Our innovative hybrid formula is designed to be tailored to each set of paws that come our way. From first time puppies, to those with complex past experiences, or if you're just looking to find a reliable groomer who focuses on setting up for success... We've got you!
GROOMING X TRAINING
SECONDARY MEET
Designed around the mindset of “how can we make this more comfortable from the dog’s point of view?” Anytime after your initial meet and greet we'll always have a secondary meet… This is key part of our process as it gives us precious time to get to know your dog and begin to build a bond with them without immediately throwing them in the bath!
Depending on your individual needs, this could be your dog having a solo 30min pop-in to the salon, or you may prefer to opt for a split 30mins with you present and the rest solo; think along the lines of a day-care X pop in! We’ll use this time to play, bond, and gently see what in the salon intrigues them, allowing them to safely explore, and see what they’re naturally ready and willing to offer up to us at this point. For example: They’ll get free rein of the salon floor, with our 1-1 attention at all times. It’s their chance to get familiar with the space and use that powerful nose of theirs to suss everything out! If they want to see up high on the table or jump up into the bath, they absolutely can, in fact we’ll be positively encouraging it! But there will be no actual bathing or grooming on this visit, so there's no betrayed trust before we’ve even started - Just following the pup's pace and building a foundation of positive experiences.
The most crucial part of any clients journey! - Our first meet is the perfect chance for us to all greet each other and ask any and all questions before committing with us! The goal is to see if we are the right fit for one another and most importantly, your dog can meet us and take a look around our salon space without the pressure of being left or groomed yet.
Our famous meet & greet forms are designed for us to become part of the family from the first meet. We go over any emergency contacts, medical, behavioural, dietary, allergies, and relevant historical information which allows us to tailor every part of the grooming process to your individual needs. This time also includes a chance to discuss our T&C’s as we are passionate about creating clear, professional client relations to ensure your dog is getting the best care, you are getting a smooth service with no unexpected additional fees down the line, and securing fair conditions for our staff that is based on mutual respect all round!
Lastly, it is the perfect chance to get a ‘peek behind the curtain’ – something almost all groomers actively avoid at all costs! Environment is a huge part of ensuring any dog is comfortable, so we’ll give you a full tour and you can suss out the space for yourself and actually get to see where your dog will be staying throughout their groom!
MEET & GREET
An optional add on for more complex cases or anxious owners: We offer individual add on meets or pre-work packages (a choice of either 3, 6, or 9 additional meet sessions) to help you save if you’re needing to book multiple pre-work sessions. We encourage as many as needed until we all feel ready to move forward, but our goal is always to keep progressing and get on to the next step as soon as we safely can.
At the end of each session, we always add a note form overview to their file, give you a full debrief on how it went, and advise you on tips and tricks you can do at home in between sessions to help positively desensitise them to whatever tricky spots we might be noticing so far.
The goal for these add on sessions is to build up to us having alone time with pup in the salon, ensuring they’re never pushed past their threshold. If progress requires more advanced help, we will advise you on what may be more appropriate for them currently – as we'll never push a dog for the sake of it or encourage endless add on sessions that aren't getting us anywhere. Our goal is to get pup ready for a tester groom, so if you’re half way through a pre-work package and we think they’re ready, we’ll let you know and likely advise trying a tester groom now to see how they go, then if we need to take a step back and do more meet sessions you already have them banked and ready to use!
ADDITIONAL MEETS
Our taster sessions are a dedicated part of our process. Whether you’ve been told your dog has always been perfect in their grooms (in which case great, this is a steal of a deal!), or if this is your dog's first known groom, or if this is our test to see how well our pre-work has gone for our more complex cases… These taster grooms are a chance for us to try a groom with absolutely no expectations or pressure. Our goal is to work through every part of their tailored groom, just one step at a time. Pausing and reviewing each step and stopping completely if it gets too much for them.
We’ll start with our physical health check, move to bathing, drying, etc… Literally stripping the process down to individual tick boxes, and see how far we get towards what would be their ideal full groom. It allows us to go slowly, document every part of the process, and note any potential ‘trigger spots’ to be aware of and working with you on moving forward. If fully successful, your dog will have completed their first full groom with us, and will receive their ‘passed first try’ onboarding certificate! From there you can book in any service with us as you will have officially completed our onboarding process! If your pup didn’t quite manage the full groom, we’ll thoroughly chat through their struggles and successes with you upon pick up, and plan what route we’d like to take next… We may be ready to continue on to full grooms, just without "X" part of the process whilst we work on it together, or we may need to take a full step back and complete some more pre-work sessions before trying a full groom again, or maybe we'll have discovered a few bigger triggers that may need more advanced help... Whatever the case, we’re here to help and support on that journey to get them to their version of a full groom!
We are BIG on our checks, that’s why as part of every single session we have dedicated health check forms which are to be completed at drop off or digitally beforehand (don’t worry, it takes like 30seconds, we promise!). It checks if there’s been any health changes, injuries, adverse reactions to the last groom, any behavioural/life stressors, recent changes to sleep quality etc. All are important factors that could impact a dog's behaviour on the day, so we read every part before the groom begins and keep it stored in their private file after.
The second part of their health check is the physical review we do at the start of every groom. This makes sure we’re on top of pup’s general physical health status and able to inform you of any changes or concerns that may occur.
With every groom we vow to take it at the dog's pace. We purposely build in breaks for both us and the dog; and we’ll take as many as they need... If our grooms take longer than the average, we will happily make that decision if it means none of us are stressed during the process. If they need a break, we take one. If we need to go back a step we will. And if it all gets too much, we will stop where we are, contact you and talk over a plan ready to try again another time. In those instances, we even change the booking & cost to that of a partial groom as a kindness offering, because we know what it's like when our pups decide they have other plans for one random day! We all have off days; so if your dog is usually doing well, then suddenly starts struggling with a groom one day, we’ll assess their health status, continue if safe to do so, and advise you at pickup if we feel a vet/pain check might be needed.
FULL GROOM
WHY ALL THIS FOR A GROOM THOUGH...?
