Do I tip/How much do I tip .......

I am known for over-tipping.

That being said: I am taking my mini schnauzer to a neighbors house tomorrow to be shaved. It's nothing fancy like the normal schnauzer cut, but I want his hair as short as possible for this heat. It's not very long right now because I did it myself recently and there aren't any mats or tangles. She owns a mobile dog grooming business and does the grooming out of one of those fancy trailers. She normally charges $65 for mini schnauzers and there's a $10 discount for first timers - so it will cost me $55 plus tax.

Because she's not working at one of those retail chain places - do I still tip her? She's making $55 for probably an hour or less of work. So if I tip her, which is what I'm leaning towards doing; how much do I tip her? $10? And then pay her the original $65? Washing the dog is also included in the service. I'm not going to have her clip his nails because this was done recently at the vet.

Backstory on how I met her: My dog decided to scale the fence of the outside dog yard we have. He doesn't stay outside at all - just to go to the bathroom and come back in. We have it fenced off for specifically this purpose. Well - he's not neutered and there's a kennel up the street that does dog training. We had a feeling that he got a whif of a female and took off. She was kind enough to catch him and call me. When I told her that I was 45 minutes away, she brought the dog back to the house because I couldn't come get him. It was a VERY nice thing for her to do. She's not right next door - but a few farms up the road.

So - even if I she wouldn't normally be tipped - I'd still feel obligated to do so.

I was actually even thinking of bringing her something in addition as a "thank you" like something baked or a potted plant. Perhaps I could bring her some veggies from the garden.

May I have your opinions? If it were left up to me doing what I normally do, I'd likely overtip and then have people ask me later why I did that. lol.

 

pips&peeps :

That's expensive! I only pay $30.00 each to have my schnauzers groomed.

Give her some eggs.

Shoot! For $30 it would be cheaper for me to fly out to you and have him groomed there! lol.

I'm usually about $65 out of pocket when I take him to my local big box chain petstore - but that's because I tip $10. I stopped taking him there recently when they cut the tip of his ear off by accident. He was rushed to the emergency vet where they had to cauterize it. That wasn't a very good day.​

 

Man, you guys get inexpensive grooms!

I spoke with other groomers and this is right in the range where others are charging. Man alive - I'm in the wrong business!

Initially she was going to come here, but while I was confirming the appointment with her my DBF heard me repeat our address. He didn't realize she was a mobile groomer and says "no, can we go to HER?" He was pretty adament about it so she said it's unusual but it was fine with her, so that's what we agreed upon.

When I hung up the phone, I said to him "Why on Earth would you want me to do that??!" and he said because he didn't want her using our bathtub or getting the porch dirty. I explained that she had a mobile grooming unit and he was apologetic and said he didn't realize that and that he should just listen to me because I'm always right.

So I felt stupid calling her back after we just arranged something - so this time we'll go to her.