How Much to Tip a Dog Groomer? Our Real $173 Bill for 3 Small Dogs
If you’re trying to figure out how much to tip a dog groomer, here’s my answer up front: the usual range is 15 to 20%, and I land near the top of it every single visit. What actually helped me, though, wasn’t the percentage. It was seeing a real bill with real dogs on it and doing the math once, so that’s what I’m sharing here.
We have three small dogs: a 14-year-old Pomeranian girl, a 3-year-old mini goldendoodle and a 3-year-old maltipoo. All three see the same groomer every 8 to 10 weeks, on the same day, one right after another. Below is our actual bill from September, what we really paid once the tip was in, how I pay it, and the small things I do on top of the tip.
I also put together a tip chart for common small dog grooming prices, plus a little calculator where you can plug in your own bill.
Quick Look: Our Groomer Bill and Tip
| Our dogs | Three small dogs: a 14-year-old Pomeranian (12 to 13 lb), a mini goldendoodle (about 10 lb) and a maltipoo (about 8.6 lb) |
| What they get | Two full grooms and one hygiene trim with a bath |
| Our last bill | $173 for all three before tax, $187.49 with tax (September 2026) |
| My tip | About $32.50, because I round the whole day up to $220. That’s roughly 19% of the $173 grooming total |
| How I pay it | Zelle or cash |
| How often | Every 8 to 10 weeks |
| Time per dog | About 2 hours each, booked back to back at 10, 12 and 2 |
| Our groomer | One groomer for all three, working from their home |
| On top of the tip | Something to eat most visits |
| Best for / Good to know | Best for small-dog families who want a real bill to start from. Good to know: with more than one dog, figure the same percentage on the whole total. |
How Much to Tip a Dog Groomer: Our Real Bill for 3 Dogs
Here’s exactly what was on our receipt. Our groomer prices each dog by service and by weight, so every dog gets their own line.
- Maltipoo, under 9 lb, full groom: $63
- Mini goldendoodle, 9 to 16.9 lb, full groom: $65
- Pomeranian, 9 to 16.9 lb, hygiene trim and bath: $55
- Self-drive discount (I do the drop-off and pickup myself): minus $10
- Grooming total: $173, plus $14.49 sales tax, so $187.49 on the receipt
I don’t do exact percentage math at pickup. I usually just round the whole day up to $220, tip included. On this receipt that made the tip $32.51, which is a little under 19% of the $173 grooming total.
Two things surprised me when I first looked at it line by line. The weight bracket matters as much as the haircut. Our maltipoo is the lightest at about 8.6 pounds, so he lands in the under 9 lb price even though he gets the exact same full groom as his brother, who is around 10 pounds.
And the hygiene groom isn’t that far below a full groom. Once I started bathing and drying all three at home every two weeks, that made a lot of sense to me. Drying our Pom alone takes me about 20 minutes, and that’s before anyone picks up a pair of scissors. I wrote up that whole bath day routine, from the shampoo to how long each dog takes to dry, if you’re curious.
Prices are from our own September 2026 receipt. Every groomer prices a little differently, so think of these as a real-life example rather than a quote.
Why I Round Up to $220 Every Time
The 15% to 20% range shows up everywhere. On our bill, 15% would be about $26. I go past that and round the whole day up to $220, and here’s what goes into that for us.
- Two hours per dog, one dog at a time. Our appointments were booked at 10, 12 and 2, all with the same groomer. That’s six hours of work on our three in one day.
- Our oldest is 14. Senior dogs need a slower, gentler hand, and in every photo our groomer sends, she looks relaxed. I explained why I pay so much attention to those photos in signs your dog had a good grooming experience.
- A good fit for all three. Three very different coats, one of them on a 14-year-old, and this groomer has been a great match for every one of them. That’s not easy to find, and I want to keep it.
- The photo sets. Every visit ends with a little themed photoshoot. Pumpkins and hay bales in the fall, blossom branches in late winter, a pink donut backdrop in summer. I’m so grateful for those photos, and they’re the biggest reason I tip a little extra.
Honestly, the grooming alone is hard, physical work, so I’d tip even without the extras. The photos are why I round up instead of stopping at 15%.
This is our maltipoo after his turn. Two hours on the table and he was ready to call it a day.
What Each of Our Dogs Gets at the Groomer
Three small dogs, three different coats, so they don’t all get the same service.
- The maltipoo: full groom. He’s our only curly coat. It’s springy and barely sheds, and a full groom every 8 to 10 weeks keeps it easy to brush in between.
- The mini goldendoodle: full groom. His coat is nearly straight and very fine, and it tangles before anyone else’s does. The full groom resets it, and I keep up with line brushing at home.
