Grooming is an essential part of maintaining a pet's good health, and when issues arise that make this process hard, it can be very distressing.
Behavioural Grooming is specialised grooming that takes into account the difficulties the animal and the groomer may face, while trying help the animal overcome these fears, physical abilities and hurdles.
Although it is understandble that groomers turn away clients for their safety and that of the animal, we commit to take on an portion of animals needing specialist Behavioural Grooming care.
We currently have one behavioural groomer, Annie Nolan, in our facility. Annie is fear-free certified and practices holistic-based grooming which you can read more about here.
Annie also has extensive grooming knowledge with dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea-pigs.
Annie currently boasts a 95% success rate for animals that receive Behavioural Grooming with her care.
It is absolutely vital that pet parents are truthful with us. Many believe we won't take their pet on if they bite or show aggression, and that isn't the case. We just need to know to prepare ourselves and avoid injury. By withholding the truth, we end up finding out the hard way, and sometimes that may result in us refusing to groom the animal simply because we believe we can't work with the owner.
What's more, we promise to always provide honest feedback. There's no point sugar coating things! We all need to be on the same page.
Image: Annie practicing Fear-Free grooming, her dog so relaxed on table it is able to lay down. And photo of Stella, a gradute of Behavioural Grooming (previously water-based fear aggression and totally unable to go near water!)
Image: Stella, a gradute of Behavioural Grooming - previously water-based fear aggression and totally unable to go near water!
Behavioural Grooming is $120 per hour.
Small Dog – start from $150
Medium Dog - start from $200
Large Dog - start from $250
Giant Dog - start from $300
Cats - start from $250
There is also a first consultation report write up fee of $50. This can be passed on to a vet, behaviouralist or trainer if you ever need further assistance. It will also help the groomer in the next session. It's a detailed report of exactly how your animal fared when grooming and what the exact triggers were.
GRADUATION - It is our hope that all animals that go through behavioural grooming eventually "graduate" and no longer need such specialised training. This might be after the first visit because the groomer believes the animal can be safely groomed with a standard groomer, or maybe after quite some time. When this happy day comes your pet will go back to normal grooming prices.
Image: Bradley the Oodle posing after graduating (he is now seen as a regular client.) He originally had fear-based aggression to the clippers and sudden movement. He's now so relaxed he'll even do the drop position on the groom table for photos like this!
Behavioural Grooming is currently fully booked
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