“We Treat Your Pet Like GOLD”
Here at Golden Groomers, we offer the normal services found at most pet grooming salons. Your dog will get bathed, dried, their coat trimmed or cut as necessary, nails trimmed, pads shaved, ears cleaned and then get some cologne to make them smell nice when you come to pick them up. Most people are very happy with the basics that we offer. We make sure that we discuss with you what you want done when your dog comes here. If you want something specifically looked at or done a certain way, we do our best to provide that service as well. We’re happy to adjust what we do for your dog if they need something special. This isn’t a production line grooming shop.
Their bath usually includes TWO shampoos, not one. That takes extra time, but it gets the coat clean. A long-haired dog, like a Golden Retriever can get dirty right down to the skin and it takes that second shampoo and rinse to get all that dirt out. You’d be surprised how dirty your friend can get, even when they are just an inside dog. We stock special shampoos for dogs that have sensitive skin, those that have oily coats., etc. After the bath, we blow dry your dog to get all the water out and have clean fur to work with for the trimming/clipping that comes next. What we don’t use is a CAGE dryer. That’s a common practice in high volume shops and many dogs don’t like that. It can be a traumatizing experience for your dog. We’ve heard of cases of the death of a dog in those dryer cages because of heat stroke. We just don’t do it, even if it is faster.
Once your dog is on the table to be groomed, we cut or trim their fur as necessary. They get completely brushed out to remove all the loose fur and make sure that we get all the matted fur dealt with. Even dogs that get brushed every day get mats. Most groomers make a practice of just shaving a dog to deal with the matted fur. It’s faster for them. Most of the time they don’t even ask you about that, they just do it. Not here. While they’re on the table, they get their ears cleaned, their nails cut or ground, their pads shaved and a real close inspection for anything that we find that’s abnormal. That includes abnormal growths, hotspots, ear abnormalities, and even their teeth. If we find anything that looks like an issue, we make notes in our records and make SURE that we discuss with you when you come to get your dog. That’s not standard practice in many grooming shops.
One thing we don’t do is express their anal glands. My wife was trained to do that, but we’ve discussed that with our vets at West Michigan Vet Services, and we been advised not to do that. If you want more info on that, we can discuss that personally with you.