Shop Policies

Before reaching out or stopping by, please visit our update page for current shop info!

Our main focus is and always will be providing exceptional, stress-free grooming services. The exceptional bit is accomplished by our amazing groomers and Master Groomers (NCMG). The stress-free bit is more complicated and is the basis for many of these policies.

Our goal with this page is to let everyone know where we’re coming from, why we have these policies in place, and to head off any “surprises” that might pop up. We know there’s a lot of information here so if you don’t care about the specifics, just click the Short Version link for the “must know” info.

While everything on this page is important, there are are only three main “rules” all clients must be aware of:

Drop your pet off at your appointment time.
Pick your pet up within 30 minutes of grooming completion (we really appreciate pickups within 15 minutes because it’s much more likely we won’t have to kennel your pup).
Call or text us if there are any issues. We want to make things perfect for our clients, but if you don’t reach out we can’t help! Call or text at (720) 588-8523.

Flexible Closing Hours

Late Drop Offs

Pickups

No-shows

Hand Stripping

Dematting

Behavioral Issues

Fleas & Lice

Short Version

Flexible Closing Hours

Since we’re an appointment-only shop, our closing time varies based on what we have booked for the day. It’s generally around 5:30 or 6:00. Please call or text us at (720) 588-8523 to make sure we’re here.

Late Drop Off

We run a tight ship when it comes to scheduling. Therefore, if you arrive 15 minutes past your appointment, you’ll need to reschedule.

We understand this may cause an inconvenience, but if we were to take clients who show up more than 15 minutes late, one of the following would have to happen:

Every appointment after the late appointment would have to be pushed back, which would negatively affect everyone else’s experience with us.
Our grooming quality would have to sharply decrease to get a full groom done in less time than scheduled (which would also add stress to your pet’s visit)… which isn’t something we’re willing to do, period.
We charge full price for a partially groomed dog, which is also not something many (if any) clients would be happy with.

None of these options were acceptable to us, so the best (but still imperfect) solution was to create a drop-off policy and to reschedule when a client comes in more than 15 minutes late.

Pickups

We have a system in place so your pets are literally getting their bath right after you drop them off and are able to stretch their legs unkenneled once they’re done.

Scheduled pickup times are what make this work.

Since dogs from different families cannot intermingle, there’s a limit to how many pets can be unkenneled at one time. The way we handle this is to schedule roughly 15 minutes of kennel-free time after grooming is done. After that, dogs are kenneled.

To make things run super smoothly, we really appreciate pickups within 15 minutes of groom completion. If this isn’t possible, we ask that you pick pets up within 30 minutes to avoid late pickup fees.

This is what we do to make sure you know your pickup time:

We let you know when grooming will be done when you drop your pet off. This is your pick-up time.
Please confirm pick-up time if in doubt. This is will help you avoid late fees. We really don’t like charging late fees.
If you schedule an appointment for the end of the day, we’ll let you know you’ll need to pick your pet up before closing and that there will be a compressed pickup window.
We do all this so pickup times are never a surprise.

These are our late pickup fees:

There are no extra fees if you pickup within 30 minutes after your pet’s grooming is completed.
If a pet is picked up after 30 minutes, there’s a $23 “late pickup” fee automatically added.
Every additional hour after that will add $15 on top of the $23 “late pickup fee”.
The last pet(s) of the day must be picked up upon completion within 15 minutes or will incur a $23 “late pickup fee”.
If a pet isn’t picked up by our posted closing time, there will be an additional $55 hourly charge per pet to cover the costs of keeping the shop open late (we have to keep staff on the clock, etc). This is on top of any of the above fees incurred.

No-shows

A no-show is when an appointment is missed without calling us before your appointment time. We’re not strict with timing and we’re super understanding… just call us to let us know what’s going on even if it’s past the appointment time!

No-shows are subject to an additional fee per pet. The fee is 50% of the cost of the missed groom and will be charged the day of missed appointment or added to your next appointment. Depending on the frequency of the issue, pre-payment may be required before another appointment is booked.

We understand that emergencies happen and will work with you whenever possible. Communicate with us.

