How Much to Tip a Dog Groomer – Dogster

It’s common practice to tip people who work in service industries, like food servers or hair stylists. That same tipping practice is applied to professional dog groomers whenever they groom a dog to the guardian’s liking, says Susan Divine Sholar, president of the American Professional Pet Groomers Association. But how much should you tip a dog groomer? According to Susan, it’s basically the same as any other service industry, around 15 to 20%.

When do you tip a dog groomer?

Susan says you should tip a dog groomer if you’re pleased with the grooming job. Dog groomers have a physically taxing job, lifting and bathing dogs while enforcing safety protocols around sharp grooming tools. Grooming services can take hours, especially if your dog has matted or knotted hair to untangle, or if your dog gets anxious at the groomer.  

Give the tip directly to the dog groomer to limit transactions, regardless if the salon is owned by that person or is part of a big corporation, like a box store, Susan says. Each salon has a different policy on distributing tips.

How to calculate a tip for a dog groomer

Take the cost of the service and multiply the percentage you wish to give. For example, if the groom was $50 and you want to leave a 20% tip, multiply 50 by .20 to get 10 and then add that $10 to your amount, to make it a total of $60. Any tip calculator app on your phone can do the math for you!

Tipping is a way to show service workers how much you appreciate all their hard work. And often, business owners factor in potential tips when deciding salary, so if you’re not sure how much to tip your groomer, just pop open a tip calculator app and let him know you appreciate his work.