Throughout the year calls are constantly coming in asking about pricing for just bath and nails. Depending on the breed, type of coat, condition of coat, time since last groom, number of grooms in the pets life, and behavior all play a part in how much “just a bath” will cost.

When estimating these prices (and we do not quote EVER) we can only assume the pet is up to AKC standards, which means normal sized for the breed, coat regularly maintained, and professional grooming having been done on a regular bases.

So why does it cost so much to have a dog smelling good?

For this instance I’m going to use large shedding breeds as an example. If these dogs are professionally groomed and/or brushed on a daily basis at home then any undercoat (thats all the shedding hairs) is removed from the pet by the time the dog does in for its next grooming appointment. That makes it easier on the groomer and on the dog, thus it not costing as much.

Now, take a dog that hasnt been touched with a brush at home, and hasnt been to the groomer in over 4 months. That undercoat is heavy, possibly already impacted (matted). Because the owner waited so long in between grooms, and didnt offer any assistance by brushing the dog at home, they now have to pay the groomer to do the work for them. See where this is going?

Before the groom

After the Groom

Undercoat removal is a tiring process, and uses double the amount of product and time to groom the animal then if it had been on a regular schedule. The clean up of all the hair after its been removed is a huge and dirty task. The constant brushing of the coat is wear and tear on our body to the point where we are sore at the end of the day.

When the coat is impacted, a process dubbed “the furminator” (a term used long before the FURMinator brand was ever developed) has to be used. This requires the dog have all its coat washed, including those mats. I know, I know. Your groomer told you to never wash a dog that had mats right? Thats still true- for the owner. We have the equipment needed to avoid further matting even when we wash those mats. So now that the coat and matted undercoat are washed and rinsed, a deep conditioner is applied to the coat and saturated down to the skin. It has to be rubbed  into the matted areas to make the matted areas absorb the conditioner to soften the hair shafts. Conditioner also makes the coat a bit slippery. We’re going to need that.

Now we wait. Depending on the brand each groomer uses and how bad the matting is, soaking time is typically between 3-10  minutes. Thats time wasted standing next to the tub, making sure the dog doesnt jump out and hang itself. Thats time wasted that we could be working on other dogs. And as the old saying goes “Time is Money”.

After the soak “the furminator” process begins. Using our high powered velocity dryer (about 100 times stronger then your hair dryer at home), we use it on the dog while the conditioner is still in the coat. This is a mess, let me tell you! Conditioner starts being sprayed throughout the room along with the slippery, conditioner filled hair. The tub is full of all this impacted mess and product. And so is the groomer. By the time all the hair and the majority of the conditioner are blown out, ythe groomer is covered in “slime”, loose hair, and is soaking wet. And by the way, this doesnt include the dog having previously shook water all over during the wash.

After furminating

Now its time for the first stage of clean up. The tub walls have to be sprayed down to remove the blown out coat and conditioner,a towel has to be laid down on the floor to avoid slipping, and the hair drain needs to be cleaned of all the excess hair so the tub will drain properly.

Now, time to rinse. There will still be conditioner left in the coat, so a final rinse, and a second dry is needed to complete “the furminator” process.

For an Akita sized dog, this whole bathing process takes roughly 45 minutes. After the final blow dry, the dog may or may not go into a kennel to finish drying or wait for its turn on the table.

When the dog IS ready to be put on the table, we must select a brush among the many variety in which to brush any remaining hair from the skin. Coat types vary from breed to breed, and each will work differently for each groom. Once we have picked the brush that will do the most work, we get to work brushing. Stoke. Stoke. Stoke. Its a repeated process. After a while, our arm muscles start to tighten. This really is a work out!

Cut the nails. Clean the ears.

PHEW! And we’re done!

After the groom

Ah, but I forgot to mention- the above instance was based on a GOOD dog.

A bad dog? Oh boy. Double the amount of work. And time.

What makes for a bad dog? First off, bad is a very loose term. Dogs arent bad. They are just untrained. A dog spinning in the tub or pulling away when you reach to work on a certain area of the animal may cause extra time to be wasted. We have to pull the dog back to the position we need it in. If the pet wants to sit and not stand, we now have to use our arm muscles to hold the dog up via the belly, straining the muscles while we do the best we can washing with one hand. All this is applied for the bath and dry. Dogs may want to nip. They might jump around, knock the hose from your hand, bite at the dryer, bite at the groomer, poo and pee, and just act wild. These are all behavioral issues associated with never having the dog groomed, or waiting every 6 months to have it done. Issues like these cause the grooming to take longer then normal, thus the price of the dog must be increased. The owner has no one to blame but themselves. But hey! The dog might cost them $100, but they saved $400 in grooming in the last 6 months by not bringing the pet in!

