Since 2016
A groom shaped around the dog, not the clock.
We opened Mophead in 2016 in a ground-floor shop off the Belconnen town centre, with one hydraulic table, a second-hand bath and a book with four dogs in it. Robyn had been grooming other people's dogs for sixteen years by then, most of it in salons that ran on a clock: eight dogs in, forty minutes each, dryers roaring in cages down the back. She was good at that work and she disliked nearly all of it, because the dogs that needed the most time were the ones given the least, and the frightened ones got written up as difficult.
The name came from a client's blue merle collie cross called Pepper. Her owner rang us in a panic and said she had gone to move the mop in the laundry and the mop had wagged at her. Pepper's coat had felted into one solid piece across her back and it took two of us most of a morning to get her comfortable again. When she walked out with her eyes visible for the first time in months, her owner burst into tears in the doorway. We wrote Mophead on the booking diary that afternoon and it stuck.
We chose Belconnen because it is full of dogs and short on patience with parking. Our door opens onto a quiet paved courtyard rather than a busy car park, which matters more than people expect: a nervous dog that arrives calm usually stays calm. Bruce, Kaleen, Aranda, Macquarie and Hawker are all a few minutes away, and plenty of our regulars walk here.
The turning point came in our second year. A badly matted spoodle came in and we could not finish him. He had had enough by the two-hour mark, so we sent him home half done and charged for half a groom. His owner told every dog person in Kaleen. That one unfinished job filled our book for a year and it set the rule we still work to: the dog decides when we stop, and you only pay for what was done.
Tahlia joined us the following winter, Marcus after that, and Nadia runs the front and the puppy visits. Four groomers, two dogs in the salon at a time, home before lunch.
What we hold to
In a few words
To make a groom something a dog tolerates easily and an owner can afford to repeat, by giving each coat the time it needs rather than the time the diary allows.
Since 2016
Averaged across four groomers, two dogs in the salon at a time.
13,400
Grooms since 2016
Across Belconnen, Gungahlin and the inner north
620
Dogs on the regular book
Rebooked every four to twelve weeks
2
Dogs in the salon at once
No crate bank, no waiting for a free groomer
2 to 3 hours
Average time on the table
Most dogs are home before lunch
86%
Rebooking rate
Owners who book the next groom before they leave
Four groomers, two dogs at a time
Owner and lead groomer
Robyn opened Mophead in 2016 after sixteen years in high-volume salons and still takes the matted and the frightened dogs herself. She is the one who kneels down and lets a dog sniff the back of her hand before anything else happens.
Certificate III in Pet Grooming, Certificate IV in Companion Animal Services, canine first aid, low-stress handling training · 26 years grooming
Senior groomer
Tahlia handles most of the doodles and poodle crosses and is the fastest hand-scissor finisher in the salon. She keeps a comb in her back pocket at all times and will use it on your dog in the courtyard if you let her.
Certificate III in Pet Grooming, canine first aid · 8 years grooming
Groomer and de-shedding specialist
Marcus came to grooming from six years in kennels and runs our double-coat work: huskies, shepherds, kelpies and every spring blow-out in the Belconnen district. He has strong opinions about undercoat rakes.
Certificate III in Pet Grooming, Certificate II in Animal Studies, canine first aid · 5 years grooming
Bather, puppy visits and bookings
Nadia runs the front desk, the bath and every puppy introduction. If your dog arrives shaking, she is the one who sits on the floor with it until it stops.
Certificate III in Animal Care Services, canine first aid · 4 years grooming
On record
