VACCINATION RECORDS
As required by law, proof of rabies vaccine in the form of a rabies certificate, must be delivered before grooming can begin. We do not require dogs be vaccinated against bordetella.

TETHERING
All dogs must be tethered with a grooming loop around their neck when inside a bathing tub, on a drying counter or on a grooming table. Please inform us if your dog requires a different restraint method due to a health concern.

SATISFACTION GUARANTEE
Canine Culture Grooming Studio is proud to offer top notch grooming services for the top dog in your life. We rely on specific information from you in regards to styling your dog. If you are uncertain, we will happily discuss styling options based on factors like lifestyle and at home grooming maintenance between professional visits. We make every effort to give you exactly what you want and wish to present your dog as closely to the breed standard as possible, but things like conformation, coat texture and size can vary greatly within a breed and we make no guarantees that your dog will maintain any style for any length of time after leaving the studio. However should you notice minor styling imperfections you wish to have corrected, we offer to do so within 24 hours of the grooming appointment. You must tell us as soon as possible so that we can set up time the next business day for touch ups.

MEDICAL EMERGENCIES/GROOMING INJURIES
We make every effort to ensure a safe and pleasant grooming procedure for each dog in our care. Please disclose all preexisting medical conditions that may compromise your dog's health or safety during grooming. In the event your dog becomes ill or hurt during their stay, where the services of a veterinarian are required, you hereby give us permission to obtain treatment from our preferred veterinary practice if you are not available to do so, and you agree to pay such veterinary expenses. Canine Culture Grooming Studio will not be responsible for any accidents or injuries to a dog resulting from preexisting medical conditions or compromised health. In the event your dog requires treatment as a result of an injury directly related to grooming, such injury must be evaluated and treatment must be obtained from the dog's primary veterinarian WITHIN 24 HOURS of the grooming appointment.

SAFE HANDLING/AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR
We strive to provide a safe environment for our patrons. We are grateful that you’ve entrusted your dog to our care and we ask for your honesty as well. Please inform us prior to grooming if your dog has any reactive or aggressive tendencies. These may include high anxiety, hyperactivity, pawing or lunging at people, or biting at tools and hands. By state law we must report all dog bites regardless of severity. As the dog’s owner you are responsible for your dog’s behavior and helping us practice safe handling and appropriate prevention of injuries through clear communication with us, you help prevent hazardous situations. We may choose to use safety aides such as muzzles or additional tethers to minimize the risk of injury to ourselves or injury to a reactive dog, but we also reserve the right to terminate service at any if a dog becomes aggressive, overstimulated, too anxious, or too aroused to continue safe handling. If we choose to terminate service, you will be billed for services rendered until the time of termination. Because of increased scrutiny to safe handling to such dogs that pose a greater safety risk to themselves or to staff, grooming will accrue a handling fee of $10 per hour of service. As the dog’s owner, you assume all liability for any injuries resulting from your dog biting a person, or any damages caused by your dog to our premises or our tools and equipment.

SENIOR DOGS AND DOGS WITH COMPROMISED MOBILITY
We are understanding of and accommodating to the limitations of senior pets and pets with compromised mobility. Grooming procedures require that we handle your dog in ways that may be uncomfortable due to aging, injury, or limited mobility. Please, for the sake of your dog’s comfort, communicate your dog’s mobility limitations, sore areas or any other concern, so that we can assure your dog is handled in ways specific to their comfort level. Because of increased scrutiny to safe handling of such dogs that are at greater risk of injury, grooming will accrue a handling fee of $10 per hour of service.

EXTERNAL PARASITES (FLEA, LICE AND TICK PROTOCOL)
Upon checking in, we will examine your dog to the best of our abilities. External parasites like fleas, ticks and lice are not uncommon, but often remain well-hidden in the fur until they are exposed during the bathing process. Grooming an infested dog poses a risk of infestation to the grooming area and therefore infestation to any other dog being groomed. Containing the possibility of infestation by cleaning and sanitizing with parasite-controlling agents requires additional time, as well as the time investment to rid your dog of parasites. To compensate for this, we will add a $15 parasite management fee to your grooming bill, per dog. Manual tick removal will be billed at $2 per tick removed but will not be subject to $15 parasite management fee.

HEAVY MATTING AND MAT REMOVAL
Heavy matting and pelting of fur is a reflection of poor grooming management and can be painful to your dog, or at the very least terribly uncomfortable. Routinely removing pelted coats is not a proper approach dog grooming. We are happy to suggest t tools, products and grooming techniques for proper coat management between appointments. Removing heavily matted coats risks minor nicks, cuts, or abrasions due to unnoticeable warts, moles, skin tags or skin folds trapped within the mats. Heavy matting often traps dirt and moisture, which promotes the growth of yeast, mold, fungus, bacteria. Burns can occur from urine and feces trapped within the fur. This causes all kinds of irritation and skin infections which may have gone unnoticed for periods of time until the grooming process exposes them. After-effects of heavy mat removal procedures can include itchiness, skin redness, self-inflicted irritations or abrasions, as well as failure of the hair to regrow properly, or at all. Shaved pets are also prone to sunburn and must be protected from sun exposure. In some cases, pets may also exhibit brief behavior changes. Canine Culture Grooming Studio will remove heavily matted coats carefully and meticulously to help minimize any risk of injury. We will bathe your dog with products designed to soothe the skin and help relieve irritation. Because this process is time consuming and because clipping dirty, oily and pelted coats is damaging to our equipment, extra charges will incur for matted dogs ranging from $10-$50 depending on size and severity of mats and a final quote cannot be given until the dog is finished. As the dog’s owner, you are responsible for the condition of your dog’s coat and may not hold Canine Culture Grooming Studio responsible in the event of adverse effects of severe mat removal. Please take advantage of our knowledge of the industry and ask how to prevent this from recurring.

