Six coats
Almost every question is really a question about the coat.
How long an appointment runs, what it costs and what a groomer will refuse all follow from the coat rather than from the breed. Six types cover nearly everything that comes through the door on Marlowe Row.
One
Curly and wool coats
Poodles, doodles, bichons and the crosses behind most of them. Curly coats do not shed out — the loose hair stays in the coat and felts, which is why a curly dog that looks fine on the surface can be solid underneath.
On the table this is a full clip: bath, high-velocity dry, then scissor or clipper work to one length. The length is a conversation before the clippers start, not after.
Between appointments: six to eight weeks, and a slicker brush right down to the skin rather than over the top of it.
Two
Double coats
Huskies, shepherds, collies, malamutes and the long-haired retrievers. A soft undercoat sits beneath a coarser guard coat, and the two do different jobs.
These are de-shed, never shaved. Removing the guard coat costs the dog its insulation and its sun protection, and it frequently grows back patchy or not at all. Clover & Clip declines the request and explains why rather than take the booking. The appointment is a bath, a long forced dry and undercoat rake work, which is where the time goes.
Between appointments: eight to twelve weeks, more often through a spring or autumn coat blow.
Three
Short and smooth coats
Staffies, beagles, boxers, pugs and most of the terriers kept in a smooth coat. The shortest appointment on the book and the one most often skipped.
Short coats still shed, and they still hold dirt at the skin. The visit is a bath, a de-shed with a rubber curry or a stripping stone, nails, ears and a check over the skin — which on a short coat is the part actually worth paying for, because nothing is hidden.
Between appointments: eight to twelve weeks, or whenever the shedding becomes the household’s problem.
Four
Wire coats
Schnauzers, wire fox terriers, border terriers, wire dachshunds and airedales. The coat is built to be plucked out when it is ready, not cut off.
Hand-stripping keeps the harsh texture and the color; clipping a wire coat softens it and fades it within a few cycles. Both are offered here and the choice belongs to the owner, but it is worth making deliberately rather than by default. Hand-stripping is slower, which is why it is priced by the session and usually booked with Priya.
Between appointments: a rolling coat is worked every six to eight weeks; a full strip is two or three times a year.
Five
Long silky coats
Shih tzus, maltese, yorkshire terriers, collies, and the long-coated crosses. A fine coat with very little structure, which is exactly why it mats where it rubs — behind the ears, in the armpits, under a harness.
Kept long, this is a bath, a full dry and detailed scissor work. Kept short, it is a considerably faster and cheaper appointment, and for a lot of households that is the honest recommendation rather than the expensive one.
Between appointments: four to six weeks in full coat, eight in a short trim.
Six
Cats
Cats have their own room, away from the dryers and the dog noise, and their own appointment times so the two never overlap in the corridor.
Everything here is sedation-free. Clover & Clip is a grooming shop and not a veterinary practice, so a cat that needs sedation to be groomed safely needs a vet, and the appointment stops and the owner is called. A comb-out, a sanitary trim or a lion trim are all done awake or not at all.
Between appointments: whenever the combing at home stops reaching the skin, which for most long-haired cats is every eight weeks.
Every coat, every time
The finish
Nails, ears and pads
Taken back to a sensible length rather than to the quick, ears checked and cleaned, and the hair between the pads tidied so the dog has grip on a hard floor. Nails alone are a walk-in on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and need no appointment at all.
Dried properly, then finished
A coat finished damp will not hold a line and will mat faster. Most of the appointment length on a thick coat is drying time, not scissor time, which is the single most common surprise on a first visit.
Two dog stations and the separate cat room are both on The shop. Photographers and licenses for every picture used here are on Photo credits.
Booking from here
If none of the six obviously matches — and plenty of crosses do not — say so on the form and the shop asks for a photograph before quoting.