Petco Grooming: What to Expect, What It Costs, and Whether It’s Worth It

My Golden Retriever’s first professional groom did not go the way I expected.

I had booked at Petco partly because there was a location ten minutes from my house and partly because I had heard from two separate people that their dogs had been going there for years without incident. I dropped him off at 9am, went to do errands, and came back two hours later to find him standing on the grooming table looking simultaneously cleaner and more offended than I had ever seen him.

The groomer laughed when she saw my face. “He was perfect,” she said. “Just not happy about the dryer.”

That was eighteen months ago. We have been going back every six weeks since.

But before that first appointment, I spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to find a single article that actually answered the questions I had — how much does it cost, what is included, what do I need to bring, how do I book, what is the difference between the packages. Most of what I found was either too general or too old to be accurate.

So here is the version I wished existed before that first appointment.

What Petco Grooming Actually Is

Petco has grooming salons inside more than 1,000 of its retail locations across North America. The salons operate as a separate service from the store itself — different staff, different hours in some locations, different booking process — but they sit inside the same building, which is convenient if you want to pick up food or supplies while you wait.

Petco has over 25 years of grooming experience and continuously reviews and updates its pet grooming policies, procedures and standards under the supervision of its Director of Veterinary Medicine, with counsel from several independent experts in animal care, behavior and ethics. That is not marketing language I would have thought to check before booking, but it is the kind of thing that matters more than the price breakdown when you are leaving a dog with strangers for two hours.

The grooming hours are slightly different from the store’s retail hours. Petco grooming hours generally start earlier than their regular store hours — Monday to Saturday from 8am to 9pm and Sunday from 9am to 7pm. Worth checking your specific location, because hours vary by store.

The Services and What They Actually Include

The structure is tiered rather than a single flat offering, and the tiers are more meaningfully different from each other than they sound in a summary.

For dogs, the foundation is a bath service that includes shampoo, conditioner, blow dry, ear cleaning, nail trim, and a brush out. Above that is the full groom, which adds a breed-specific haircut and trimming around sensitive areas. Above that is a premium package that adds specialized conditioning treatments and teeth brushing.

The Full Grooming Package adds a breed-specific haircut, detailed trimming around sensitive areas, and anal gland expression to the basic bath services. The full groom usually requires 2 to 4 hours, depending on your dog’s coat condition and behavior. The Premium Package enhances the full grooming package with specialized conditioning treatments, teeth brushing, and extended brush-out time for coat maintenance.

For cats, the services are similar in structure — bath, full groom, lion cut — but different in price. Basic cat baths start at $40, while full grooming services begin at $55. These prices are higher than dog grooming because cats require specialized handling.

There are also à la carte options if you only need one thing done — nail trim, teeth brushing, ear cleaning, or a de-shedding treatment booked on its own rather than as part of a full service. For people with dogs that tolerate most things but specifically resist nail trims, the walk-in nail service is worth knowing about.

Self-wash is also available at select Petco and Unleashed by Petco locations starting at $20, which includes all the necessary supplies — shampoo, conditioner, towels and aprons — for owners who want to bathe their dog themselves with professional equipment. I did not know this existed until I asked at the front desk. It is useful for anyone who has a dog that is fine with bathing but struggles in unfamiliar environments with strangers.

What It Costs in 2025

Pricing at Petco is not fixed nationally. It depends on your location, your dog’s size, breed, and coat condition, and the specific services you choose. The numbers below are starting prices — your actual bill will depend on your dog.

Bath-only services for small dogs start at $22, while full grooming sessions begin at $38. Prices vary based on your dog’s size, breed, and coat condition.

For larger dogs, the numbers shift significantly. Basic packages usually include a bath, brush-out, and nail trim, starting around $40 to $50. If your dog needs extra services like haircuts, ear cleaning, or de-shedding, prices can rise to $70 to $90 or more.

