Grooming by Dog Size: Toy to Giant

Five dogs from toy to giant, the range a grooming salon prices around

Size sets the floor on a grooming appointment and coat sets everything above it. That is worth saying first, because the intuition runs the other way: a small dog looks like a small job and a big dog looks like a big one, and neither is reliably true. A ninety pound Labrador is a bath, a deshed and nails. A twelve pound Bichon is a full haircut and takes longer.

What size genuinely changes is the physical side. How long the animal takes to dry, whether one person can lift and hold it safely, whether a salon owns a table and a bath that will take it, and how long it can reasonably be asked to stand. Those constraints are real, they are why a giant breed is a half day booking, and they are why some salons decline large dogs entirely.

Weight also sets the floor on the price. A full groom runs about $40 to $80 under twenty-five pounds, $70 to $110 from twenty-five to sixty, $90 to $140 from sixty to a hundred, and $120 to $180 above that. What the coat is doing moves it up or down from there.

A Pomeranian and a Yorkshire Terrier, both under ten pounds

Toy

Under 10 lb

Under about ten pounds. Chihuahuas, Yorkshire Terriers, Maltese and Pomeranians.

Grooming Toy dogs

A Bichon Frise and a Shih Tzu, the ten to twenty-five pound range most grooming books are written around

Small

10 to 25 lb

Ten to twenty-five pounds. Shih Tzus, Bichons, Cocker Spaniels and Miniature Schnauzers.

Grooming Small dogs

A Border Collie and a Cockapoo in the twenty-five to fifty pound range

Medium

25 to 50 lb

Twenty-five to fifty pounds. Border Collies, Springers, Standard Schnauzers and most doodle crosses.

Grooming Medium dogs

A Golden Retriever and a Standard Poodle, where drying takes longer than cutting

Large

50 to 90 lb

Fifty to ninety pounds. Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Labradors and Standard Poodles.

Grooming Large dogs

A Newfoundland and a Bernese Mountain Dog, a half day appointment and often two groomers

Giant

90 lb and up

Ninety pounds and up. Newfoundlands, Saint Bernards, Great Pyrenees and Bernese Mountain Dogs.

Grooming Giant dogs

Why Cat Size Does Not Change a Groom

Size classes are a dog thing. Domestic cats span a much narrower range, and outside the genuine outliers the practical difference between a nine pound cat and a fourteen pound one is close to nothing: the same table, the same equipment, the same handling, the same appointment length. What changes a cat groom is the coat and the temperament, not the weight.

The one place weight does matter is indirect. A heavy cat cannot reach its own back, sides and base of tail to groom them, so the areas it stops reaching are exactly the ones that mat, and a cat that has managed its own coat for years can pelt within a season after putting on weight. That is a coat problem with a weight cause, and it is covered on the coat pages.

Browse by coat type All breed guides