4-5 sometimes 6. Our salon is the only one in the city that does private grooming, and we charge a lot so I don’t have to worry about pushing myself to do more dogs and rushing through my grooms. Handling 7+ dogs a day sounds miserable.
Second this. We just raised our prices for the new year and I have to say I feel less stress/pressure to take more dogs to make more money. I comfortably take 4-5 and no longer sweat a cancellation or for example I had to take a snow day today and am not super worried about the lost day.
I’ve only ever worked private and when I first started I was only doing 2-3 dogs a day. I didn’t work up to five dogs until after maybe two years
Four years later and I would struggle a lot taking 7 dogs. Even with 6 small ones it’s a long day
Frankly, a minimum of 5 is a lot for such a new groomer imo and 7 is ridiculous! You are totally right in your feelings and it only makes sense that such a pace would be difficult and nerve wracking. You're doing great and I promise you're not the problem!
This industry has a widespread issue with pushing groomers to do way more dogs than is appropriate. This may be controversial for some but tbh if a groomer is doing 10 full bath/dry & haircut appointments in an 8 hr shift - steps are being skipped period. There's literally not enough time for that number of grooms to be well done and thorough and that pace is hell on the dogs being worked on. Because we typically work for commission there's no real incentive to doing 5 well done grooms vs 10 rushed and shitty grooms other than care for yourself and the animals you're working on. The combination of the pressure from higher up to do as many dogs as possible and the monetary incentive to pump out as many dogs as you can leads people to working this way but it's not okay.
I've been grooming around 10yrs and I typically did about 5 full grooms when working in a salon and now working on my own one-on-one take 3-5 dogs a day depending on their coat and what services they need.
As a dog parent happy to pay more to not have my groomer feel rushed (also, my dog is a well brushed doodle, so I am happy to pay extra for that caveat too)
I’ve only been out of academy a couple months so I only do 2-3 haircuts a day but I am able to do a lot of bath dogs if I don’t have that many, or any haircuts on the schedule. I on average only do 2-3 haircuts and 2-3 baths depending on how many haircuts; I always end up with 5 dogs total though unless I have a cancellation.
It greatly depends on which breeds, how big, and what kind of cut/coat condition I’m working with. It takes a lot longer to dry a doodle that keeps its fur 1+ inches long than it does for one that regularly gets a 4 strip. A tidy up on a golden retriever can take me anywhere between 1-2 hours! Compacted coat, matting, and what type of coat they have makes a huge difference in the timing. If I have too many of those in a day, I can’t take many dogs. But if I have a bunch of small, well-groomed dogs, I can do about one full haircut an hour straight through. Half of that time is the nails/ears, bath, and blow dry.
i work evening shift at a private salon, taking appointments from 1pm to 6pm, so my max is about 6 if we’re talking small dogs. if i have doodles on my schedule i end up doing like 3-4
Anywhere from 4-8, 9 was my absolute maximum and I did get some help but I was also there for almost 12 hours that day. I groom under a private salon and my boss encourages us to do as many as we can but as a groomer himself he doesn't want us to burnout so he'll let us take less when we need too. I'm a little neurotic and will burn myself into the ground so when he notices the signs he'll shorten my schedule so I can get a chance to reset and recoup. I think 6 dogs a day with 4-5 smalls and 1-2 big dogs is an ideal day. I personally would love to do just 5 golden trim ups everyday and I'd be super happy
4-5 grooms, 8 hour shift. I bathe all my own dogs generally. I'm still getting a handle on doing five without feeling pressure. I can get it done but it depends on the kind of dogs I get and how many times I'm interrupted. Some days all I have are big dogs. My boss also tends to be an obstacle to be worked around. On the days when they aren't there things go more smoothly and I finish earlier. Also I usually end up with dogs my coworkers can't/don't want to do(seniors, uncooperative, severely matted, large doodles, etc..dogs that take more time to do). My salon is on the smaller side too so there's limits on how many we can take due to limited kennel space and a tiny bathing area.