My Golden is a large dog with a double coat, and his full groom runs between $70 and $80 depending on how his coat is doing when he comes in. When he is overdue — usually obvious because he has been swimming — it runs toward the higher end because the brush-out takes longer.

Regional pricing is also a factor. Metropolitan areas like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco see prices 15 to 25% above base prices due to higher operating costs and increased demand. Suburban locations typically maintain standard pricing.

The Savings That Are Actually Worth Knowing About

Many locations offer a “Happy Hour” discount — $10 off weekday grooming if dropped off before a certain time, often 10am. New customers can get $10 off their first Petco grooming appointment. Petco Pals rewards members get every sixth grooming service free, saving around 15%. Buying 5 or 10 pre-paid grooming visits can secure discounts of 10 to 15%.

The Pals rewards program is the one I use. The free sixth groom adds up to a meaningful saving over a year if you are going every six weeks, which most dogs with medium to long coats should be.

The new customer discount is also worth mentioning to anyone who has never booked before — $10 off the first appointment is not a huge saving but it is available and requires nothing more than asking.

What You Need to Bring

This is the question I did not think to research before my first appointment and regretted not knowing.

Rabies vaccination proof is required for all grooming appointments, so confirm your records are current beforehand. This is non-negotiable. No current vaccination records means no grooming appointment. I learned this at check-in on my first visit — I happened to have my phone with me and was able to pull up the vet records electronically, but if I had not, the appointment would have been rescheduled.

Some locations also ask for distemper and Bordetella vaccination records. Worth calling your local store before your first appointment specifically to ask what documentation they require, because it varies.

How Booking Works

Online booking through Petco’s website is the standard approach, and it is worth using rather than walking in and hoping for availability. Booking 1 to 2 weeks ahead ensures you get your preferred time and date, especially around busy weekends and holidays when slots fill up.

When scheduling, provide important details like your pet’s age, health issues, temperament, sensitivities, and problem areas needing extra attention. I always note that my dog has never shown aggression but is very unhappy about the dryer specifically — not because I expect them to skip the dryer, but because it means the groomer is not surprised and can plan for the extra time it takes to persuade him through it.

Walk-in services are available for some things — the mini services like nail trims and ear cleaning in particular — but full groom appointments are not typically available as walk-ins at busy locations.

Petco vs. The Alternatives

This is the comparison most people are actually trying to make when they look into Petco grooming, and the honest answer is that it depends on what matters most to you.

Independent grooming salons typically charge $40 to $75 for a standard dog groom and $30 to $50 for cats. Mobile groomers typically cost 50 to 70% more than in-store grooming due to travel costs and specialized equipment, with prices of $75 to $100 for a full dog groom.

Petco sits in the middle of the market on price — more expensive than the cheapest independent groomers in some areas, less expensive than mobile grooming almost everywhere. The convenience factor is real: the location density means there is almost always one close to where you live, the booking system is standardized, and the vaccination requirement gives you some assurance about the other dogs in the salon.

The trade-off compared to a private salon is personalization. A private groomer who has been doing your dog for two years knows things about that dog that a Petco groomer meeting them for the first time does not. For a dog with anxiety, behavioral quirks, or specific health concerns, a long-term private relationship may be worth the price difference. For a dog that is generally manageable at the groomer — like mine, dryer complaints aside — the Petco experience is consistent enough that the relationship with a specific groomer can develop over time anyway.

What I Noticed After Eighteen Months

My groomer at Petco has been the same person for about a year now — not something I planned for, it just worked out that way. She knows my dog tolerates the dryer better if she does it in shorter bursts with breaks. She knows he has a patch of sensitive skin on his left shoulder. She alerts me when his ears look like they need attention from the vet, which has been useful twice.

That kind of continuity is not guaranteed at a chain. But it is possible, and when it develops, it is one of the things that makes the decision to keep going back easy. The honest summary: Petco grooming is reliable, reasonably priced, consistently available, and staffed by people who are trained to handle dogs of all kinds. It is not a boutique experience and does not pretend to be. For most dogs and most owners, that is exactly what they need.