What if the owner doesnt want to pay for a shedding treatment, and doesnt care if the hair is still falling out around the house? This is a toughy and can be ran differently at different salons. I believe a pet should get what it needs, for its health, regardless of what the owner wants. But it really is determined by each individual case. A pug for instance has short hair. It sheds, yes, but doesnt get impacted coat (usually). If the owner doesnt want a shed treatment, I wont force them to get one. If a chow comes in, and they just want a bath and it has visible undercoat peeking out I wont give them a choice. I let them know it will cost X amount to get rid of the coat and that a shedding treatment is included in that price. if they still continue to argue with me (most dont), then I explain it will take longer to properly groom the pet without a shedding treatments, costing them more money.

In a groomers point of view, every dog we do is an advertisement of our work. If we let a dog leave the salon not done to the best of our ability, what are the chances of it attracting unwanted attention? We WANT customers to come back and recommend their friends and family.

A cheap customer that just doesnt care… well… thats a whole different story that I will save for a future blog post.

Fur Bearers are those breeds that shed.

For example (just to name a few): Pomeranian,  Siberian Husky, Chow Chow, German Shepherd, Australian Shepherd, Shetland Sheepdog, Chihuahua, Jack Russell Terrier, Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, Pit Bull, Bull Dog, Saint Bernard, Akita, Beagle, Border Collie, Rough and Short Coated Collie, Shar Pei, Dalmatian, Great Pyrenees, Japanese Chin, Keeshond, Papillon, Pekingese, Corgie, Pug, Samoyed, Shiba Inu, Rottweiler.

The list goes on, doesnt it?

If you take a look at the chart I made, you will notice different aspects of the fur bearers coat.

In Stage 1 the coat has just been freshly groomed. All the soft undercoat was removed allowing the cool air to work its way through the shafts of the hair to reach the skin. Because the top coat is slightly harsher then the undercoat, the pores are better closed off causing the sun’s rays to bounce off the coat instead of being absorbed by the softer more porous undercoat. Thus, the pet remains cool as the air flow is constantly flowing along the skin and the heat is thwarted off the dog. The freshly groomed hair protects the dog from over heating.

In Stage 2 you see the undercoat starting to come back in. This stage occurs roughly 4-6 weeks after the last grooming. Some of the light will bounce off the harsher top coat, but at the same time the undercoat that is starting to come in will absorb the heat. Also, because the undercoat is starting to thicken, the air can no longer flow easily through the pets coat. This will start to make the dog pant and overheat. Its at this stage, between the 4-6 week mark, that your pet will need to be taken back in for another grooming to ensure proper care  for its skin and coat.

In Stage 3 you can see that the undercoat is now impacted. All of the heat is absorbed into the undercoat and no air can reach the skin. The pet will heavily pant and no amount of water will sate it. The paw pads also excrete moisture as a cooling aid, but because of the excessive amount of heat the pet is having to endure, the paw pads are constantly sweating. This is a prime breeding ground for bacteria and infection. The pet will start chewing on its feet in an attempt to relief itself from some pain. However, this will just cause the problem to worsen and cause the feet to stain. The feet will smell of fungus, will be red and swollen from infection, and will create hot spots. Not only is this poor dog hot and slowly dying from dehydration, but all because the coat was not maintained, the dog now has infections of the feet that will have to be treated*.

Just below Stage 3 we see the skin with very little hair covering it. The pet has been shaved. Many pet owners (and uneducated groomers in this topic) think that by shaving the pet and relieving it from all the hair that causes it to overheat will keep the dog cool. This is not true. In actuality, it can cause the same symptoms as not having the dog groomed at all, with the risk of the pet sunburning. When the coat is removed, the cool air now flows on top of the skin instead of circulating through the hair shafts. The sun’s rays have nothing to bounce off of so the skin will now absorb the heat. Because a dogs skin only has 6-10 layers of skin (vs the humans 16-20 layers) the pet will not only easily sunburn, but will be subjected to skin cancer. The pet is no better off (and is actually in much more danger) then before it had been shaved. The dog will continue to shed smaller needle like hairs that will in bed into a persons skin like a splinter. The dog will over heat from loss of air flow and increased absorption from the sun’s rays. The paw pads will continue to excrete sweat which will lead to infection. The dog is now sunburned and exposed to the high possibility of skin cancer. Due to the shaving, the follicle in which hair grows from has now been damaged. This will cause the dog to develop Post Clip Alopecia. See my blog for more information regarding this condition.

