To my bathers, how long does it take for u to wash a dog?

[emmliy]

There’ve been a couple times where my coworker was shocked i was done. Washing a dog seems fairly simple to me? I wash them twice, clean their face, smell check, then to the table to be blow dried. The dogs smell good and nobody is complaining. My coworker who is shocked has been one for 7 years in comparison to my 3 months.

 

[thegiant]

@emmliy I've learned time has literally nothing to do with quality. I had a bather in the salon I worked at who took probably 30-45 minutes for the bath alone on every single dog, and yet they still came out dirty because all she did that entire time was massage their backs and talk to them. One day when I asked her if she washed the chest/legs/feet she said "the shampoo runs down the dog" lmao.

I will say she moved and transferred stores and she is trying really hard to learn and does seem to really want to be a groomer.

 

[helloitsme]

@thegiant Please go to the petsmart I worked at for about two weeks and tell them this lol. I washed a dog there and my salon lead told me I was working too fast. :| Dog was perfectly clean and washed well. I was just too fast.

 

[darinr80]

@emmliy For just the bath or also drying? Small dogs probably about 30 mins for everything 10/15 in the bath, bigger short hair and small long hair is say 45, 20 mins in the bath. Big hairy ones take me much longer tho probs 30 mins for bath then 45ish to dry properly. Had a huge Newfie recently that took me 2 hours all together.

 

[emmliy]

@darinr80 Bath + dry, she will ask me how many dogs i have left to finish and she seems surprised when i tell her the answer

 

[harrykarrv]

@emmliy I had the same thing come up! Someone mentioned it shouldve taken longer than 45 mins to do a lab bath which shocked me since I did everything I needed. Could be the person talking to you it slower, or always juggling more than one dog at a time.

 

[recheal95]

@emmliy Depends on the size, coat type, thickness, and soil level. Smaller dogs 15/20 minutes, big fuzzys closer to 45. We do a lot of dogs that are only deshed baths so we have to do a good job because they bring in a lot of money.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@emmliy I got my husky deshed, which according to the itemized bill they gave me includes bath, condition, and brushing with a furminator, and it took 7 hours. That's abnormal, right? The time before, it only took about 2 hours. I'm just trying to set my expectations for next time lol.

 

[thegiant]

@imagebeastmarkbeast It really depends for desheds, especially if the groomer/bather is overbooked. Deshedding is arguably the most labor intensive services, and if the groomer was still fully booked as usual, deshed dogs can easily spend an hour or two at a time hanging out in a kennel (usually kennel drying) while the groomer tries to pump out their other dogs. Deshed dogs get put on the back burner when juggling multiple dogs.

In my own shop, I'm actually going to encourage large deshed services to just drop off on the morning and pick up in the afternoon. I'm looking at locations where I can take dogs potty if necessary or give them a section of the shop to walk around. But it's honestly better on the dog and on the groomer to really take your time with desheds and give the dog a 30+ minute break between major portions. It's very hard for a large dog to stand for a grooming service and they get extremely tired and sometimes agitated, and large dog desheds are one of the highest risks of injury for groomers. I've seen so many stories on here of groomers having career ending (and life altering) back injuries working with a large/giant breed dog that won't stand up or walk. This scenario can be avoided by giving the dog ample breaks instead of forcing them through so you can hand the dog back over to the owner in 2 hours.

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@thegiant That makes sense. I'm definitely fine with a morning drop-off/afternoon pickup, which is probably what I'm going to plan on from now on. She gets the "large dog" price but she's actually only 37 pounds, so definitely not a large or giant breed. I am curious now as to how she tolerates standing for a long time. She certainly has no issues running around for hours, but I'm sure standing still is very different for a husky!

The first time threw me off being just a few hours because the grooming place is 30 to 40 minutes away from my house, so I just hung out in a coffee shop while I waited for her. And then the second time, I kept waiting and waiting but I just KNEW as soon as I made the drive they'd call to come get her. But I did NOT want to actually spend 7 hours at a coffee shop, lol. I just hope they don't get mad if I take a long time to come get her since I live 40 minutes away rather than staying at a coffee shop right around the corner.

 

[temekaretana]

@imagebeastmarkbeast Let them know you live 40 minutes away and ask for them to give you a heads up so you can be there around the time she’s finished. That’s what I do for my clients that have a long drive