The Grooming Blog
Coats, costs, and the things groomers wish owners knew sooner
Grooming is one of those subjects where the useful knowledge sits with the people who do it for a living and rarely gets written down. An owner knows their dog looks scruffy. A groomer knows the coat is already matting at the skin and why clippers are now the only kind answer. This is where some of that gets written down.
The Grooming Trade
2 posts
How the trade actually works: what a groom costs to deliver, how groomers train, why the good ones are booked out for weeks, and what the price on the board really covers.
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Health and Welfare
2 posts
Skin, ears, nails, and the animals that find grooming hard. Where a coat stops being a styling question and starts being a welfare one.
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History and Origins
2 posts
Why poodles are clipped the way they are, where each coat type came from, and which traditional cuts turn out to be recent inventions.
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Cats
2 posts
Cat grooming: matting in long-haired breeds, why cats are handled differently, and finding someone who takes them at all.
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The Lion Cut: When It Helps a Cat and When It Does Not
12 August 2026
A lion cut is right for a pelted or unwell cat and wrong for a healthy one in summer. What it involves, and why cat skin makes it a specialist job.
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Hand Stripping, and Why It Is Disappearing
6 August 2026
Wire coats are meant to be pulled out, not cut off. What hand stripping does, which breeds need it, and why fewer salons take the work each year.
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What a Salon Does When It Finds Fleas
30 July 2026
Almost every salon has a flea policy, and it is not about blame. What happens next, why a flea bath is not treatment, and why you are charged.
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How Dog Groomers Actually Learn the Job
23 July 2026
There is no national license and only one state regulates individual groomers. So how does anybody learn? Apprenticeships, schools and certification.
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Why a Cat Stops Grooming Itself
15 July 2026
A cat that has managed its own coat for years does not stop out of laziness. Where the mats appear points at the cause: weight, joints, teeth or age.
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Why Poodles Are Clipped Like That
8 July 2026
The pompoms began as a working cut for a water retriever. That much is real. The organ-by-organ explanation is repeated more confidently than it should be.
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What a Groomer Notices Before Your Vet Does
1 July 2026
A groomer puts hands on every inch of your animal every few weeks, in good light, with the coat wet. That is why lumps and ear infections turn up in a bath.
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Why Your Groomer Is Booked Out Six Weeks Ahead
24 June 2026
A salon cannot simply take more dogs. What a full groom takes, how many fit in a day, why the schedule breaks at every holiday, and how to get a better slot.
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