A parking space and about ninety minutes.
That is genuinely the whole requirement. Everything else arrives in the van, including the hot water and the electricity.
Hi, I am Nora
I have been grooming since 2015, the first four years in a busy salon in town and every year since in the van. Juniper and Jack were my grandmother's two dogs, a wire haired terrier who was frightened of everything and a lab who was frightened of nothing, and between them they taught me most of what I know about reading a dog before I pick up a brush.
Going mobile was not a business decision to begin with. It was watching too many good dogs have a bad day for reasons that had nothing to do with grooming: the barking, the crate, the drive, the long wait for a turn. Almost all of that is fixable by removing it, so I removed it.
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Grooming since 2015Four years in a salon, mobile only since 2019.
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Licensed and fully insuredCertificate available on request before your first appointment.
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Trained in pet first aid and CPRKept current, and the van carries a full kit.
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One dog at a time, alwaysNot a promise I could quietly drop on a busy week. There is one table.
How an appointment runs
Three steps, and most of it happens without you needing to do anything.
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01
You book an arrival window
Appointments run in one hour windows rather than fixed times, because a matted coat can add half an hour and nobody wants the next dog rushed to make up for it. You get a text when I am about fifteen minutes away.
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02
I come to the door first
Two or three minutes on the coat, any lumps or sore spots I should know about, and exactly how short you want to go. If the price is going to move from the quote, you hear it here, before anything starts. Then your dog comes out to the van.
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03
Your dog comes back clean and dry
I bring your dog to the door, show you what was done and flag anything worth watching, and take payment then. No second trip out, no collecting later, and no damp dog sitting in a car.
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Bath -
Blow dry and brush -
Nails and finish
Less than people expect
The most common worry before a first appointment is that the van needs something complicated from the house. It does not.
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Somewhere to parkA driveway is ideal. Legal street parking within about fifty feet of the door works just as well.
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Nothing from insideOwn heated water, own tank, own generator. Your hose and your outlets stay where they are.
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A dog who has been out recentlyA short walk beforehand makes the whole appointment easier and saves an interruption halfway through.
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Proof of rabies vaccinationA photo of the certificate is fine and I only need it once. It is a state requirement rather than a preference.
Questions people ask first
Mostly about the practical side, which is fair enough if you have never had a van turn up before.
Do I have to be home the whole time?
No. You need to be there to hand your dog over and to take them back, but the ninety minutes in between are yours. Once we have done it a couple of times and I know your dog, plenty of clients leave a gate code and are not there at all.
My dog has been difficult at a salon before.
Tell me before you book rather than after, and it is usually fine. A lot of what makes dogs difficult at a salon is the environment rather than the grooming: the barking, the waiting, the strange floor, being handed to a stranger over a counter. Taking those away solves a surprising number of cases on its own.
For dogs who still find it hard, we split it over two shorter visits so the first is only a bath and an introduction. That costs less than a full groom, and it is the fastest route to a dog who is relaxed about the whole thing.
Is it noisy? My neighbors are close.
The generator runs at about the volume of a household air conditioning unit, and the dryer is only on for part of the appointment. It has not been a problem on any street so far, in town or out. If you are in a condo association with rules about it, mention it and we will sort the parking out beforehand.
What happens in bad weather?
The grooming happens inside the van, so rain changes nothing. Ice and snow do, because the van is heavy and I am not taking it up an unsalted hill. If I need to move you I will call the day before rather than leaving you waiting, and you go to the front of the queue for the next slot.
Can you do two dogs in one visit?
Yes, and it is the best value way to do it because the travel charge is shared. They are still groomed one at a time, one in the van and one back inside with you. Book them together and allow around two and a half hours for the pair.
How often should my dog be groomed?
For a coat that keeps growing, a poodle mix or a shih tzu for example, every six to eight weeks keeps it easy. Leave it past twelve and you are usually into matting, which stops being a haircut and starts being a shave. Short coated dogs who mainly need a bath and a de-shed are comfortable at eight to twelve weeks.
What if you find something wrong with my dog?
I will tell you at the door when I bring your dog back, and I will be specific about where it is and what it looks like. Groomers see skin, ears, teeth and lumps more often than most vets do, and I would rather point at something that turns out to be nothing than say nothing about something. I do not diagnose and I do not treat. That is your vet's job.
Still not sure it suits your dog?
Call and describe them. I have been doing this long enough to tell you whether mobile is the right answer, including the times when it is not.