32 dollars is actually an excellent price (well for here in South NJ)

Milo gets groomed at the same place he goes to doggy day care, I call it his spa day. He gets to play all day with other dogs then gets a bath, cut, and nails. They do not use crates and he is out playing all day.

I tried a couple of groomers that kept Tricksie for hours. The last time she was there, after 4 hours I called to see if she was ready, "no, we will call you", I waited another 2 hours, got pissed and went to pick her up, she was ready, for how long I don't know, they didn't call me. She was so stressed that she jumped on the sofa and peed. I am thankful to get my Home Groomer back that did my Maltese for 16 years. She is done with in an hour and a good friend. She charges $5 more than the groomers I had used.

I take Slade (and occassionally Laney) to a small grooming place run by a lady I really like and trust. Its just her and two bathers. She has drop off btwn 7:30-9:00 and pickup btwn 5:00-6:00. Its easier for her, that way she doesn't have customers interupting when shes in the middle of grooming or bathing a dog. If you need to pick up your dog earlier, then you can.

I don't mind leaving Slade there the whole day. I know he's in a safe place.

I would never leave my Yorkie there from 11am until 6pm. That's CRAZY!! Chrissy grooms my girls and she usually spends an hour or so on Kalina. A little less on Matty, but she doesn't need as much work done and she's still very young. I wait for them to finish and that suits me just fine!! :)

Grooming is far too stressful an event for most dogs to be left so long. And if they are grooming in "stages", then to me, that means it's more like an assembly line for efficient money-making practices instead of for the love of dogs!!

My groomer (very holistic educational group of women who are dog-crazy) asks that dogs not be dropped off early nor kept late unless it's planned and arranged ahead of time. They agree it's never good for the dogs to sit in kennels in a strange place. One dog is done in 90 minutes on the nose, and I get two done in 2 hours.

grooming time?!
 

Hello,
When I was grooming I told everyone whom dropped off a dog three hours. Some would not like the time however It took me that long to do everything for one dog. Some would be done before and I would call the owners to pick them up. Most of the time they would come in as I was still working on them. That is working straight through and I took my time so the dog was as comfortable as possible. I did not want the dog nor the owner to leave not happy. All of my clients were happy with the results however if it has been over three hours and you still have not heard nothing I would call or even go and check on the dog. In this day and age you cant trust too many people. It may just be a case of too many dogs and not enough hands to clean them. Im sure your puppy is fine.
Tracy :aimeeyork

I can relate :((
 

I was lucky and the first groomer Pepper ever went to, was great. And he really liked it there. They took about 3-4 hours but the dog wasn't stressed or anything leaving, and those were the first grooming sessions... Then I had to move and all went downhill, I tried quite a few groomers and the worst one - ever! - kept Pepper for ALMOST 8 hours. Which is ridiculous, because when I call a few weeks ahead and make an appointment, there is no reason for it to take that long. The groomer closest to my house is quick, but I don't like the result - he shaved Pepper down (thank God it was summer...) - instead of puppy cut. Mind you that I really take care of his coat and he has no mats or tangles... The other good groomer took about 2.5 hours, but is about 40 minutes drive. Recently, I took Pepper to another salon close by and they were very nice and did a great job but again, even though I had called about 2.5 weeks in advance to make an appointment, he was not ready on time. And took about 5 hours. And then they tell me he gets stressed. Well, maybe if they started grooming him right away, instead of putting him in a cage for 2 hours, that would be different :mad: ... Sorry but I was keeping that inside and really had to vent LOL.....