Hand Stripping

Hand stripping is a specialty service and is a labor of love. Appointments are strict and hard to come by.

Important Things to Know About Our Hand Stripping Service

All prospective hand stripping clients must schedule a 1 hour preliminary appointment in which their dog will be hand stripped and evaluated (temperament and coat) to see if they are a good candidate for hand stripping at our shop.
Due to the very specific nature of hand stripping, all hand strip dogs must be on an 4 week or less schedule.
Since our hand stripping appointments fill out far in advance, we suggest you book your 6 months out as soon as the schedule is open.
If your schedule doesn’t allow you to book the 6 months out, we strongly suggest you make your next appointment at pickup to avoid any scheduling issues or lose your hand stripping service availability.
Hand stripping is an extremely variable service, so we charge hourly. Times will vary from appointment to appointment depending on coat condition but this is not typical on a 4 week routine.

At this time, we are only accepting the following breeds for preliminary appointments: border terrier, Norfolk terrier, Norwich terrier, cairn terrier, Parson/Jack Russell terrier, Glen of Imaal terrier, Dandie Dinmont terrier, and wirehaired dachshund. We also accept natural backed sporting dogs such as English cockers, Irish setters and English setters.

Dematting

Dematting is a time consuming process that, depending on the severity of the matting, can be painful as well. We all love long and fluffy coats, but for the well-being of our pet-clients, we reserve the right to refuse this service if we deem the matting too severe or if there are behavioral issues that make dematting dangerous.

Things to Know About Dematting

It’s an emotionally challenging process for most pets and groomers.
If a pet repeatedly comes in matted, we will not continue to offer our dematting services.
We will never cut/shave down a pet without the consent from the person who drops the pet off.
If we feel your pet needs to be shaved down but you choose not to let us do it, we will happily give you a brush out explanation- free of charge so you can take them home and attempt to demat them yourself.
- Please note that if you decide to do this you’ll need to reschedule your appointment and if the pet is still matted when they come back, your only option will be a shave down.

To repeat, we offer FREE brush out explanations for all our clients, as many times as you need them. Our goal is to work with you to find the haircut that best suits your pet and your lifestyle!

Behavioral Issues

We pride ourselves on the wonderful positive relationships we build with our clients (both human and pet). However, in some cases, there are behavioral issues we must contend with. In some of these situations a pet may incur a handling charge if they show serious reactivity.

In these more serious cases, we will have two employees working together to increase the safety of the pet and to help them learn to trust the grooming process. The handling charge is simply to cover the cost of two employees working on a pet that would normally require only one.

Our ultimate goal is to work with the pet and get them comfortable enough that they can be groomed without the help of a second groomer. We have many cases where this works out, but there is no guarantee that it will. Behavioral issues are always on a case-by-case basis.

Fleas & Lice

We will immediately halt the grooming process if we find fleas or lice on your pet. When an ectoparasite is found, we have to stop everything immediately to keep our other clients safe from infestation.

Since fleas and lice are super common in Denver year round, we highly recommend you use a monthly flea preventive such as Frontline Plus on all your pets.

Here’s what happens when we find an ectoparasite

If your pet is still wet, we will rebathe them with a flea & tick shampoo and towel dry them to avoid spreading the parasites around the shop. Because of this, your pet won’t be as dry as normal.
If your pet is close to being dry, we will immediately stop grooming. In this case we don’t rebathe them because we want to avoid sending your pet home damp. As above, your pet probably won’t be as dry as normal.

In all cases you will only be charged for the bath plus a parasite fee to cover the cost of disinfecting the shop.

The Short Version (no details… just the basic info)

Late drop offs. If you arrive 15 minutes or more past your appointment you’ll need to reschedule.
Pickups. Picking up within 15 minutes of grooming completion is really appreciated!
Late pickups. Anything after 30 minutes will incur extra fees based on how late the pickup is.
No-shows. No shows will incur a fee of 50% of the cost of the missed groom and should be paid day of missed appointment or will be added to your next visit.
Hand stripping. Please see the hand stripping section above.
Dematting. Pets with severe or chronic matting may be refused our dematting service.
Behavioral issues. Pets with behavioral issues may incur a handling fee.