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Appointments, Payment and Policies
At Muddy Paws, our goal is always to provide the best possible grooming service and experience for your dog and for you, and your dog’s safety, health and well-being are of utmost priority. Along with the benefits of mobile grooming, we have some established “dog house rules” that help ensure the safety and health of each dog in our care. Of course, we place importance on groomer health and safety, too, and strive to achieve that at the same time. We want to be around to serve you and your dog for a long time!
Appointments
Hours are Monday through Friday by appointment only, typically 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
We are no longer booking new clients, either to the active schedule or to a waiting list, as both are full. When openings become available, new clients will be taken from the existing waiting list or current client referrals, based on location, time needed, etc.
We will arrive as close to your scheduled appointment time as possible. However, we will not jeopardize the health and safety of a client’s dog by hurrying a groom. We focus on and take our time with each dog to ensure a good groom each time. Being mobile can involve travel delays as well (construction, unexpected traffic, etc.) If we’re running behind, we will call or text to advise you and rework a schedule to accommodate you if necessary.
Client delays or cancellations
We keep a tight schedule and route, and we are very aware that you are busy, too. Everyone’s time is valuable in this day and age of overload. That means your time and ours! Unexpected things happen, and we get that. We request that you contact us by phone (either call or text message – no emails, please) as soon as possible before your scheduled grooming appointment if you need to make a change or cancel, preferably at least 24 hours in advance. That allows us not only to try to rework your dog into our schedule and route at another time, but also to rework our route and fill your appointment and, if necessary, reschedule other clients that day. We may be able to swap your time with someone’s nearby, so give us the chance to check!
If we arrive for a scheduled grooming appointment and you are not there (and you have not made arrangements with us to be able to get your dog from a designated area in your home or yard without your presence), we will wait no more than 15 minutes, and you will be charged a no-show fee of $35 added to your next groom invoice. If this occurs a second time, we may no longer be able to keep you on our client list.
Dog Behavior
We understand that for some dogs, the grooming process is stressful. We try to make the grooming experience the most pleasant possible for your dog. However, some dogs become overly aggressive out of fear or are simply aggressive by nature especially in unfamiliar situations or surroundings. We will not continue to groom a dog that puts the groomer and/or itself in jeopardy because of aggressive behavior. If we are able to complete a groom but have struggled with a dog who is extremely uncooperative, we may add handling charges of up to $30.
Weather Conditions
The Muddy Paws “puppy truck”, as we fondly call our mobile grooming salon, is a large, heavy vehicle that does not handle well in slippery road conditions. Each day we assess whether conditions will allow us to get to our clients safely. Typically, a good rule of thumb is if schools have delays or cancellations, we will have delays or cancellations. But we promise to be in contact with you as early as possible to work out a reschedule. Please feel free to call or text if you for some reason have not heard from us and are concerned that we would have a delay.
Payment
We currently accept only cash or checks. If demand changes, we will look at the best options to add.
Payment is due at the time of service following completion of the groom. If you will not be home when we finish with your dog, please make arrangements for payment to be available when we are done. We do not accept post-dated checks. If you cannot pay for your appointment, please advise us in advance and we will gladly reschedule.
We charge a $35 fee for returned checks.
Dog Health
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We require copies of up-to-date vaccination records for each dog groomed, whether a full-service appointment with the works or just a toenail trim.
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If your dog has been recently ill, had surgery of any kind, or has been treated for an injury, we request that you advise us so we can avoid aggravating any condition during the grooming process. Of course, we strongly advise that you check with your vet to make sure grooming is okay within a certain amount of time from treatment or surgery.
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For similar reasons, we ask for information on any medical condition your dog has, from allergies and arthritis to epilepsy, a hearing or eyesight problem or even old injuries.
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