# Grooming



## Jmcarp83 (May 4, 2018)

Has anyone ever felt like they can’t find a groomer? I’ve been looking locally at groomer’s Facebook pages or websites and I am not really digging how a lot of them groom the goldens they post. Is there something specific I should ask for? Or will showing a picture get it across? Is there a resource of groomers out there?! And yes, I probably sound crazy ?


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

You might want to contact your local golden club - or your pup's breeder (if they were local) to see where they groom their dogs or if they can recommend anyone.

Sometimes you are lucky and a grooming shop has people working there who are also very active in the breed and really know how to groom golden retrievers. 

But generally speaking you have word of mouth from within clubs where to find those shops. 

Me personally, I could not recommend any groomer in my hometown at all. One person asked me where to take their dogs to be groomed, and I could only tell them to go 15 minutes west to a shop and ask for a specific person to groom their dog. And luckily that person is working there! Otherwise, it would be a 45 minute drive to the next groomer that I know of who is also a golden show person.

Other thing is a lot of us just groom our dogs ourselves. The whole point of getting a golden retriever vs a poodle is the fact that it's very easy and basic stuff that needs to be groomed on them. <= I get why some people want groomers though. My parents, for example, heaven help them.... would never groom the dogs. It would never happen. Forget about knowing how to trim the feet, ears, and tail nicely. 

Anyway - go through your local clubs. 

Some breeders do grooming on the side.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

It seems like a lot of groomers are scissoring or doing full grooms with involve some clipper work (normally with a long blade or an attachment). Most goldens won't need much beyond a bath and brush or maybe a feet and fanny (feet are neatened and the dog is given a sanitary trim like a reverse landing strip). 

I groom my dogs at home. When Lana is getting groomed for show, until I'm proficient, my breeder will be doing the trimming.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

Not sure what part of the country you live in but in the N Tx area you have basically 3 options. The chain stores like petsmart/petco which I've read too many horror stories about to ever use myself. The local groomers that get your dogs washed and stick in a cage with a dryer hanging on the door for 3 hrs ... they usually clean out the ears and trim nails and if asked will shave the feet.
A good grooming place will charge about $150 but will hand dry (blow drier) your dog and correctly trim the feet with scissors not shaved... a sanitary clip is also provided for if asked but sure it's extra, this usually takes about an hour. I've never found one that knows how to trim ears.

I did find a place that charged like $7. and you used their professional tubs, grooming tables and blow driers. They also provided shampoo choices and cream rinse and cleanup  

So instead of paying $300. for a one time groom (2 dogs) I purchased a large utility tub from HomeDepot, a drier and grooming table from J&J supply. Purchased a cheap grooming kit ($12.00) from Walmart and 15 yrs later I'm still learning! There are some great youtube videos and instructions on the internet 

So if you want to use a groomer the questions I would ask is do you use cage driers. And have them explain a sanitary clip before you let them do it. I'm never found it necessary but many people like it.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

> A good grooming place will charge about $150.....


Maybe that depends on who and where.... or the specific dog. 

I'll give you an example that I have used or been quoted for SHOW GROOMS.

$50 was the average charge for a full show groom (me bathing and drying my dog a day earlier). This same person is a groomer at a shop and they charge anywhere between $50 and $100 for a grooming. They charge more if there's more that needs to be done. You bring a doodle to them and they will charge you $200. Same thing if you bring a matted dog with maggots in the coat.... 

$100 is what a big pro handler quoted me to help show groom my dog. That's there at the show on the spot before showing.

A typical show groom takes 2 hours to do - if the dog needs everything groomed. That does NOT include a bath/blow dry. 2 hours is just working on the feet, ears, etc.


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## murphy1 (Jun 21, 2012)

I won't leave Murphy with anyone outside my home....except when the groomer comes to my home in his van. He charges $100 and does a decent job. We only use him in the cold months as I bath Murphy on my deck with a warm water hook up,,,,

Can one of you tell me, can you over use a rake. Discovered the rake here on the forum and it has been a Godsend. But I don't want to overdo it with cold weather approaching. Thanks for any help!


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## Jmcarp83 (May 4, 2018)

I tried grooming my last golden myself and she hated her paws being touched to trim, so I often think people probably thought I never groomed her. But it wasn’t worth the stress or fight. My 9 week old so far is totally okay with being on her back to brush underneath, not phased by a scissors even being near her, and not afraid of the nail clipper. But I feel like my dog will end up with the dog equivalent of the human bowl cut ? 

My breeder is a groomer so I’ll follow up again soon to see if any recommendations where I live.


