Doggy Maxi20 Grooms

Twenty grooms on big dogs is a coat-management strategy rather than a series of appointments — and across two of them it comes out at about one each a month, which is the natural rhythm for a heavy coat.

The dogs this is built for are the heavy shedders — Huskies, German Shepherds, Malamutes, Golden Retrievers, Rough Collies — and specifically the ones living with people who have decided the hair is not going to win. A de-shed every two to three weeks keeps the loose undercoat out of the house continuously instead of in twice-yearly avalanches, and the difference in a home is substantial rather than marginal.

It's also the pack for a big dog with skin that needs managing. Where a vet has recommended regular medicated bathing for allergies or a skin condition, twenty sessions is how that actually gets done — consistently, by someone with a proper bath and a high-velocity dryer, rather than heroically in your own shower every fortnight until you stop.

And it suits the seasons here. A double-coated dog through a Paarl summer benefits from having the dead coat out as fast as it loosens, because that trapped undercoat is what stops air getting to the skin. More sessions in October and March, fewer in between — twenty gives you the room to do that.

One smooth-coated big dog doesn't need twenty. A single Great Dane, Boerboel or short-coated Lab is a ten-pack, and we'll say so. Two of them is a different question.

R450 a groom, twenty of them.

Before we come

The package covers your household, not one dog. Two dogs, three dogs — draw on the same pot for all of them. Tell us which dogs it's for when you book and we'll keep separate notes for each: what clip, what shampoo, what they object to, what your vet has said. From the second groom onwards that makes a real difference. Book the sessions as you need them. A package isn't a schedule, it's a pot of grooms to draw on. Most owners settle into a rhythm after the first two or three; if you'd rather we just remind you when one's about due, say so and we will. Tell us what you want each time, and expect it to change. "Trim and/or shave" means the decision is yours session by session — shorter for December, left longer through winter, tidy for a wedding. A package doesn't lock you into one look. Tell us how she is about being handled, honestly. Nail trims, ear cleaning and anal glands are the parts dogs object to most, and a dog who's had a bad experience somewhere else will tell us by objecting early. That's useful information, not a problem — but we'd rather know before than discover it. Anything your vet has flagged, we need to know: skin conditions, allergies, arthritis, a heart murmur, a healing wound, or her age if she's elderly. Older dogs tire faster and we work shorter and gentler. A groom is not a health check, but it's often where something gets noticed. Working over a whole dog with hands and clippers, we sometimes find lumps, sore patches, ear infections or fleas before an owner does. We'll always tell you. We won't ever diagnose it — that's your vet's job. Between grooms, brushing is the thing that matters. Five minutes a few times a week on a long or double coat prevents most of the matting we'd otherwise have to cut out. Still no shaving a double coat. More sessions doesn't change the answer — the de-shed is the tool for heat, not the clippers. See the ten-session notes. If this is for a skin condition, tell us what your vet said. Which shampoo, how long it needs to sit on the skin, how often, and whether anything is being treated at the same time. We'll follow the vet's plan, not our own. Bunch the sessions around the coat turnover. Spring and autumn are when a double coat comes out; that's when to use them densely.