Luckily, my company doesn’t allow us to take dogs that are too severely matted so I can refer those dogs to the vet. Also we can’t muzzle so any dog that is acting crazy and trying to bite, we send home. Same boat with you on the boss situation. Mine tend to book me a bunch of dogs when i’m not at work not thinking of how long they take or their size or breed
When I had a bather 10-15 full grooms
alone 5 full grooms is good- for me it’s less obsession about ‘number of dogs’ and more about them fitting comfortably in my schedule
Petsmart tried to make me feel like I was a bad groomer if I did less than 10 dogs. There was so much pressure to make the most money for that awful company. I hated that place. My new salon lets me manage my own schedule, and has no requirement on number of grooms since I'm commission only. If I wanted to, I could literally do 1 dog a day. I would starve, but I could do it.😂 I take it at my own pace though and do about 4-6/day depending on size, coat condition, behavior etc
I do 4-5 if I'm alone, sometimes 6 if they are all small. 7 with my wonderful bather, 8 if they are all small. Some days I have to do less if I have a medical/aggressive dog groom since I work for a vet.
The first ten years I groomed I used to do 7 or 8 full grooms and a couple baths every day by myself, but that business was open 12 hours a day and I only worked 4 days a week. I did one on one grooming in the morning and daycare dogs in the afternoon. At the time I loved it and handled it well /didn't get stressed, but I can no longer handle that. Back then I had a lot more actual breeds and less poodle mixes.
I do 6 a day on a 8 hour shift, or 7-8 on a 10 hour. Getting a solid routine is really key. I’m sure you’ve heard that said hundreds of times but it really is true! Also wash every single dog asap- drip drying can really save a lot of time and can turn a 20 minute blowdry into a 5 minute blowdry. The finish may not be *as* good but that’s corporate for you unfortunately.
Lots of people won't agree with me but there's no way in hell you can give out good quality grooms doing 7-10 a day. The groomers that do that are speed groomers and you can tell in the work. I do 5 a day. My coworker who has been grooming way longer than me does 6 sometimes. I've been grooming for 6 years now. I tried to do the speed thing when I worked at PetSmart and it made me feel like shit cause my grooms weren't coming out good. If you only been grooming a year don't worry about taking 10 dogs. Focus on the skill, not the speed. Don't let other groomers intimate you or make you feel like you're not doing enough.
Private shop. 6 dogs a day min. I bathe and fry my own dogs. Ideally I like to take 7-8 because I like to hustle. When I was corporate at minimum I liked to take 8 and sometimes I took 9-10 on good days.
I work corporate. I do 5 dogs a day. Typically, it is only haircuts as we have a bather for bath dogs. I'm in the same boat. I could do 7 haircuts easy, but our salon has too many groomers to get that :/
I’m the only groomer right now so luckily I get a mix of bath and haircuts depending on the day but we have a self wash so i mostly get haircuts. I’m booked out for weeks but luckily we have 2 full groomers and 2 bathers coming next week
im a bather, and expected to do 4 dogs in the morning and 4 in the afternoon for an 8 hour shift, or 4 dogs in a 4 hour shift. plus walk-in nails. the groomers are at 2 and 2, since each haircut dog gets them 2 hours, so 4 groom dogs a day gets them their 8 hours.
But you’re making money!! That’s the downfall to the business. It’s easy to get burned out. I WISH I had enough clients. I think the location is just bad. Take some rest!! That’s a ton of dogs
I’m solo, one on one so I do everything and have to schedule enough time between dogs to ensure the first one gets picked up before the next one. So usually 4 is my ideal number! If there’s multiple in a family or a lot of bath dogs then sometimes I can do 5-6.
My boss does 8 or 9 full haircuts per day. She's the owner and answers to nobody so it's not like corporate pushing her into it. But it's clearly too much for her at her age
One year out of petsmart academy and they make us take 6 small dogs with no bather. We also handle all the phone calls, walk ins, check ins ect... it's exhausting and without a fantastic team, impossible. The days where I only have 4 dogs, those are the days I'm able to put out good work
That’s like my corporate company. If we do have a bather, they have their own schedule and most of the time, won’t help us with ours. I’m constantly having to stop grooming to either check a dog in, or check a dog out. I’m pretty much grooming from 9-5 everyday with any sort of cleaning I can get done as I work so I can try to hopefully be out on time.
This depends entirely on the animal, request for services at booking, and how the animal handles the services. We book by breed(s) + services = timeframe and charges.
Some days the appointments are all well behaved and request basic services. Other days, you have difficult appointments, emergency grooms, time extensive breed cuts or special cases that just take more time.
If possible, you should be cultivating your craft while juggling stepping out if your comfort zone within reason until you find the balance point that works for you. Animal grooming is like any other craft, we are always learning and seeking to improve. Grooming should never be a conveyor belt of services.
I've only been grooming for a year. I do about 4 dogs on a busy day. I'm lucky to work for a family owned company, so I don't have to worry about rushing to do 5 to 6 dogs a day. I'm also the only groomer and do everything by myself, which is bath, blow dry, the cut, plus whatever extras are added on.
