Ask for a groomer by name, not just a time.

The groomers

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  Owner & master groomer

  Priya Raghunathan

  Priya opened the shop on Marlowe Row in 2017 and still grooms five days a week. She is an NDGAA National Certified Master Groomer, Fear-Free certified and trained in pet first aid and CPR. Wire coats are her speciality: terriers, schnauzers and the hand-stripping that keeps a harsh coat harsh and its colour rich. She books every hand-strip by consult, because it depends on the coat's cycle.

  She handles most of the check-in quotes too. If a price has to move, she would rather tell the owner face to face than let it appear on the bill.

  Keeps a jar of stripping chalk on the shelf that has outlasted two sets of shears.

  Ask Priya about

  Hand-stripping, and whether your dog's coat is ready.

  Wire and broken coats, and what clipping does to them.

  Where in the price band your dog is likely to land.

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  Feline groomer

  Odalys Beltrán

  Odalys runs the cat room on dog-free Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She is a Certified Feline Master Groomer through the National Cat Groomers Institute and Fear-Free certified. No cat is sedated here, so each groom is shaped around how much that cat will accept in one sitting, not around a fixed list.

  Most of her week is sanitary trims, lion trims and pelted long-haired coats. If a cat has had enough she stops, tells you, and charges only for the work actually done. On Fridays and Saturdays she grooms dogs.

  Works with the cat room lights down; the extractor fan is the loudest thing in there and that is deliberate.

  Ask Odalys about

  Whether your cat needs a sanitary trim or a full lion trim.

  How a sedation-free groom works for a cat that hates handling.

  Long-haired cats starting to mat behind the legs.

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  Canine esthetician

  Tomasz Wiśniewski

  Tomasz is an IPG International Certified Pet Groomer, a certified canine esthetician and Fear-Free certified. He takes the double coats: huskies, shepherds, goldens, and the dogs whose owners were told elsewhere that shaving helps with heat. His de-shed is a conditioning soak, a long blow-out and a rake.

  Large dogs and long grooms fill most of his table, so he works mainly in the morning drop-off window. He also lifts the seventy-pound dogs onto the table, which is why that size of dog is always booked in the morning.

  Times his own dries. Says a double coat is not dry until twenty minutes after you think it is.

  Ask Tomasz about

  De-shedding, and why no double coat is shaved here.

  Large-breed grooms and the morning drop-off window.

  How often a heavy shedder really needs to come in.

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  Puppy & gentle-handling groomer

  Junie Okafor

  Junie completed the AKC S.A.F.E. grooming programme, is Fear-Free certified and holds a pet first aid certificate. She takes the puppy first grooms and the dogs who arrive frightened. Her first grooms are short on purpose: a bath, a tidy, nails, and only as much dryer and table time as the dog will accept.

  The rest of her week is doodles, poodles and other curly coats, where the job is finding a mat with the comb before it turns into a shave.

  Keeps the treat tin on the low shelf so a nervous dog can see where it lives.

  Ask Junie about

  Booking a puppy's first groom, and what it does and does not include.

  A dog who has had a bad grooming experience elsewhere.

  Curly coats, comb-outs, and brushing at home between visits.