In Between Grooms
Bath & Brush
A deep clean and a proper blow out, perfect in between grooms. The reset that keeps a coat healthy without taking any length off.
What A Bath & Brush Includes
A bath and brush is the maintenance service: everything a full groom includes except the haircut. Your dog keeps their length and their shape and comes back clean, dry and properly brushed out.
- A warm bath with shampoo and conditioner suited to the coat
- A full blow dry, which lifts and separates the coat
- A complete brush and comb out from the skin outward
- Nails trimmed
- Ears checked and cleaned
- Sanitary tidy and the hair between the paw pads cleared
No clippers, no length taken off. If you want the shape neatened without losing length, add an outline trim.
Why It Matters In Between Grooms
Most coats do not need a haircut nearly as often as they need a proper brush out. That is the single most useful thing a groomer can tell an owner, and it is why this service exists.
Loose shed hair does not fall clear on a wavy, curly or double coat. It stays caught in the coat, sits down against the skin, and collects grit and moisture. That is where matting starts, and it starts at the skin where you cannot see it until it is already tight.
A bath and brush between full grooms clears that out before it becomes a problem. It is the difference between a coat that stays easy for years and one that ends up needing de-matting.
The Blow Dry Is The Part That Does The Work
Owners are often surprised that the dry matters more than the bath. A coat that is towel dried and left to air dry packs down as it dries, and a packed coat is a matting coat.
A proper high velocity dry pushes water out of the coat and lifts it at the same time, which is what makes the brush out possible. It also blows out an enormous amount of loose undercoat along the way, which is why a bath and brush leaves less hair around your house for weeks afterwards.
This is exactly what a dog who has been swimming in the Russian River, or who came home soaked and muddy in a wet Healdsburg winter, actually needs. A rinse at home gets the dirt off the top. It does not dry the coat properly, and a coat dried flat against the skin in January is a coat that mats by February.
Who Books It Most
- Owners of doodles and other curly coats, between haircuts
- Double coated breeds, often alongside a de-shedding treatment
- Short smooth coats, where a bath and brush plus nails is frequently the whole grooming need, no haircut required at all
- Dogs who swim, roll, or spend real time outdoors
- Owners who want to stretch the time between full grooms without the coat suffering
If your dog has a short flat coat, this may be the only service you ever need. Alexis will say so rather than selling you a haircut a smooth coat has no use for.
Foxtails, Dust And The Healdsburg Summer
From late spring into fall the dry grass around Healdsburg drops foxtails. Those barbed seed heads work into paws, ears and armpits, they travel in one direction only, and a thick unbrushed coat is the perfect place for them to hide.
A regular bath and brush is when they get found. Alexis works through the coat with her hands and a comb, which means checking between the toes, under the armpits and around the ears, exactly where foxtails collect. Anything actually embedded in the skin needs your vet, not a groomer, and she will tell you plainly if that is what she has found.
The same visit clears out vineyard and road dust, which is fine, abrasive, and sits close to the skin where it irritates.
What It Costs
Price depends on the size of the dog and the coat, and on how much brushing the coat needs when she arrives. It is consistently less than a full groom, which is the point of booking it in between.
A $10 travel fee applies to all mobile services. Standing visits one to two times a week? Ask about recurring client discounts when you request an appointment.
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Rather just talk? Call or text (707) 608-4087
A $10 travel fee applies to all mobile services. Standing visits 1 to 2 times a week? Ask about recurring client discounts.
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