Grooming Check-In: 15 Questions for Every Groom

“No heart issues,” the form said

A groomer took in a small dog whose intake form had the health boxes ticked clean. No conditions, no medications, nothing to flag. Ten minutes into the bath the dog was panting in a way that did not match the work being done to him. She stopped, cut the groom back to a face, feet and fanny tidy, and called the owner for an early pickup.

The dog had a grade 4.5 heart murmur. The owner knew. She had not thought it was relevant to a haircut.

That story is not rare. In one thread on r/doggrooming about owners withholding information, dozens of groomers replied with their own version within a day: the regular who collapsed in the bath, whose family mentioned afterwards that she had “passed out last week.” The husband who said at pickup, cheerfully, “see, she didn’t have another seizure” — the last salon’s dryer had triggered one, and nobody had mentioned it when the dog was booked.

Owners are not usually malicious. They are in a hurry, they do not know which facts matter to a groomer, and some of them are afraid you will refuse the dog. The result is the same either way: the check-in is the only place where you can find out, and if you do not ask, you will find out on the table.

This post is the question list. It is not veterinary advice, and it will not make a difficult dog safe. It will stop you from being surprised.

Two different check-ins

Most salons try to run one intake process and it fails in both directions — too slow for a regular, too thin for a new dog.

The first visit is an interview. Fifteen to twenty minutes, before the dog goes to the back. This is where you build the record: health history, bite history, handling preferences, haircut language, vaccination dates, who to call. Book it as part of the appointment, not on top of it. A new client slot should be longer than a regular slot for exactly this reason.

Every return visit is a three-question check. You already have the file. What you need is what has changed since last time. Thirty seconds at the desk, and the answers go in the same place as last time.

The questions below are written for the first visit. The short version for returns is at the end.

The 15 questions

Health (1–6)

1. Has anything changed with your dog’s health since the last groom?

Open-ended first, so you are not leading them to “no.” Ask it even at the first visit — “since the last groom” gets you the other salon’s story too.

2. Is your dog on any medication, and when was the last dose?

This is the single highest-value question on the list, and it is the one most intake forms get wrong, because they ask it as a yes/no box. Ask which drug and when it was given. This is how groomers find out about seizure dogs and dogs on congestive heart failure medication. Owners genuinely do not think to mention a daily pill when they are booking a bath.

3. Has your dog been to the vet in the last three months? What for?

A recent vet visit is a flag with a reason attached. Ear infection, hot spot, dental, surgery, a lump being watched — all of it changes what you do and how long you take.

4. Any history of seizures, heart problems, breathing trouble, or fainting?

Named conditions, not a blank “health issues?” line. Groomers consistently report that the conditions owners leave out are the specific ones: seizure disorders, heart murmurs, collapsed trachea, a fainting episode last week. If you name them, people remember them.

5. Any lumps, sore spots, skin problems, or areas I should not touch?

Protects the dog and protects you. A lump you did not know about becomes the lump you are accused of causing. So does an ear that was already sore. If the owner points something out, note where it is and photograph it before you start.

6. When did your dog last eat and go to the toilet?

Mundane and worth asking. It decides whether your first job is a walk, and it prevents a mess in the kennel that someone will blame on the dog being “held too long.”

Behavior (7–11)

7. Where was the last groom, and what did they tell you afterwards?

The useful question is not “is he good for grooming?” — every owner says yes. It is what the last groomer said. The answer is often revealing: “they said he was a lot,” “they stopped doing his nails,” “they asked us not to come back.” You will also learn whether the dog has been groomed at all in the last year.

8. Has your dog ever bitten, snapped, or needed a muzzle — at the groomer, the vet, or at home?

Three settings, because owners file “he’s fine” and “he bit the vet tech” in separate drawers. Say plainly that a yes does not mean you will refuse the dog; it means you will plan for it. That removes the reason to lie.

9. Which parts of the body does he dislike being handled?

Feet, nails, face, ears, sanitary, tail. Ask the owner to show you how they do it at home. The dogs that bite are usually not generally aggressive — they have one place they will not tolerate being held, and a chihuahua under ten pounds will go through skin over a foot trim.

10. Has he had anything to calm him today, or in the last 24 hours?

Sedation is not a disclosure owners volunteer. One doodle arrived on trazodone and the owner described it as the dog’s “baseline.” Two problems with a sedated dog: it can bite with no warning signs, because the drug suppresses the behavior that normally tells you to stop; and it can mask the early signs of a medical emergency. Many groomers will not take a dog on acepromazine at all, on the grounds that it stops the dog moving without touching the fear. Whatever your policy, you need to know the drug and the time it was given.

