How to choose a dog groomer in Tamworth, Lichfield and Burton upon Trent

Dog grooming is unregulated in the UK, so the checking is on you. This directory covers five areas: Tamworth (B77, B78, B79), Lichfield (WS13, WS14), Rugeley & Burntwood (WS15, WS7), Burton upon Trent (DE13, DE14, DE15) and Swadlincote (DE11, DE12), the last of these covered here for the first time on this site. Of 75 businesses researched across these areas, 69 have a confirmed phone number and are listed below; the other 6 are left out for the reasons set out here.

Why not all 75

Five businesses have a confirmed address but no phone number that could be verified from any source and are not listed: Ethel and Bert's (run by a registered veterinary nurse with a dog grooming diploma, Tamworth), Westward Dog Spa (Wigginton, Tamworth), Rufus & Poppy's Dog Grooming (Plant Plot Garden Centre, Lichfield, which may also be the same business as a 'Mucky Pups Dog Grooming' seen listed at the same garden centre), Hound Bound Dog Hotel and Groomers (Upper Longdon, near Rugeley) and Waggy Tails Dog Grooming (Etching Hill, Rugeley). A sixth, Growlers (Church Gresley, Swadlincote), is left out because it shares an identical landline number with another salon several miles away, Pinfold Pet Grooming Services at Beehive Farm, Rosliston; rather than publish the same phone number twice under two different names, only Pinfold is listed, and its entry notes the conflict. If a further phone-lookup pass runs, some of these six may be added or resolved.

Names and addresses worth double-checking

A few listings here carry a naming or address wrinkle worth knowing about before you call. SpaPaws is published at the address and phone number its own website, spapaws.co.uk, gives (Gorsty Bank, Lichfield); an older directory-sourced Tudor Row address and phone under the SpaPaws name actually belongs to a different, unrelated business. Million Hairs Dog Grooming has a similarly named listing elsewhere in Wilnecote with a different address and phone that could not be confirmed as current, so check you have the right one. Sage Dog Grooming Services, a mobile van, is recorded at a Whittington address, though a second listing gives an Alrewas base for the same number. Ruff and Buff and Doodle Style share one address on Horninglow Road in Burton upon Trent but trade under separate phone numbers and are listed as two businesses. Two unrelated salons both called Doggy Style appear here, one a fixed shop in Swadlincote and one a mobile van in Tamworth; they are not the same business. Dogsbodies Canine Grooming absorbs a second, near-identical listing under a shortened name at a nearby Overseal address, treated as one entry rather than two.

How well documented each listing is

Of the 69 published businesses, 11 are high confidence, meaning the details were confirmed from the business's own working website or a second independent directory: Wuff & Fluff Dog Grooming, Barkleys Dog Grooming, Milly's Waggy Tail Dog Grooming, Tanya's Tails Dog Grooming, Paws n Relax Dog Groomers, Jo's Happy Pooches, Shampooches by Holly, Best Buddy Dog Groomers, Laundro-Mutt Dog Grooming Salon, Only Tails & Paws Dog Grooming Salon and Pawsome Paws Dog Grooming and Training Academy. 55 are medium confidence, usually meaning the details come from one directory listing, without independent confirmation. Three are low confidence, each carrying a plain note that details are from search results only and should be confirmed by phone before booking: Perfect Paws Burton Ltd, Paws & Unwind Dog Grooming and The Garden Groom Room.

Qualifications

Where a qualification is stated, City & Guilds comes up most often: Sage Dog Grooming Services' groomer holds a Level 3 Distinction, Tanya's Tails' groomer Tanya holds a Level 3, and Adored Paws, Lavender Canine Dog Grooming and Hairy Pawter Pet Grooming all cite City & Guilds qualified groomers. Barkleys Dog Grooming's groomer is City & Guilds qualified and trained as a K9 first responder. Chopper's Pet Grooming's sole groomer instead holds an iPet Level 3 certificate, and Swags and Tags cites Level 3/4 training. Laundro-Mutt Dog Grooming Salon and Wuff & Fluff Dog Grooming both cite well over a decade of grooming experience without naming a specific qualification.

One-to-one, cage-free and multi-town setups

Several businesses groom one dog at a time rather than running several appointments alongside each other: SpaPaws, Wuff & Fluff Dog Grooming (which keeps no other dogs on site at the same time, aimed partly at anxious and rescue dogs), Chopper's Pet Grooming, Parkside Dog Grooming, Pawfect Pups Dog Grooming and Hairy Pawter Pet Grooming, the last of which is also cage-free. Best Buddy Dog Groomers avoids cage dryers and never crates dogs. Three businesses cover more than one town from a single base: Dial a Dog Wash Tamworth is a local franchise van, run by David, covering Tamworth, Atherstone and Lichfield; Shampooches by Holly runs from Abbots Bromley and covers both Uttoxeter (on the neighbouring Stafford listing) and Rugeley; and A'Yap Me Dog covers Swadlincote, Linton and Burton upon Trent from its Church Gresley base.

Pet shops, boarding and training academies

A handful of businesses combine grooming with something else. Diamonds n Pearls Pet Services and Complete Pet Care (UK) Ltd each pair a small pet shop with a grooming service. Brookfields Boarding and Canine Care Centre is primarily a boarding and daycare site that also lists grooming. Pawsome Paws Dog Grooming and Training Academy runs a grooming salon alongside a training academy for aspiring groomers from the same premises.

Cats and other animals

Milly's Waggy Tail Dog Grooming, Paws n Relax Dog Groomers and Precious Pets Dog Grooming all groom cats alongside dogs. Everyone else in this listing is confirmed for dogs only.

Reviews

28 of the 67 groomers listed here show a Google rating, taken from the business's own Google profile and linked from the listing; the others have no rating from a source this directory can link to. Ask to see recent work, a reference, or photos of previous grooms instead of relying on a star rating you can't check yourself.

Where they are, and where coverage is thin

Coverage across this page is unusually deep for this network, with all five areas represented in real numbers rather than one or two salons. Burton upon Trent has the fewest at 9, partly because its own directory listings were thin during research and most of its entries instead turned up as 'nearby' results on Swadlincote's page; a dedicated Burton phone-lookup pass would likely surface further shopfront salons in the town centre itself that this round did not find.