For most bathing and grooming services an appointment is necessary as we can be a busy salon. If you would like a same day appointment, it might be possible if you call us in the morning before 11 am. If we cannot accommodate you that day we will be happy to schedule you for our next available opening.

We do offer walk-in services for nail grinding, teeth brushing, ear cleaning, a good brushing, a face trim or anal gland expression.

It is recommended that your dog get bathed after an anal gland expression as they will have a distinct smell afterwards.

The quick answer is yes! All of our services are designed as all-inclusive packages. Because your pet deserves the best, we refuse to give them any less! Most grooming salons are designed with add-ons in mind. That results in an advertised services for 60 dollars quickly becoming 75 dollars or more to get the service that you really want.

We only charge extra for extensive brushing over 30 minutes, dematting, and flea and tick treatment.

You can opt for luxury services that are not part of the common grooming experience like our spa treatments, hair coloring, bling, and/or nail polish.

We only use products that have been proven to be effective yet do not dry out your dog’s skin and coat. Most of our shampoos and conditioners are from the Envirogroom line of products.

These include formulas for whitening, sensitive skin, irritated dry skin, deodorizing, deshedding, softening, detangling, anti-itch and other high quality formulas.

Every groomer has their own methods of managing their schedules , but the traditional steps for each groom is prep-work, bathing, drying, bodywork, head and face, then finishing. For your convenience, we have a tracker that you can look at to see where your dog is in the process.

Our appointments are staggered in a way that ideally while one dog is drying, another is in the tub or on the grooming table. That being said, that is an ideal situation that may not always be the case. Sometimes, for safety reasons a groomer has to move steps out of order. Also, some dogs take a longer time in each step than others. With so many uncontrollable variables, we can not tell you when a dog will be done exactly until we have them towards the end of the process.

Some groomers are faster working than others and bigger, long coated dogs are going to take a longer time than a small smooth coated dog would. That is why we estimate full grooms to last between 3-4 hours. Sometimes it is less, sometimes it is more. The last dog of the day will be delayed every time an earlier dog takes longer than expected. We do not rush the process. We let dogs get acclimatized to the setting before we even start. We work methodically to accomplish outstanding grooms while keeping the safety and comfort of all dogs in the salon in mind. We will sacrifice time before we will sacrifice quality.

Most of the time we have a receptionist; but, when she is out, on lunch or sick, the groomers have to perform the tasks she normally does to include answering the phone and scheduling appointments, check clients in and out– on top of addressing any walk-ins that enter. The tasks of running the business can make us fall behind schedule.

Because of this, all of our time frames are estimated and subject to change at any moment. We will communicate and provide updates if a groom is going to take longer than normal.

All of us are dog owners as well, we know how expensive being a pet parent is. We can assure you that for all of the services you receive, you are getting the best pricing available. Every dog that comes in our doors gets the top tier of services at no additional charge.

Our prices are based on the size and coat type of your dog.

At the end of the day we are also a business and as the cost of our supplies increases, we have to increase our prices as well. We do our best to avoid changing the prices, but ultimately our prices reflect our economy.

Unfortunately as a small business we cannot accommodate for blanket discounts for the military, police, fire and EMS workers. That being said, we do offer our scrub down specials for bath and brush out packages at 15% off the normal rate.

And for our frequent guests we are offering our three week treat where we take 15% off all services if your dog comes in every three to four weeks.

Look at our social media pages for any updates.

The process of keeping your pet safe and comfortable begins before you enter our door. We ask that all dogs remain leashed outside and only one family at a time in the lobby when there is a large dog or multiple dogs present. When the groomer greets you and your pet we approach gently and reassuringly, building rapport that we hope to establish and maintain with every subsequent visit.

We then immediately secure the dog in a room, kennel or on a table. At no time are client dogs supposed to be able to interact with each other except for siblings. We use grooming loops or slip leads at all times to avoid accidental falls or elopement. We have two doors between the grooming area and the reception area to further prevent elopement. We are trained to identify and manage signs of stress in dogs and do not allow the dog to become so stressed it becomes a safety issue.

If needed, we can escalate restraints from using a groomers helper, getting an assistant, all the way up to temporarily placing a muzzle on your dog, and if nothing else works we will simply do only what the dog’s stress level allows us to do.

Despite it’s intimidating name, a dryer seizure is little more than a panic attack induced by use of a velocity dryer. This becomes more common in elderly dogs. It is caused by a sensory overload and manifests usually by physical agitation, repetitive barking, temporary confusion/disorientation, and potentially a loss in the control of bodily fluids.

When this occurs, we will stop using a velocity dryer and comfort your dog in a dark, quiet location to help the overstimulation. Afterwards we will let them calm down and recover while kennel drying. The comfort of a relatively enclosed space, and indirect air flow at a much lower rate will help the process.

We will let you know what happened so that you can warn any groomer that takes care of your dog and we will place an alert in our system. Depending on when the reaction occurred (some dogs are only triggered by the head being dried) we will alter our drying strategy for all future visits.

First, if your pet is a cat or a rabbit, we do not groom them. We only groom dogs at Bark Avenue. However our sister salon does groom cats!

If your dog is in poor health, injured, pregnant or unable to stand for the entirety of the process, we will recommend that you take your dog to a vet for grooming services for their safety and comfort.

Some dogs simply are terrified of grooming. Our velocity dryers are loud, some dogs hate water, it is noisy and they don’t see their mom or dad anywhere. We expect some level of stress but not to the heightened state that induces extreme physiological symptoms. And some dogs are so stressed by grooming that they will not allow the groomer to do their job, uncontrolled biting, gator rolling and jumping off the table puts them at a high risk for injury and we do not want that. A veterinarian can provide you with options and most of the time we are willing to try again another day.

As pet stylists, we do not enjoy shaving down matted pets, especially when doing so will disappoint the pet parent. But, as the safety and comfort of your dog is our number one priority, we will do what is best for the dog. If a dog is so matted that it is to the skin or has become pelted, it is very painful and traumatizing to demat the coat. The safest option is to shave with the longest blade that can get underneath the mat.

The fortunate news is that we can approach this as starting with a clean slate. We will happily work with you to develop a plan to manage your dog’s coat as it grows to prevent any future shave downs.

The short answer is no; there has to be extenuating circumstance that require a shave down.

Shaving a double coated dog damages their coat, possibly even permanently. The undercoat serves as insulation against the cold AND the heat. Shaving runs the risk of sunburn and overheating therefore it is not recommended.

We do, however routinely shave the sanitary areas; that is common practice in grooming and those areas do not have the double coat. If you would prefer that we didn’t feel free to tell your groomer, we are happy to oblige!