The first question almost everybody asks when they call about mobile grooming is the simplest one, and also the hardest to answer in a single number: how much is this going to cost?
Here is why it resists a one-line answer. A 15-pound Shih Tzu with a short, maintained coat and a 15-pound Shih Tzu who has not seen a brush since spring are the same dog on paper and two completely different appointments in practice. A 70-pound Labrador in the middle of a shed is different again — no haircut required, and a lot of coats to move.
In North Texas, mobile grooming generally starts around $80–$120 for a small dog’s bath, while a full haircut for a small dog typically runs around $150–$190 depending on service level and coat. Larger dogs cost more, and long or neglected coats can move the number as well.
Those are estimates, not quotes. For a figure based on your actual dog, use our instant price estimator.
Mobile dog grooming prices by dog size
Rather than one broad range that tells you very little, it is more useful to look at what a specific size actually costs.
For a small dog weighing 16–25 pounds, current estimates are roughly:
| Service | Estimated price |
|---|---|
| Short-hair bath | About $90–$115 |
| Long-hair bath | About $115–$140 |
| Haircut, including bath | About $165–$185 |
| Long-hair bath, deshed or outline trim | About $135–$155 |
For a medium dog weighing 25–40 pounds, a bath may be roughly $105–$160 depending on coat length, while a haircut is generally around $175–$200.
For a large dog weighing 61–70 pounds, a bath may be roughly $140–$200, again depending on coat, while a haircut runs around $200–$225.
These are estimated ranges rather than guaranteed prices, and they exist because we offer different service levels. Size gives us the starting point; the coat and the service decide where your dog lands inside it.
What North Texas specifically does to the bill
Grooming prices are not set by geography, but what your dog needs over a year very much is. Four things drive that here.
The shedding season is longer and heavier than most people expect. Mild winters mean double-coated dogs never fully commit to a winter coat, so instead of one clean seasonal blow you get a long, messy shed that starts in late February and runs into May, then a second round in autumn. Labradors, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds and Huskies in this climate need deshedding time more often than the same breeds would further north — and that is an add-on, not part of a standard bath.
The allergy load is genuinely high. North Texas runs one of the longer pollen calendars in the country: cedar through winter, oak and cedar elm in spring, ragweed into autumn. Dogs get environmental allergies from the same pollens people do, and itchy, reactive skin is one of the most common things we see in this market. That often means more frequent bathing, which shifts a dog from four or five grooms a year to eight or ten.
Flea and tick season barely stops. Winters here rarely hold a hard freeze long enough to break the cycle, so parasite pressure runs close to year-round. That occasionally brings flea-related services into an appointment that would otherwise have been routine.
Summer heat changes the service, not just the timing. Once daytime temperatures sit above 100°F, owners start asking for shorter cuts and more frequent baths, and double-coated dogs need proper deshedding rather than clipping. That is a different service with a different price, and it is worth knowing before you book.
None of this is priced as a North Texas surcharge. It simply means the honest annual cost of grooming a dog here is usually built on more appointments than owners plan for in their first year.
Why weight sets the price but does not finish the sentence
Pricing is organised by weight because size genuinely drives how much time, water, product and physical work an appointment takes. But two dogs on the same line of the price sheet can be very different jobs.
A 25-pound smooth-coated terrier and a 25-pound curly-coated doodle do not require the same bath, the same drying time or the same finishing work. A 50-pound dog with a maintained coat and a 50-pound dog packed with undercoat are not the same afternoon. And a 20-pound dog with severe matting can genuinely take longer than a well-kept dog twice its weight.
Weight tells us where to start. The coat tells us what the appointment involves.
Why a haircut costs more than a bath
This one is straightforward once you look at the steps.
A bath appointment covers washing, thorough rinsing, drying and working the coat out properly. A haircut adds clipping, scissoring, shaping and finishing on top of all of that — and the preparation matters more than people expect, because you cannot get an even finish on a coat that has not been fully dried and brushed out first.
Our haircut pricing includes the bath, so you are not paying for a haircut and then a separate full bath on top of it. For a 16–25 pound dog, that lands around $165–$185 depending on service level.
This is also the question worth asking any groomer you compare us to: does the advertised haircut price include the bath and drying, or not?
Long coats change the maths
Long-haired dogs do not necessarily need a haircut every visit, but their coats take more work than a short, smooth one regardless.
Getting shampoo down to the skin through a dense coat is only the first step. It then has to be rinsed completely — residue left in a long coat causes irritation — dried all the way through rather than just on the surface, and brushed out so nothing is left tangled underneath.
That is why a 16–25 pound long-haired dog’s estimated bath price is roughly $115–$140, compared with around $90–$115 for a short-haired dog of the same weight.
It shows up most with doodles, poodles, Shih Tzus, Maltese, Yorkies and other coats that keep growing rather than shedding out. A maintained long coat is very manageable. A long coat that has run for several months is a different conversation entirely.
Matting: the biggest pricing surprise
If there is one thing that catches pet parents off guard, it is this.
A mat begins as tangled hair, tightens with movement, and eventually compresses against the skin like felt. The problem is not cosmetic. Mats pull on the skin and hold moisture against it, which is why a groomer may conclude that clipping the coat short is safer and more comfortable than forcing a comb through it.
