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Guide
How much is a mobile dog wash?
Real Bay Area prices for 2026, including the options that are not us.
Short answer: $55–95 for a wash-only mobile visit, priced by your dog's size. A full mobile groom with a haircut runs $95–155.
Every option
What each way of washing a dog costs.
Self-serve wash station
$15–20- Time
- 60–75 min including the drive
- Includes
- A tub, a hose, shampoo, and a dryer you operate yourself.
- The catch
- You drive there with a dirty dog, do the work, and drive home with a damp one. The station cleans the tub, not the dog.
Salon bath (Petco, PetSmart, local shop)
$25–45- Time
- 3–5 hours, drop-off
- Includes
- Bath, dry, usually nails. Basic brush-out.
- The catch
- Two car trips, cage time before and after, and other dogs everywhere. Cheapest per visit, most expensive in your afternoon.
Mobile wash (what we do)
$55–95- Time
- ~45 min, at your door
- Includes
- Bath, full brush-out, de-shed, nails, ears, towel and blow dry.
- The catch
- No haircut. If your dog needs cutting, this is not the whole job.
Mobile full groom
$95–155- Time
- 2–3 hours, at your door
- Includes
- Everything above plus a haircut, scissor work, and styling.
- The catch
- You are paying roughly double for the haircut. Most dogs do not need one.
The gap
Why wash-only costs about half.
A haircut is skilled work and it is slow. Clipper work, scissor finishing, drying and re-styling, checking the line on both sides — it turns a 45-minute visit into a two-to-three-hour one. Labor is essentially the entire cost of grooming, so the time difference is the price difference.
The question worth asking is whether your dog needs cutting at all. Labs, Goldens, Huskies, Shepherds, Beagles and every short-coated breed should not be clipped — for them the haircut portion of a full groom is money spent on nothing. Poodles, Doodles, Shih Tzus and Bichons genuinely do need it. We cover the split in detail here.
Our prices
Published, so you can compare.
Small
Under 20 lbs
Chihuahua, Shih Tzu, Maltese
$55
Medium
20–60 lbs
Beagle, Cocker Spaniel, Bulldog
$70
Large
60–100 lbs
Lab, Golden, Husky, GSD
$80
XL / Giant
100+ lbs
Bernese, Great Dane, Saint Bernard
$95
Most Bay Area mobile groomers will not publish a price at all — the teardown behind this guide found quote forms rather than numbers on the majority of them.
Frequently asked
Cost questions.
You are buying one groomer's undivided time plus the van they drive to you. A salon washes several dogs at once with shared staff and spreads the overhead across all of them. Mobile is one dog, one person, one location at a time — the price reflects that, and so does the experience.
Size, overwhelmingly. A 12-lb terrier and a 110-lb Bernese need different amounts of water, shampoo, drying time, and labor. Coat thickness matters too, which is why a heavy de-shed on a double-coated dog takes longer than a short-coated dog of the same weight.
From us, no — the published price is the whole price anywhere in our service area. Some operators do add travel fees for outlying addresses, so it is a fair thing to ask before booking with anyone.
We do not sell packages, and we would be skeptical of prepaying anyone for grooming. What genuinely does save money is a standing slot — a dog washed on a regular cadence takes less time than one washed twice a year, and stays in better condition.
For most dogs, every four to eight weeks. Double-coated breeds benefit from more frequent de-shedding during spring and autumn coat blows. Washing weekly strips coat oils and dries out skin, so more is not better.