How long will my dog’s appointment be?

This will depend on your requirements, the size of your dog, coat type, trim required, temperament etc. We will take the time needed to groom your dog to a high standard in a calm and stress free manner. Expected time scale will be discussed with you on dropping off your dog.

Should I stay with my dog?

For several reasons we do not allow clients to stay with their dogs.

1. Most dogs are more stressed with their owners present, as any anxiety from the owners will be transmitted to their pet. We are fully trained in dog behaviour and canine body language and it is much easier for us to keep your dog calm and stress free if we are able to work with them alone.

2. We like to create a bond with our canine clients, which makes them feel more comfortable and happy to visit us. This is more difficult if owners are present.

3. We are not insured for owners to come into the working area of our salon.

What is included within the cost of the appointment?

Each groom includes a full health check, ear cleaning ears, nail trimming, a warm bath with a high quality shampoo to suit your dog’s skin and coat type, a thorough blow dry, conditioning and de-matting spray (Demel’ex) which imparts a beautiful airy feel to your dog’s coat, and trimming to your requirements. All finished with a spritz of gorgeous dog friendly cologne, produced in the famous region of Grasse, France where many of the top quality perfumes are made.

We can offer ultrasonic teeth cleaning for an additional cost, which breaks down tartar and kills bacteria, maintaining tooth and gum health and helping to maintain the oral and overall health of your dog. This also reduces the need for expensive veterinary descales requiring anaesthesia, and helping to keep your dog’s breath smelling sweet and fresh.

What age should my puppy be for the first grooming appointment?

It is very important to get puppies who will require regular grooming into the salon as early as possible, in order for them to become acclimatised to the grooming environment and have a lifetime of happy grooming sessions and understand that it is a pleasant experience and nothing to be frightened of.
For this reason, we offer a free of charge acclimatisation session to young puppies, lasting around 10 minutes, in order to meet them, let them see and hear the sights and sounds of the grooming salon and hopefully they will look forward to visiting us again when they are ready for a grooming session. As soon as your puppy is vaccinated and fully protected, you should arrange for them to visit us for their free puppy session. Following this, we will probably suggest a bath and very light trim for their first ‘proper’ grooming session, and take it from their depending on how they react to being groomed, without causing them any stress or discomfort. We will give you a brief lesson on how to brush your dog correctly, which equipment to use and a few tips of getting your puppy used to being held in a manner which will be important for us to safely groom them and use clippers and scissors around delicate areas such as eyes and ears.

How do you deal with anxious dogs?

The Canine Design staff have combined experience in the dog grooming industry of over 50 years, so we are very familiar with dealing with dogs of all temperaments. We are fully trained and experienced in kindly handling and reassuring anxious dogs and can usually acclimatise them to the salon by a gentle and calm introduction and using our tried and tested handling techniques, such as the use of treats, a second person to hold and reassure or our other tried and tested methods. If your dog is excessively anxious or is dog reactive, we have some appointment times when we can arrange for your dog to be the only dog in the salon. Please call us to discuss on 01749 830723.

If we feel the situation is dangerous to your dog and/or the groomer we will suggest an alternative such as grooming under sedation at the vet. We will not push any dog past it’s safe stress levels.