11. Who is picking up, and what number reaches you the whole time the dog is here?

A number that goes to voicemail is the reason a dog sits for two extra hours. Ask for the number of the person who will actually answer, and confirm who is allowed to collect the dog.

Haircut (12–15)

12. Show me with your hands, or show me a photo of your own dog after a groom you liked.

“Light trim” and “puppy cut” mean something different to every client and nothing to anyone else. Hands beat words, and a photo of their own dog beats a photo of someone else’s.

If the answer is a phrase rather than a length, our haircut consultation script is the five-step version of this question.

13. What do you want on the head, ears and tail?

This is where the complaints come from. Body length is usually forgiven. A shortened head is not.

14. How often do you brush at home, and how often will you bring him in?

The answer tells you what haircut is actually achievable. A doodle brushed once a month cannot carry two inches of coat, and saying so at check-in is far easier than saying it after you have shaved him.

15. If I find matting, or anything that needs more time, do you want a call first or should I use my judgement?

Decided at the desk, this is a two-minute conversation. Decided mid-groom, it is an argument. Pair it with the price clause below.

Quote the price with a condition attached

Groomers who do this stop having pickup fights. The quote is not a number, it is a number plus an “unless”:

“A full groom for a dog his size is $85. That holds unless we find knots that need extra time, or he needs two of us to handle him safely. If either happens I’ll call you before we go ahead.”

You have now disclosed the upcharge before the dog is on the table, which is the only moment it is not a surprise. Write the same sentence into your service agreement so it is not only verbal — our guide to what a good pet service agreement looks like covers where that clause sits.

The question you cannot ask: how the drop-off felt

One detail from groomers who have had a bad day: note the change, not just the facts. A dog who is normally bouncing at the door and is quiet today. An owner who is unusually keen to leave. A client who normally chats and will not make eye contact. Several of the worst incidents groomers describe started with a drop-off that felt different and nobody wrote it down.

Make it a field: “anything unusual at drop-off?” Even a one-word answer is useful to whoever grooms the dog next.

Who asks the questions

Three practical rules.

The person who checks the dog in asks, not the person who grooms it. If check-in happens at a front desk, the desk has to own the question list. Handing the dog to the back with “he’s fine” is how information gets lost.

Assume the person in front of you is not the person who booked. A partner, an adult child or a dog walker drops the dog off and knows none of the medical history. If the answers are vague, call the account holder before the dog goes to the back. This is the most common route for a seizure history to go unmentioned.

A yes gets a follow-up, every time. “Any medication?” “Yes.” → which one, what dose, when. A yes with no detail is worse than a no, because it looks like you asked.

Where the answers have to live

A question list only works if the answer survives until the next visit. On paper, it does not. The notebook stays at the desk, the groomer who took the call is off that day, and the dog gets booked by someone who never saw the file.

This is the part Packyard is built for. Every pet has a profile with health and behavior fields — conditions, medications, vet, the parts of the dog that cannot be handled, bite history — and flags that surface at booking and again at check-in, not buried three clicks deep. When the muzzle flag is on a dog, the person taking the booking sees it before the slot is offered, and the groomer sees it on the appointment. Haircut and handling notes carry from visit to visit, so “same as last time” means something specific. If you want to see it against your own client list, start with Packyard for pet grooming.

For the behavior side of the record specifically — what to write so it actually gets read — see how top groomers track pet behaviour notes.

The 30-second return-visit check

For a dog you already have on file:

Anything changed with his health since last time?
Any new medication, or any dose today?
Same haircut as last visit, or different?

Then glance at the profile flags in front of the owner and confirm them out loud: “We muzzled him for nails last time — we’ll do the same today.” Confirming the flag is how it stays accurate, and how the owner stops being surprised by it.

Copy this check-in sheet

Health

Anything changed with your dog’s health since the last groom?
Any medication — which one, and when was the last dose?
Vet visit in the last three months? What for?
Any seizures, heart problems, breathing trouble or fainting?
Any lumps, sore spots, skin or ear problems, or areas I should not touch?
When did he last eat and go to the toilet?

Behavior

Where was the last groom, and what did they tell you?
Has he ever bitten, snapped or needed a muzzle — groomer, vet or home?
Which parts of the body does he dislike being handled?
Anything to calm him today or in the last 24 hours?
Who is picking up, and what number reaches you today?

Haircut

Show me the length with your hands, or a photo of your own dog.
Head, ears and tail — what do you want?
How often do you brush at home, and how often will you come in?
If I find matting or something that needs more time — call you, or my judgement?

Then: quote the price with the “unless,” note anything unusual about the drop-off, and save all of it to the dog’s profile before he goes to the back.