- The Pomeranian: hygiene trim and a bath. We leave her coat long. Pomeranians have a thick double coat, and hers stays the way it is. She gets the tidy-up trim and a bath every visit. Getting that undercoat clean and fully dry is a real job, and I know it well, because I do it myself every two weeks.
If you have a Pom or another heavy shedder, the hygiene groom is a nice middle option. I keep up with her undercoat between visits with one slicker brush, and I shared exactly how in how to deshed a dog at home.
How Much to Tip for a Bath or Hygiene Trim
Our Pom’s visit is a good example of a smaller service. Her hygiene trim and bath were $55 on that receipt, and I don’t treat it any differently. At 20%, her line alone would be an $11 tip.
A bath and tidy-up still takes real time. Her slot on the receipt was two hours, the same as each full groom, and I know from bathing her at home how long that thick coat takes to dry. So I don’t lower the percentage just because the service has a shorter name.
Tipping a Groomer Who Works From Home
Our groomer works out of their home, and the same groomer took care of all three of ours that day, from the 10 a.m. slot through the 2 p.m. one.
There’s also a $10 self-drive discount when I bring the dogs over and pick them up myself. For us that’s about an hour round trip, and I make the drive every visit. When I think about the tip, I start from the grooming total on the receipt, $173 for all three, and then round the whole day up to $220.
You’ll sometimes hear that you don’t need to tip a groomer who owns the business. I don’t really think about it that way. The person I’m thanking is the person who spent six hours with our three dogs, so in our house the tip stays the same.
How I Pay the Tip: Zelle or Cash
I always tip with Zelle or cash. Both land with our groomer right away, and there’s nothing to figure out on anyone’s end.
If you have more than one dog, it helps to do the math on the whole total instead of dog by dog. It’s one number and one payment, and nobody has to work out three separate tips.
The Little Extras: Snacks and Thank-Yous
On top of the tip, I usually bring something to eat. Sometimes I pick something up on the way, sometimes I bring it from home. It’s a small way of saying thank you for spending the whole day with our three.
The photos are a big part of why. Our groomer has sent us a themed photo set after every appointment, season after season, and they’ve turned into a little album of our dogs. Every dog photo in this post comes from those sets, all taken by our groomer. Here are two from past visits, one from late winter and one from last summer.
Do You Tip a Dog Groomer More at Christmas?
I haven’t done a separate holiday tip before. Rounding up to $220 and bringing snacks have been our thank-you all year.
This year I’m planning to change that. Our dogs and this groomer are such a good fit, and finding that with three very different dogs, including a 14-year-old, is not something I take for granted. So for our December visit, I’m planning to add a little extra on top of the usual tip. I’ll update this post with what I end up doing.
Dog Groomer Tip Chart: 15%, 18%, 20% and 25%
If you just want the number, here it is for common small dog grooming prices, including our three.
| Grooming bill | 15% | 18% | 20% | 25% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $40 | $6.00 | $7.20 | $8.00 | $10.00 |
| $55 (our Pom) | $8.25 | $9.90 | $11.00 | $13.75 |
| $63 (our maltipoo) | $9.45 | $11.34 | $12.60 | $15.75 |
| $65 (our goldendoodle) | $9.75 | $11.70 | $13.00 | $16.25 |
| $70 | $10.50 | $12.60 | $14.00 | $17.50 |
| $100 | $15.00 | $18.00 | $20.00 | $25.00 |
| $128 (two of ours) | $19.20 | $23.04 | $25.60 | $32.00 |
| $173 (all three of ours) | $25.95 | $31.14 | $34.60 | $43.25 |
Or plug in your own bill here:
Groomer tip calculator
Tip: $34.60. Bill plus tip: $207.60.
Sales tax not included. Plug in the grooming total from your receipt.
What Grooming Costs Us in a Year
With tax and the tip, one visit for all three runs about $220. Here’s how that plays out over a year:
- Every 8 weeks: about 6.5 visits, roughly $1,430 a year
- Every 10 weeks: about 5.2 visits, roughly $1,145 a year
So we plan for somewhere between $1,150 and $1,430 a year for grooming, tip included. What keeps us in that 8 to 10 week window is the work in between: baths every two weeks, daily brushing, and a quick paw pad and sanitary touch-up around week four. Our full routine is in how often a dog should be groomed and what I do in between.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you take one thing from this, make it this: start from the whole grooming total, pick a number you’re comfortable with, and keep it steady every visit. For us that means rounding a $187.49 receipt up to $220, paid by Zelle or cash, plus something to eat when I can. That kind of steady, every-visit thank-you is what I’d want if I were the one grooming three dogs in a day.
Next up, I’m sharing how I dry all three of ours after a bath with one hair dryer, and why our Pom always takes the longest. How much do you tip your groomer, and do you do anything extra for the holidays? Tell me in the comments. And if you have a senior dog at home too, here’s what 14 years looks like on our Pomeranian girl.