Our dematting fees are generally estimated at around $55–$75 depending on the size of the dog and the amount of work involved.
That does not mean every tangle adds a charge. A few small knots are part of normal coat work. The fee applies when the volume of matting substantially changes the job. If you want the detail on how that decision gets made, we have written it up in our guide to grooming a matted dog.
Deshedding is a separate kind of work
If you have a Labrador, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd, Husky or another double-coated dog, you already know the problem. The hair is not tangled. There is simply an enormous amount of it.
Deshedding is not a stronger version of a bath. The goal is to lift loose undercoat out of the dog before it ends up on your sofa, your car seats and your work clothes. It involves specific products, a proper high-velocity dry and time with the right tools.
We offer additional deshedding in 15- and 30-minute increments, currently estimated at around $20 for 15 minutes or $40 for 30 minutes.
Whether your dog needs that extra time depends on the coat in front of us. A Labrador dropping undercoat through a May heatwave is a different job from the same dog in November, and in this climate that May appointment is almost always the heavier one.
Other services that may apply
A grooming appointment is not always just a bath or a haircut. Depending on the dog, additional services can include:
- Dematting
- Deshedding
- Gland expression
- Special handling
- Flea-related services
- Skunk treatment
- Travel fees in certain circumstances
Current estimates include around $25 for gland expression, $50 for a paw-dicure, and $25 for special handling.
Most dogs never need most of these. That is precisely why a single advertised “average grooming price” is not a useful planning tool — the honest question is not what dog grooming costs, but what your dog needs.
Why the cheapest advertised price is rarely the cheapest groom
A $60 grooming advertisement sounds excellent until you start asking what happens to the dog for that money.
- Does the price include the bath?
- Does it include a full dry, or is the dog cage-dried?
- Does it include the haircut, or only clipping?
- Are nails included?
- Are the services your dog actually needs charged separately?
- Does the price assume the coat is already maintained?
- How long is the dog at the facility, and how much of that is waiting?
- How far are you driving, twice?
The advertised number is one input. The total service, the total time and the total drive are the rest of it. That last item is not a small consideration in a metroplex this size — a salon fifteen miles away is a twenty-minute run at ten in the morning and closer to an hour on the Dallas North Tollway at five in the afternoon, and you are making that trip twice.
What to budget for your dog
| Dog weight | Short-hair bath | Long-hair bath | Haircut |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16–25 lbs | $90–$115 | $115–$140 | $165–$185 |
| 25–40 lbs | $105–$145 | $140–$165 | $175–$200 |
| 61–70 lbs | $140–$165 | $175–$200 | $200–$225 |
Again, these are estimates. Kontota runs multiple service levels, and the exact price depends on your dog’s size, coat, condition and the service you choose.
What to have ready for an accurate estimate
If you want a number you can actually rely on, have these six things handy when you get in touch:
- Your dog’s weight — this sets the size category.
- Breed or mix — a Goldendoodle, a Labrador and a pit mix can weigh the same and need entirely different grooming.
- Coat length — short, medium or long.
- What you want done — bath only, full haircut, outline trim, deshed, or a combination.
- Coat condition — be honest about matting. An estimate built on an optimistic description is not an estimate.
- Anything unusual — past difficulty with grooming, anxiety, senior mobility issues, or a dog who needs a slower pace.
A couple of photos help more than people expect, particularly for curly coats where the condition underneath is hard to describe.
Working out what your own dog will cost
Every number in this article is a starting point, and the reason none of them is a quote comes down to a single idea: grooming is priced on work, and the work is decided by your individual dog.
Size sets the category. Coat type moves you within it. Coat condition on the day decides whether anything sits on top. That is the whole formula, and once you can see it, a price sheet stops looking arbitrary — a $90 bath and a $225 haircut are not two prices for the same thing, they are two different amounts of work.
What that means practically is that the useful figure is never the one you read in an article. It is the one you get after telling a groomer what your dog weighs, what kind of coat they have, and honestly what condition that coat is in right now.
North Texas adds one more layer worth planning for. Between the long shedding season, the pollen calendar and a summer that pushes most owners toward shorter, more frequent grooms, dogs here tend to need more appointments across a year than owners budget for in their first twelve months. The per-visit price is rarely the surprise. The number of visits is.
So work out the per-visit figure for your dog, then multiply it by a realistic schedule rather than an optimistic one. If you would like that first figure worked out properly, send us your dog’s details and we will come back with something specific.
Because the question was never “how much does dog grooming cost.” It is “how much will it cost to groom my dog, over a year, in this climate.” That number is worth a great deal more.
Frequently asked questions
Why does mobile grooming cost more than a salon?
You are paying for the grooming service plus the logistics of bringing a fully equipped salon to your driveway, and for an appointment structured around one dog at a time rather than a facility running several. There is no drop-off, no pickup and no waiting period for your dog between steps.
Does the haircut price include the bath?
Yes. Our haircut pricing includes the bath, so it is not billed as a separate service on top.
How long does a mobile appointment take?
It depends on size, coat and service. A small maintained coat is a short appointment; a large double coat needing a full deshed takes considerably longer. We can give you a realistic window when you book.
Do you need my water or electricity?
No. The van carries its own water and power, which is also why mobile grooming works as easily on a new-build street in Prosper as it does on an older lot in Denton.
