Guide
The difference between a tidy and a full groom
What a brush-out buys you between visits, and how to tell when it is time for the full booking.
The two most booked appointments at Fringe & Fur are a brush-out and stand dry, from forty dollars, and a full boutique groom, from a hundred and fifteen. They solve different problems, and booking the wrong one is the most common way a coat quietly gets away from an owner.
What a brush-out and stand dry actually is
No water. We assess how much the coat has flattened or lightly knotted since the last visit, stand dry with a brush working through in sections, and comb until it runs clean from skin to tip. Nails and ears get a check at no extra charge. It takes twenty to forty minutes, and it is the right booking for a dog that is clean but has gone fluffy or slightly tangled rather than dirty.
What a full boutique groom actually is
Everything: comb-out and consult, wash and dry, the body clipped or scissored to the length agreed at drop-off, face and feet hand-finished, nails, ears, pads and a sanitary trim, and a note of the blade and length used so the next visit matches. It takes two and a half to four hours because one dog is on the table at a time, and it is the booking that actually changes the shape and length of the coat rather than maintaining it between changes.
The test that tells you which one you need
Run a steel comb through the coat, close to the skin, in a few different spots: behind the ears, under the front legs, along the back. If it runs clean everywhere, a brush-out is enough. If it catches anywhere, or the coat looks visibly longer or shapeless compared with the last full groom, book the full appointment. A brush-out on a coat that actually needs cutting buys you a week, at best, and the coat you were trying to avoid dealing with is still there underneath.
How the two work together
Most owners on a longer coat book a full groom every eight to twelve weeks with a brush-out in between, which keeps the coat from ever reaching the point where a brush-out stops being enough. That rhythm is cheaper over a year than either booking a full groom too often, or skipping the brush-outs and turning up every visit with a coat that has quietly become a matted coat recovery.
When a brush-out turns into something else on the day
Sometimes a coat that looked like a brush-out from the waiting room turns out to have felted somewhere the owner could not see or feel easily, usually behind the ears or where a harness sits. If that happens, we stop, show you exactly where it is, and talk through whether it is worth extending into a full groom that day or booking it properly for another time. You are never charged for anything beyond what was booked without being told first.
Not sure which one your dog needs right now? A free style consult is the fastest way to find out: ten minutes on the salon floor and we will tell you plainly which booking actually suits the coat in front of us.