Why Mobile Grooming is Worth the Price

Goods and services are becoming more and more costly. Prices, especially since Covid, have done nothing but rise. This is true for every industry, including pet services. Whether you go to a brick-and-mortar store or have a grooming service come to you, the increase in price is across the board. Why would anyone choose the more expensive route of mobile grooming? There are more reasons than you might think.

Let's start with the obvious reason a person would choose mobile grooming. Convenience. You don't have to load up the dog into the car. You don't have to worry about pick up times as if you were at a salon. You can stay in your pajamas all day if you wanted to. Some people even opt for a latch-key system where they are at work and the groomer has access to the house. This service might sound like a 'lazy' or 'rich' owner's dream, but there are more circumstances than you might realize where convenience turns into necessity.

I have more than one client that is housebound. They can't leave their home (for various reasons) to take their dog to be groomed. I am talking physical limitations. Their pets still need a bath. Their pets still require their nails to be trimmed. Convenience doesn't always infer entitlement or laziness. Many times, the necessity doesn't even come from the owner. Most times, it stems from the pet's needs without the pet parent being aware!

Have you ever walked into a brick-and-mortar salon with your pet, and the environment was incredibly noisy? Dogs are barking, dryers blowing, clippers thrumming loudly and someone decided to add background music to the mix. It is an assault on your senses. Now imagine how the dog feels. No wonder so many of our pets resist going into that sort of environment. Their hearing is so much sharper than our own. With mobile grooming, the sound level is reduced greatly. The only time the drier is on is when it is drying your dog. The only time the loud clippers are on, is when it is on your dog. Your dog isn't distracted by the need to be 'on alert' because they hear another dog barking its head off. Or worse, hearing a dog yelping in pain. The sensory overload of sound is greatly minimized during a one on one service.

Let's take that same scenario of walking into the salon, but in addition to the overload of sound, we will include smell. A dog's sense of smell is between 1000 to 100,000 times more sensitive than our own. If any of those other dogs have not been walked and made a mess either on the table or in their kennel, guess who gets to smell that, even if you don't? That's right. Your dog. Or, what if there is food laying about, human or dog? How comfortable would you be if you had to stay still for over an hour while smelling something you want? Good or bad, too many scents that are constantly changing, can be an overload for the pet.

Now let's move to sight. Your dog will try to keep track of everything going on around them as well as to them. Where is that cocker spaniel being led to? Is the dog that just came in going to try to greet me while I am locked up? What about the large dog that is walking past me while I am on the grooming table? Will they try to hurt me? Is my groomer holding something that is scary? What are they planning on doing with that tool?

As you can see, something simple as being in a salon environment can be very overwhelming for your pet. It can be overwhelming for the groomer too. The dogs can sense that. If our heart rate or breath rate is up due to our stress levels, you bet your dog will react. They are already on the defensive from their environment. If they don't trust their groomer, things will be very difficult for everyone involved.

Mobile grooming reduces or takes away so many of the stressors that dogs have a hard time tolerating. I can tell you from my time working in a salon to my time working while mobile, the dogs on my table are much more relaxed in my trailer. There were several clients who needed to medicate their dogs when bringing them to the salon. Those same clients either are able to reduce the amount of medication or it isn't needed at all anymore. Without the sensory overload, the multiple stressors, the lack of distractions, the pet is able to focus on me. There might be parts of the service the dog doesn't like still. For example, trimming nails. However, the chances of me soothing your pet during the process is greatly improved-thus, less stressful for your companion.

The dogs I groom willingly come into my trailer. They like seeing me. They want to be around me, even when I am doing something they are unsure about. Why? Because they are in an environment that is not overwhelming or threatening. How much would you pay for that sort of service for someone you love?