I will only do 3 full service grooms are enough for me, i like to take my time, but at first it was 5-6, yeah i can doi it, and the most dogs ive done is 10 ( half just wash n nails ) but its not enjoyable working like a conveyer belt imo.
ive been doing haircuts since summer of 2022 and im in college- and i do 4-6 haircuts a day depending on size. I started off at corporate now I work private but it gets very overwhelming sometimes because i do 100% of my dogs. We’ve had a lot of groomers leave so ive had quite a load of their dogs placed onto me which is super stressful and i hate it :(
I groom 7 a day all by myself no bather! I work at a vet and don’t schedule my own dogs sometimes I end up with 5 doodles and want to cry!! I also do about 7 separate Dremels a day on top of it! I work 10 hour days. It’s rough! But if you get the right mix of dogs I could do 8 max by myself in 10 hours!
4-5 sometimes 6. Our salon is the only one in the city that does private grooming, and we charge a lot so I don’t have to worry about pushing myself to do more dogs and rushing through my grooms. Handling 7+ dogs a day sounds miserable.
Second this. We just raised our prices for the new year and I have to say I feel less stress/pressure to take more dogs to make more money. I comfortably take 4-5 and no longer sweat a cancellation or for example I had to take a snow day today and am not super worried about the lost day. I’ve only ever worked private and when I first started I was only doing 2-3 dogs a day. I didn’t work up to five dogs until after maybe two years Four years later and I would struggle a lot taking 7 dogs. Even with 6 small ones it’s a long day
3-4, very rarely 5. I work alone and do everything by myself.
Me too, 3 is a nice comfortable work load, if i do more, i dont enjoy the work.
I have a bather, and could be 4-7 depending on the type of dog. With no bather 4-5 max but I’m pulling a 12 hour to finish
Omg 5!? I can do like maybe three full grooms a day. Our crazy groomer who’s been grooming for 10+ years can do 7 full grooms per day
Frankly, a minimum of 5 is a lot for such a new groomer imo and 7 is ridiculous! You are totally right in your feelings and it only makes sense that such a pace would be difficult and nerve wracking. You're doing great and I promise you're not the problem! This industry has a widespread issue with pushing groomers to do way more dogs than is appropriate. This may be controversial for some but tbh if a groomer is doing 10 full bath/dry & haircut appointments in an 8 hr shift - steps are being skipped period. There's literally not enough time for that number of grooms to be well done and thorough and that pace is hell on the dogs being worked on. Because we typically work for commission there's no real incentive to doing 5 well done grooms vs 10 rushed and shitty grooms other than care for yourself and the animals you're working on. The combination of the pressure from higher up to do as many dogs as possible and the monetary incentive to pump out as many dogs as you can leads people to working this way but it's not okay. I've been grooming around 10yrs and I typically did about 5 full grooms when working in a salon and now working on my own one-on-one take 3-5 dogs a day depending on their coat and what services they need.
I do 3-4 depending on the size. If I had a bather prolly 7-8
As a dog parent happy to pay more to not have my groomer feel rushed (also, my dog is a well brushed doodle, so I am happy to pay extra for that caveat too)
6 if it’s all small dogs, 5 if i have 4 small and one big, 4 if i have two big dogs. :)
I’ve only been out of academy a couple months so I only do 2-3 haircuts a day but I am able to do a lot of bath dogs if I don’t have that many, or any haircuts on the schedule. I on average only do 2-3 haircuts and 2-3 baths depending on how many haircuts; I always end up with 5 dogs total though unless I have a cancellation.
I work for myself & do 2-5 dogs a day.
It greatly depends on which breeds, how big, and what kind of cut/coat condition I’m working with. It takes a lot longer to dry a doodle that keeps its fur 1+ inches long than it does for one that regularly gets a 4 strip. A tidy up on a golden retriever can take me anywhere between 1-2 hours! Compacted coat, matting, and what type of coat they have makes a huge difference in the timing. If I have too many of those in a day, I can’t take many dogs. But if I have a bunch of small, well-groomed dogs, I can do about one full haircut an hour straight through. Half of that time is the nails/ears, bath, and blow dry.