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## Goldens&Friesians (May 31, 2014)

I am a professional pet groomer. Pet groomers are taught basic breed standard haircuts on all the 150+ breeds recognized by AKC plus we have to figure out what to do with mutts (i.e. golden doodles, cockapoos, maltipoos, dogs you can't even tell what breeds are in them, etc who have no breed standard haircut). Factor into that the fact that most people don't even want breed standard cuts because they are high maintenance (i.e. continental cuts on poodles, the full skirt on breeds like cockers and schnauzers, the full drop coat on breeds like shih-tzus and yorkies, etc.) and that is a LOT of info for us to be trying to remember! So we are just not going to get every breed perfect, period. And then you always have the groomers who don't really care and basically do a one size fits all haircut no matter what breed you have and no matter how you tell them you want the dog cut. Now me, I always try to groom to owner specifications if they are different from breed standard; otherwise, I try to do breed standard. But its pet breed standard which is totally different than a show cut. For instance, take terriers. For shows they get hand stripped; but for pet grooms, they just get clipped-most pet owners aren't willing to pay what it would cost to have them hand stripped anyway; plus most groomers aren't taught how to hand strip. Now I have done it before, but it was self taught and would never pass in the show ring. Goldens being my breed, I've made an effort to be able to get them to look show groomed, but I still don't like how my golden ears look. The picture of my golden in my signature is several weeks post groom, but gives an idea of how I groom goldens. So you can see its not show perfect. But you really do have to be careful with pet groomers cause they are to clipper happy-shaving dogs that shouldn't be shaved, etc. You can probably at least find a groomer who won't shave or clip your golden, even if they can't show groom. I always recommend asking a groomer about what they think of shaving a golden. If they seem willing to do it, you might want to avoid them. If they try to explain to you why cutting a golden's coat would be a bad idea, well they might just be a good groomer.

As far as pricing, $150 for a golden??? I live in the wrong state! LOL! I would be out of business if I charged that much! I charge $50 for an average golden, price would go up if it was matted or had a bad disposition or was hyper/hard to handle, but never more than $80 for a golden. Doodles start at $80 for me-and they would have to have ZERO matts and be nice and calm to get that price. Matted, hyper, or bad disposition would be minimum of $100. But I couldn't get by with any more expensive than about $125 or they'd go elsewhere. Course, maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing...:grin2: (not a doodle fan, lol!)


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## Goldens&Friesians (May 31, 2014)

murphy1 said:


> I won't leave Murphy with anyone outside my home....except when the groomer comes to my home in his van. He charges $100 and does a decent job. We only use him in the cold months as I bath Murphy on my deck with a warm water hook up,,,,
> 
> Can one of you tell me, can you over use a rake. Discovered the rake here on the forum and it has been a Godsend. But I don't want to overdo it with cold weather approaching. Thanks for any help!


No, not really. It only pulls out the hair that would come out eventually anyway. You just want to be careful to not focus on one spot too long so you don't brush burn. If its really thick with undercoat, brush a bit, go brush some other area, come back and brush a bit more, go somewhere else, etc. But you will not brush out so much that the dog won't have enough coat for winter.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

LOL in my current town they would go hungry if they had the same fees as the DFW area... out here it's about $35 for a large dog to be bathed, dried, trim nails, clean ears and trim feet, express anal glands. I only saw small dogs as most people out here take their big dogs to the vet once a year for shots and a bath  My old girl got a bath (not sure why she was clean when she got there) and she is still freaked out from being left in the cage with a dryer and it's been almost a month ago. But she's a little neurotic to begin with.

As far as a rake... I rake my girls to cut down on the need to vacuum so much. But when I went to a CCA event I got points off for insufficient undercoat. I had to laugh as I had worked really hard to remove the undercoat... oh well, points off but learned that is something that judges look for! I will be sure and leave some undercoat before taking her to a cold lake  It was still a very fun event and learned so much!!!


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## Piper_the_goldenpuppy (Aug 26, 2016)

Piper had a really bad experience at the groomers, and so I mostly do it myself. I took her to this boutique grooming/pet supply shop who gets good reviews in my city and I'm pretty sure they just stuck her in a crate with a blower on, because she was trembling when I picked her up and I had to give her another bath because she also had an accident. Also, they gave her this HORRIBLE cut--shaved (yes shaved) off all her feathering on her legs and belly, and her hauches. She looked like a fluff ball on toothpicks. After that about a month later we went to a self-service dog wash and she flipped out when I turned on the blower. 

So after that, I bathe her at home, dry her with my hair dryer (on no heat)--which she actually LOVES. I do her nails myself, and trim her toes and ears. She doesn't have a crazy coat, so thats really all she needs anyway. When it starts to get cold I take her to the groomer at my vet's office and have them trim her toes well, since we get so much snow up here. 

In terms of the undercoat rake--as said above, over-doing it can cause brush burn. I LOVE mine. Piper blows her coat seasonally like clockwork in Sept and March (interestingly, because she's been spayed), and she started blowing her coat last week ago, and its intense when it happens. I got SO much undercoat off of her this time around. Now its mostly gone, and her new winter coat is coming in. So I really only use it when she's shedding heavily, otherwise I just use a slicker brush.


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