Doggy Maxi40 Grooms

The largest pack we sell, for the households with the most dog in them.

Three or four big dogs is a different scale of problem from one. Forty grooms across them comes out at roughly one each a month — the right interval for a heavy coat — and it means the de-shedding happens continuously rather than in the two annual avalanches that otherwise redecorate your house.

That compounding is the real argument. One German Shepherd blowing coat in October is a nuisance. Three of them doing it in the same fortnight is not a domestic-scale problem, and no amount of brushing in the garden keeps ahead of it. Getting each dog through the van on a rolling monthly cycle spreads the load and takes the peak off entirely.

It suits the households you'd expect: a plot or smallholding with working dogs, a family who've ended up with three Labradors, a home with a couple of Huskies and a Collie. Big-dog households tend to be the ones paying the most for grooming and thinking about it the least, because doing it properly for three dogs individually is both expensive and a diary problem.

It is not forty grooms for one big dog. That would be a full bath every nine days, which strips the coat's oils and dries the skin — and on a double-coated breed it does real damage over a year. If you have one big dog, the ten-pack is your pack and the twenty is the most you'd ever want.

Every dog gets their own notes: which shampoo, which clip, what your vet has said, and which of them objects to having their feet done. Over forty grooms that adds up to a genuinely better groom for each of them.

R450 a groom, forty 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. One big dog? Buy the ten. We'd rather sell you a smaller pack than have you sitting on sessions you can only use by over-grooming her. Big dogs take longer, so plan the diary. Three Maxi grooms is most of a working day. Booking two dogs on one visit is usually possible and often easier for everyone — tell us and we'll allow the time. Bunch sessions around the coat turnover. Spring and autumn are when double coats come out. That's when to use them densely, not evenly across the year. Still no shaving a double coat. Forty sessions doesn't change the answer — the de-shed is the tool for a hot Paarl summer, not the clippers. Tell us which dogs the pack covers, and tell us again if it changes. Over a pack this size a dog is likely to age, arrive or need something different.