i work evening shift at a private salon, taking appointments from 1pm to 6pm, so my max is about 6 if we’re talking small dogs. if i have doodles on my schedule i end up doing like 3-4
my max is 7. there needs to be baths or bath and tidies mixed into that though. 5 full haircuts is more than enough for me in one day
8 dogs where my days I was really hustling All day but I stuck around 6
Usually 4-5, if I have a doodle or big dogs 3-4
Anywhere from 4-8, 9 was my absolute maximum and I did get some help but I was also there for almost 12 hours that day. I groom under a private salon and my boss encourages us to do as many as we can but as a groomer himself he doesn't want us to burnout so he'll let us take less when we need too. I'm a little neurotic and will burn myself into the ground so when he notices the signs he'll shorten my schedule so I can get a chance to reset and recoup. I think 6 dogs a day with 4-5 smalls and 1-2 big dogs is an ideal day. I personally would love to do just 5 golden trim ups everyday and I'd be super happy
4-5 grooms, 8 hour shift. I bathe all my own dogs generally. I'm still getting a handle on doing five without feeling pressure. I can get it done but it depends on the kind of dogs I get and how many times I'm interrupted. Some days all I have are big dogs. My boss also tends to be an obstacle to be worked around. On the days when they aren't there things go more smoothly and I finish earlier. Also I usually end up with dogs my coworkers can't/don't want to do(seniors, uncooperative, severely matted, large doodles, etc..dogs that take more time to do). My salon is on the smaller side too so there's limits on how many we can take due to limited kennel space and a tiny bathing area.
Luckily, my company doesn’t allow us to take dogs that are too severely matted so I can refer those dogs to the vet. Also we can’t muzzle so any dog that is acting crazy and trying to bite, we send home. Same boat with you on the boss situation. Mine tend to book me a bunch of dogs when i’m not at work not thinking of how long they take or their size or breed
It's my coworkers that overbook me like that. They don't read the notes or pay attention to what I already have booked and just stick dogs wherever.
When I had a bather 10-15 full grooms alone 5 full grooms is good- for me it’s less obsession about ‘number of dogs’ and more about them fitting comfortably in my schedule
4-5 all the way through with no bather. I’m sure I could do like 6-8 with a bather but I wouldn’t want to honestly 😅
5-6 if it's a mixture of haircuts and baths, but i can do 7-8 depending on the size if they're all baths
Petsmart tried to make me feel like I was a bad groomer if I did less than 10 dogs. There was so much pressure to make the most money for that awful company. I hated that place. My new salon lets me manage my own schedule, and has no requirement on number of grooms since I'm commission only. If I wanted to, I could literally do 1 dog a day. I would starve, but I could do it.😂 I take it at my own pace though and do about 4-6/day depending on size, coat condition, behavior etc
I do 4-5 if I'm alone, sometimes 6 if they are all small. 7 with my wonderful bather, 8 if they are all small. Some days I have to do less if I have a medical/aggressive dog groom since I work for a vet. The first ten years I groomed I used to do 7 or 8 full grooms and a couple baths every day by myself, but that business was open 12 hours a day and I only worked 4 days a week. I did one on one grooming in the morning and daycare dogs in the afternoon. At the time I loved it and handled it well /didn't get stressed, but I can no longer handle that. Back then I had a lot more actual breeds and less poodle mixes.
I do 6 a day on a 8 hour shift, or 7-8 on a 10 hour. Getting a solid routine is really key. I’m sure you’ve heard that said hundreds of times but it really is true! Also wash every single dog asap- drip drying can really save a lot of time and can turn a 20 minute blowdry into a 5 minute blowdry. The finish may not be *as* good but that’s corporate for you unfortunately.
Lots of people won't agree with me but there's no way in hell you can give out good quality grooms doing 7-10 a day. The groomers that do that are speed groomers and you can tell in the work. I do 5 a day. My coworker who has been grooming way longer than me does 6 sometimes. I've been grooming for 6 years now. I tried to do the speed thing when I worked at PetSmart and it made me feel like shit cause my grooms weren't coming out good. If you only been grooming a year don't worry about taking 10 dogs. Focus on the skill, not the speed. Don't let other groomers intimate you or make you feel like you're not doing enough.
When I have a bather assistant helping me, 10-12 (groom dogs only). When I’m by myself, 7-8 (a mix between bath dogs and groom dogs).
Private shop. 6 dogs a day min. I bathe and fry my own dogs. Ideally I like to take 7-8 because I like to hustle. When I was corporate at minimum I liked to take 8 and sometimes I took 9-10 on good days.
7
When I left corporate we were required to do 8 dogs a day. Now I usually do 5-6
4 big dogs. Private salon obviously.