*For pets that show these symptoms of infection, wither it be on the feet or elsewhere on the body, we offer natural treatments to clear it up.

While I did post this on our facebook page (link can be found to the right of the page) I thought I would blog it here to provide some very useful information for those people who are considering shaving their pet.

Post Clipping Alopecia.

This is a condition that is very common in the fur bearing breeds. The fur bearers such as Pomeranians, Chows, Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and Shetland Sheepdogs (Shelties) all have undercoat that needs to be brushed on a regular basis to keep shedding to a minimum and to keep the dog from getting matted. Post Clipping Alopecia comes into play when a fur bearer is shaved down. The hair will NOT grow back to the way it was. It can come close, but it will never be as beautiful as the original coat.

As seen in the picture below, this is a chow that had been shaved previously (though not by Yuppie Puppies). This is what Post Clipping Alopecia looks like. The hair grows back thin and in patches. It changes the texture and thus completely messes with the dogs heating and cooling system.

A lot of people will shave their dog because they shed, or they think the dog is hot. The fur actually protects the dog from sun burn and keeps the body cool. Cool air is trapped down on the skin because of the hair. If you remove it, the dog will actually be hotter. Dogs “sweat” by panting. They also release a small amount of sweat from between the paw pads as well. This is their natural cooling system.

So while shaving your fur bearing dog might seem like a good idea at first, it can have long term complications. Instead, keep your pet brushed so that the undercoat is removed and the skin can breath. Make sure to have your pet professionally groomed every 6-8 weeks (or more if needed). If you keep up a regular routine you may not have to get a deshedding package each time. A basic bath and dry (if done between 2-4 weeks) will release any undercoat growing in before it gets impacted and matted.

If you have already started shaving your pet here are some facts and tips to help you manage the hair growth:

• If fed a good quality food (meaning no By-Products, No Corn, No Wheat, No Soy) the chances of your pets coat growing back to a normal texture will increase.
• If fed a good quality food (as stated above) then your pet will be receiving the nutrients it needs, thus will shed less. And poop less. Always a good thing.
• If started young, some dogs will grow back almost to natural texture. However, as the dog ages, the chances of it developing Post Clipping Alopecia with each shave are increased.
• In some dogs, to get the coat back to its natural state, it can take up to 3 years of proper care, nutrition, and grooming. Until then, your dog will look like it has mange.
• Most owners whose dogs do develop Post Clipping Alopecia tend to keep the pet clipped short for the rest of the dogs life.
• An alternative to clipping the fur bearers short (for those that really do need some kind of tightening up) they can be hand scissored, skimmed, or gone over with an attachment comb (also called a guard comb). Post Clipping Alopecia occurs when you shave the undercoat off down by the hair follicle. If a pet is properly deshedded, and done in a longer length that trims only the surface hairs without touching the undercoat, your pet should be safe. However; some of the guard hairs may change texture and there might be a change of color in the coat. If I notice this change I will use Mink Oil lightly on the coat each visit so soften up the hair shaft and give it a shiny appearance.
• The chance of an older pet growing back its hair are slim to none.
• If a pet develops Post Clipping Alopecia, you might also want to have your vet do some blood work. If the pet is on a nutritional diet then there could be something medically wrong on the inside that only blood work test results will find. Common aliments are enlarged heart, obesity, thyroid, cushions disease, diabetes, kidney failure, and tumors (fatty and cancerous).

We are proud to offer a new line of Dental Products for your pet!

February is Dental Awareness month and to celebrate I have added a new retail line of products to our shelves!

Introducing Tropiclean’s Dental Gel and Water Additive. For the month of February we are offering both products, along with a free teeth brushing, for only $26.99! When vets charge hundreds of dollars for a cleaning (plus risking the health of your pet while under anesthesia), we have found a healthier, most effective solution!

Stop in now to pick up your package. While supplies last!

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