09/25/2026
💜 A Little Grooming Education from Queen of Paws 💜
We often tell our clients to allow approximately 4–5 hours for a grooming appointment, and I thought it might be helpful to explain what actually happens during that time.
Because grooming is not simply a dog walking in, getting a haircut, and walking back out.
It is a process.
Let’s say your appointment is at 8:00.
Your dog first receives a proper bath. Depending on their coat and skin needs, shampoo may need time to sit and work before being rinsed. They are conditioned, rinsed thoroughly, and then completely dried.
And yes — completely dry.
A clean, dry coat is necessary for a beautiful, even groom and is also much better for our professional grooming equipment.
Drying time alone can vary tremendously. A short-haired little Chihuahua is very different from a thick-coated doodle. A dog with a heavy coat may take 30–45 minutes or longer to dry properly.
Some dogs are perfectly comfortable with the dryer. Others are not.
When a dog becomes uncomfortable, we adjust. We may use a Happy Hoodie, change our drying technique, allow portions of the coat to finish drying with regular fans, or simply give that dog a little more time.
We do not force a dog through something just because the clock is ticking.
Safety always comes first.
Once completely dry, your dog goes onto the grooming table.
Now several other things determine how long the groom will take:
🐾 The size of your dog
🐾 The amount and type of coat
🐾 The haircut you have requested
🐾 The condition of the coat
🐾 Matting or tangles
🐾 Your dog’s age
🐾 Your dog’s behavior and comfort level
🐾 Whether your dog needs breaks during the groom
If your dog is elderly, nervous, stressed, struggling, or trying to bite, we slow down.
If your dog needs a break, your dog gets a break.
Our groomers work with sharp professional tools around a living, moving animal. Clippers, blades and shears require concentration. We will never sacrifice your dog’s safety — or our groomer’s safety — simply to meet an arbitrary time on the clock.
And then there is coat condition.
If Fido arrives matted but the goal is to keep him fluffy, that requires additional work and additional time. Matting also has to be properly addressed before and during the grooming process. Water can tighten mats, so we cannot simply put a matted dog under water and pretend the coat is ready to groom.
Your dog’s coat maintenance between appointments absolutely affects grooming time.
And remember — this isn’t quite like our own appointment at the hair salon. 😂
We usually sit still while our stylist works.
Dogs may sit down, stand up, wiggle, spin around, pull their feet away, decide they no longer approve of the arrangement, need reassurance, p*e, p**p, vomit, or simply need a moment to regroup.
When that happens, the groomer stops, cleans, sanitizes, settles the dog and safely continues.
That takes time too.
Our groomers also groom approximately 6–10 dogs during their workday, depending on the dogs and services scheduled.
They are not sitting around waiting for something to do.
They are working.
And if an appointment arrives late, that can affect the schedule behind it because there are other dogs and families scheduled throughout the day as well.
Another important thing to remember:
If you have two dogs and specifically request the same groomer for both, especially two larger dogs or two doodles, those dogs cannot both magically receive a four-hour groom at the same time.
One groomer is one person. 💜
Sometimes we can have separate groomers work on dogs from the same family, which may shorten their overall stay. But when the same groomer is requested for multiple dogs, please expect the process to take longer.
And finally, we understand completely that you love your dog and want to know that they are okay.
We understand the temptation to call or text:
“Is my dog ready yet?”
“How much longer?”
“Are they almost finished?”
But please remember that every phone call, text and interruption takes someone away from what they are doing.
And sometimes the fastest way for us to finish your dog… is simply to let us finish your dog. 💜
If something happened during your dog’s appointment that we felt you needed to know about, we would contact you.
Otherwise, your baby is here being cared for, groomed and pampered.
And the moment your dog is ready, we will call or text you for pickup.
Trust me — as much as we adore them, we are not secretly trying to keep everybody’s dogs forever. 😂 We want them beautifully finished, safely back with their families, and yes… eventually we would like to go home too.
At Queen of Paws, we are not a “get them in, get them out as fast as possible” grooming salon.
Quality matters here.
Every groom that walks through our door and every dog that walks back out represents Queen of Paws and the groomer whose hands created that finished look.
Our girls take pride in their work.
We put time into it.
We put skill into it.
We put patience into it.
And most importantly, we put care into it.
You absolutely deserve the pampering.
Your dog absolutely deserves the pampering.
But pampering and rushing are two very different things.
Pampering? Absolutely.
Rushing?
That simply isn’t who we are.
Pampered 💜 Polished 💜 Perfect