DEMATTING SERVICES
Most dematting procedures cause some level of discomfort due to slight, occasional but inevitable tugging at the mats. We do not object to dematting coats we feel can be salvaged to maintain the proper style for your dog. Severely matted coats will not be dematted and will require shaving off. With the use of correct tools and products, we will demat coats as long as it is not distressing to the dog and as long as the matting isn’t too severe. A dematting fee of $15 per every 15 minutes of dematting will be billed when dematting exceeds the standard 15 minutes of brushing time included in all of our grooming services. We leave the choice to your discretion after we discuss the best options to move forward.

DESHEDDING SERVICES
Deshedding is the process of eliminating the bulk of a double-coated dog’s undercoat. Much of the undercoat will be removed during the bathing process as follicles open and release expired coat. Standard 15 minutes of brushing time is included in all of our grooming services and dogs kept on a regular grooming schedule rarely require additional brushing time. We believe that a thorough grooming process should result in a dog that is not shedding heavily when released to their owner. For this reason, we will continue to card out (deshed) the undercoat and brush out the top coat until we achieve the results we wish to reflect our grooming standard. This is not uncommon during seasonal shedding and should be expected. Additional brushing and carding will be billed at $15 per 15 minutes of deshedding unless you specifically opt out of this service.

SUMMER SHAVE
Shaving a heavily coated dog during the summer is not recommended. In both hot and cold weather, a dog’s coat helps regular body heat, provide insulation, and protect from the sun. Coats that are shaved off may grow back patchy, uneven, or not at all. Canine Culture Grooming Studio will groom your dog to your preference, but will not be responsible for any affects this may have on the coat thereafter.

CANCELLATIONS
Our business structure depends on smooth scheduling. Because we try not to keep dogs longer than their actual grooming time, it is hard to fill last minute spaces from our waiting list as appointment times are specific. We ask that you grant us the common courtesy to notify us of your cancellation AT LEAST 24 HOURS ahead of your appointment time.Cancellations made without 24 hour advance notice will be subject to a fee equal to 50% of the total projected grooming bill due before another appointment will be made.

MISSED APPOINTMENTS
Our time is every bit as valuable as yours. You acknowledge that if you choose to miss your appointment without rescheduling or cancelling, or in any way communicating your intent to disregard your appointment, you will be billed the total service fee for the window of time that had been reserved for you.

RETURNED CHECKS
Returned checks will be subject to a $36.00 returned check fee in addition to the full amount of the returned check.

PAYMENT
Due to the ease and convenience, we prefer cash or check. However, Canine Culture Grooming Studio can accept most major credit cards. Payment is due at the time of services rendered. Failure to have payment available at the time of services will result in a late payment fee of 10% of your bill.

LEASH POLICY AND ETIQUETTE
ALL DOGS MUST BE LEASHED and kept within 4 feet of your person when walked outside of our building to relieve themselves prior to their appointment. Upon entering the building, we expect all dogs to demonstrate at least the very basic of manners. We ask that you display common courtesy and keep your dog at your side at all times and away from other people or dogs that may be entering or leaving.
DOGS PERMITTED TO MARK WITHIN OUR LOBBY WILL NOT BE TOLERATED and will be subject to a $10 cleaning and disinfecting fee. We take this policy very seriously because it is unsanitary, it smells, and we believe it is simply unacceptable canine behavior to mark inside of buildings. As the owner, you are responsible for your dog’s behavior. If you suspect your dog might soil our premises or be destructive in any way, practice prevention to avoid accruing a fee.

ARRIVAL ETIQUETTE
Canine Culture Grooming Studio opens at 8:30am. We will not open doors before that time unless special requests have been made. New clients may access our our Policy Documents online to have ready at time of check in. New clients should plan on 15 minutes to devote to checking in their dog. Your scheduling is your responsibility and we will not rush through our new client check in protocol to accommodate poor planning ahead. We expect all clients to arrive on time so that we can stay on schedule with our salon style scheduling for the remaining dogs of the day. Clients who are more than 20 minutes late will be asked to reschedule and will be billed a cancellation fee.

PICK UP TIMES
We strive to create a salon style grooming atmosphere where each dog is groomed promptly following arrival and released as soon as they are finished being groomed. In order for approach to be successful, we depend our out clients’ punctuality and flexibility. We do not store dogs in confinement all day and try to limit a dog’s stay to 3 hours. Most grooming appointments are completed within 1.5 hours for small dogs, 2 hours for medium dogs and within 3 hours for large dogs. We will discuss expected grooming duration and expected pickup times at the time of check in. We will alert you 30 minutes before completion of service to give you adequate time to pick up your dog. Dogs left for more than an hour following their completion (1.5 hours following our attempt to reach you) will accrue a boarding fee of $10 per hour on top of their grooming fee. Please understand that we cannot offer the high quality of personalized one on one attention to each dog when other dogs are left to linger. If you require special pickup arrangements or planning, please communicate that at time of scheduling so we can plan accordingly. We understand that special situations may arise and willing to work with you.