Mobile groom or salon? What actually changes for your dog

We run three grooming vans, so you can guess where this is going. But a fair comparison is more useful than a sales pitch, so here is what is actually different about a mobile groom, what is not, and when a salon might genuinely suit you better.

What changes for the dog

• No car trip. For a lot of dogs the drive is the worst part of the day, and they arrive at a salon already wound up.
• No waiting. In a salon your dog may sit in a crate or a pen before and after, listening to other dogs. In the van it is one groomer, one pet, door to door.
• Same person, same place. Nervous dogs settle faster in their own driveway than in a strange room, and the groomer gets to know your dog from one visit to the next.
• Home within the hour, give or take. Most grooms run between 35 and 90 minutes. There is no drop off and collect later.

What changes for you

Mostly time. No drive there, no drive back, no sitting in traffic with a wet dog on the back seat. You carry on with your morning and the van does its thing outside the gate. Payment is done when you book, so there is nothing to settle afterwards.

What is the same

The groom. The van is a salon on wheels, and the packages are the ones you would find anywhere: a wash and tidy, a hygiene trim, or a full cut. Nails, ears and teeth are included in all three. A good groomer is a good groomer whether the room has wheels or not.

What you need to provide

Two things, and this is the honest catch. An outside tap, because the water comes from you, and a plug point within reach of where the van parks. If you are in a flat with no outside tap, or there is nowhere for a van to stop, a salon is the practical choice, and we would rather tell you that now than waste your morning.

Where we go

The round covers the West Coast from Melkbosstrand down to Milnerton, the Northern Suburbs from Durbanville through to Century City, the Atlantic Seaboard from Green Point to Hout Bay, and Gardens, Rondebosch, Bishopscourt and Constantia in the south. We do not reach Stellenbosch, Somerset West, Paarl or Fish Hoek yet. The booking checks your exact address before you pick anything else, so you find out in about ten seconds.

Prices

Exact, by size, nothing added on the day. A small dog on the Healthy Essentials is R245. A giant on the Grand Fontein is R495. Everything in between shows up in the booking once you have told us about your pet, and the coat type never changes the price. See the prices for your dog.