

Finding a professional groomer

Finding a groomer is pretty easy. You’re likely to see a shop on the corner in your neighborhood, but you may not be sure whether that groomer is any good. Here are the steps you need to go through to find a good one:

     1. Ask your dog-owning friends whether they use a groomer for their dogs or know of one they’d recommend.

         A good recommendation is worth its weight in gold. If your dog-owning friends praise a particular            groomer, go with that one.

     2. Ask your veterinarian what groomer he or she recommends.

         Sometimes your vet will employ a groomer onsite.

     3. Look for groomers near you in the Yellow Pages or online at

            • Find A Groomer Directory (www.findagroomer.com): This groomer directory is the pet owner’s               side of PetGroomer.com (www.petgroomer.com). Groomers list themselves here. You can  search by city and state or  even by zip code.

            • BreederWeb.com (breederweb.com/services/dogGroomers. asp): This resource is another   good one to use in your search for a groomer.

            • DexOnline.com (dexonline.com): Use this Internet Yellow Pages site to do a search on “dog grooming” in your city and state for a listing.     

Screening the professional groomer

After you find a professional groomer you’re interested in using, you need to determine whether that groomer is the right one for your dog. Not all groomers are comfortable with all dogs, and some groomers prefer to work only with certain breeds.

Some groomers may use tranquilizers, especially with difficult-to-handle or aggressive dogs. I don’t recommend tranquilizers at all, except under extreme circumstances, such as a totally freaked out pooch. If you don’t know whether a groomer uses tranquilizers, ask. Dogs prone to seizures can experience seizures when administered certain common tranquilizers. ranquilizers also make dogs more susceptible to problems caused by changes in temperature, such as hypothermia and heatstroke.

Sources: Dog Grooming For Dummies

Sources: Dog Grooming For Dummies