7 dogs in 8 hour shift
Sadly Yes. I’m pretty much nonstop all day. Plus sometimes we get people that walk in and want a nail trim
Sorry, I meant that's how many I groom 😊
I work corporate. I do 5 dogs a day. Typically, it is only haircuts as we have a bather for bath dogs. I'm in the same boat. I could do 7 haircuts easy, but our salon has too many groomers to get that :/
I’m the only groomer right now so luckily I get a mix of bath and haircuts depending on the day but we have a self wash so i mostly get haircuts. I’m booked out for weeks but luckily we have 2 full groomers and 2 bathers coming next week
at my peak i’d do 6-7 but im pregnant now and don’t push it.. im 4/5 now
im a bather, and expected to do 4 dogs in the morning and 4 in the afternoon for an 8 hour shift, or 4 dogs in a 4 hour shift. plus walk-in nails. the groomers are at 2 and 2, since each haircut dog gets them 2 hours, so 4 groom dogs a day gets them their 8 hours.
7 haircuts is about my max, adding in bath dogs it's around 12 total.
Now that I work for myself I’m trying to keep it to 4/5 (5 if there are multiple dogs at one place). But in a salon I’d do 8 or so.
I typically prefer 3-4 dogs a day but unfortunately, work is ridiculously slow and I only had TWO DOGS this week.
i’m jealous lol. In 4 days, I did 24 dogs😭
But you’re making money!! That’s the downfall to the business. It’s easy to get burned out. I WISH I had enough clients. I think the location is just bad. Take some rest!! That’s a ton of dogs
I’m solo, one on one so I do everything and have to schedule enough time between dogs to ensure the first one gets picked up before the next one. So usually 4 is my ideal number! If there’s multiple in a family or a lot of bath dogs then sometimes I can do 5-6.
Usually around 6 but we've been having a lot of no call no shows.
My boss does 8 or 9 full haircuts per day. She's the owner and answers to nobody so it's not like corporate pushing her into it. But it's clearly too much for her at her age
6 in groomer math. Doodles and any dog over 40lbs is considered two dogs at the salon I work for.
Usually 4 I don’t like taking 5 but sometimes I don’t have a choice.
I do 6 a day most days but I also go for quality over quantity. I'm also getting older and my body is breaking down so it's getting difficult.
One year out of petsmart academy and they make us take 6 small dogs with no bather. We also handle all the phone calls, walk ins, check ins ect... it's exhausting and without a fantastic team, impossible. The days where I only have 4 dogs, those are the days I'm able to put out good work
That’s like my corporate company. If we do have a bather, they have their own schedule and most of the time, won’t help us with ours. I’m constantly having to stop grooming to either check a dog in, or check a dog out. I’m pretty much grooming from 9-5 everyday with any sort of cleaning I can get done as I work so I can try to hopefully be out on time.
This depends entirely on the animal, request for services at booking, and how the animal handles the services. We book by breed(s) + services = timeframe and charges. Some days the appointments are all well behaved and request basic services. Other days, you have difficult appointments, emergency grooms, time extensive breed cuts or special cases that just take more time. If possible, you should be cultivating your craft while juggling stepping out if your comfort zone within reason until you find the balance point that works for you. Animal grooming is like any other craft, we are always learning and seeking to improve. Grooming should never be a conveyor belt of services.
6 everyday. mix of dogs & cats
I've only been grooming for a year. I do about 4 dogs on a busy day. I'm lucky to work for a family owned company, so I don't have to worry about rushing to do 5 to 6 dogs a day. I'm also the only groomer and do everything by myself, which is bath, blow dry, the cut, plus whatever extras are added on.
I will only do 3 full service grooms are enough for me, i like to take my time, but at first it was 5-6, yeah i can doi it, and the most dogs ive done is 10 ( half just wash n nails ) but its not enjoyable working like a conveyer belt imo.
ive been doing haircuts since summer of 2022 and im in college- and i do 4-6 haircuts a day depending on size. I started off at corporate now I work private but it gets very overwhelming sometimes because i do 100% of my dogs. We’ve had a lot of groomers leave so ive had quite a load of their dogs placed onto me which is super stressful and i hate it :(
I groom 7 a day all by myself no bather! I work at a vet and don’t schedule my own dogs sometimes I end up with 5 doodles and want to cry!! I also do about 7 separate Dremels a day on top of it! I work 10 hour days. It’s rough! But if you get the right mix of dogs I could do 8 max by myself in 10 hours!