Asheville, North Carolina
A grooming salon that still takes one dog at a time
Bramble & Paw Pet Grooming is a small salon on Thistle Street in Asheville, North Carolina, that bathes, clips and hand strips dogs one table at a time, with every price printed before a dog arrives.
- Today at the table
- Tue–Fri, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM
- Saturday, 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM
- Sunday and Monday, closed
- Every price printed before arrival
- One table at a time
How the salon works
Slow enough to ask how the coat actually behaves
Bramble & Paw Pet Grooming books one table at a time and leaves room in the appointment for the handling that comes before the clippers. A groomer asks what the coat does between visits, where it mats, and what the dog is like about water, dryers and having its feet held.
The prices on this site are the prices at the counter. Nothing is bundled, nothing is added at the table, and a coat that would be better taken short than combed out for two hours is said so rather than charged for.
On the board
Services and what each one costs
Every service at Bramble & Paw Pet Grooming is priced here exactly as the counter charges it. Nothing is bundled and nothing is added at the table, and if a coat needs longer than the standard appointment the difference is said out loud before the work begins.
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Full groom
$78
About 2 hours
A bath, a full dry, and a clip or scissor shape worked to the coat rather than to a picture, with the feet, face, ears and nails finished before the dog comes off the table. It suits any coat that keeps growing and wants a full shape every six to ten weeks.
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Bath and tidy
$48
About 60 minutes
A wash, a full dry and a brush right through to the skin, with the feet, the face and the rear tidied and no length taken off the body. It is the service for a coat being grown out, or kept comfortable in the weeks between two full grooms.
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De-shed treatment
$38
About 45 minutes
Loose undercoat worked out of a double coat with a de-shedding wash, a forced-air dry and a rake. It does what shaving a double coat never does, and it leaves the coat free to grow back the way it went.
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Hand strip
$95
About 2 hours 30 minutes
A wire coat plucked out by hand instead of clipped. It is slower than a clip and it is the only finish that keeps the harsh topcoat and its colour on a terrier, which is why the first strip of a long-clipped coat is discussed before it begins.
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Nail trim and ear clean
$18
About 15 minutes
Nails on all four feet taken back to just short of the quick, dewclaws included, and ears wiped out and checked. It is added to the end of any groom or booked on its own between appointments.
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Puppy first visit
$26
About 30 minutes
A short first appointment for a puppy under six months that is mostly about the room rather than the coat. The table, the water and the dryer on its lowest setting are met one at a time, at whatever pace the puppy sets.
The question every appointment opens with
Tell me what the coat does in the six weeks after a groom, not how it looked on the afternoon you collected the dog.
The salon
A corner salon on Thistle Street, run from the table
Maren Holloway opened Bramble & Paw Pet Grooming with two tables, no waiting area and a price list printed where it could be read before a dog arrived. The salon has stayed that size on purpose. Every appointment starts with the hands rather than the clippers: a groomer goes through the coat behind the ears, under the front legs, along the belly and at the base of the tail, which are the four places matting starts.
An appointment is given the length the work needs rather than the length the diary would prefer, and the groomer who starts a dog stays with it through to the dryer. A first visit can expect a quarter of an hour of handling and looking before anything is switched on, and a coat checked dry so that what leaves the salon is what was agreed.
Bramble & Paw Pet Grooming baths, clips, hand strips and finishes coats only. There is no veterinary treatment, no sedation, no dyeing and no shaving of a double coat to stop it shedding, and anything that belongs with a veterinary surgeon is named as such rather than treated at the table.
Pictures
At the table, in the bath and at the dryer
Behind the tables
The groomers at Bramble & Paw
Each groomer takes every service on the board, and each one has two the salon sends their way first. A particular groomer can be asked for by name in any message.
Maren Holloway
Owner and lead groomer
Maren Holloway opened Bramble & Paw Pet Grooming and still takes the first table every day it is open, working the wire coats that have to come out by hand. She says at the first appointment whether a coat that has been clipped for years will strip cleanly.
Theo Parrish
Senior groomer
Theo Parrish takes the long clip and scissor work and the first visits puppies come in for, the two ends of the board that both want time nobody is counting. A puppy that has had enough is finished another day at no extra cost.
June Okafor
Groomer and consultation lead
June Okafor reads the messages that arrive through the contact form and writes most of the replies, so a message describing the breed and the coat comes back with a service and a price against it.
Callie Brandt
Salon coordinator
Callie Brandt keeps the diary and answers the telephone, and makes certain every appointment has the time the coat needs behind it rather than the hour that happened to be free.
Said afterwards
What clients wrote after the appointment
“The matting behind her ears was explained to me before anything was cut, and I was shown how to get at it with a comb. I had expected to be told it all had to come off. Two of the four places were worked out and the other two were taken short, which was agreed with me at the table rather than reported to me at the counter.”
“My terrier had been clipped for six years and I was told plainly at the first appointment that the first strip might not come out clean. It did not, entirely. It was still the right thing to start, because the coat that has grown back since is harsh again and the colour has come back into it. The next date was written down before I left.”
“The first visit was mostly sitting on the floor with the clippers switched off. Nothing was rushed and nothing was forced. The dryer was run on its lowest setting on the other side of the room first, then a little closer, and the bath did not happen at all that day because he had had enough by then. The price did not change for that.”
Asked often
Worth knowing before writing to the salon
Which service should be chosen?
Coat type and how long it has been decide it. A wash, dry and tidy of the feet, face and rear is the bath and tidy; a full clip or scissor shape is the full groom; a wire coat plucked by hand rather than clipped is the hand strip. Naming the breed and the date of the last groom in a message gets a straight recommendation back.
Are the listed prices final?
The listed price is what the counter charges for that service. Prices marked “from” move only when the work described in the enquiry is longer than the standard appointment, and the difference is quoted before anything begins.
Does this website book an appointment?
No. The Book action opens the contact page, and the contact form sends a message a groomer reads during opening hours. Neither one holds an appointment until the salon replies and confirms a time.
Can a particular groomer be requested?
Yes. Naming the groomer in the message is enough. If that groomer is not working the day being asked about, the reply says so and offers the days they are.
Visiting the salon
Where the salon is and when it is open
Thistle Street, Asheville
Bramble & Paw Pet Grooming works from a corner on Thistle Street in Asheville, North Carolina. The salon has two tables and no waiting area, so dogs are dropped off at the agreed time and collected when the groomer calls to say the coat is finished and dry.
Opening hours
- Tue–Fri
- 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM
- Saturday
- 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM
- Sun–Mon
- Closed
Arranging a groom
A message naming the breed, how the coat is kept now and roughly when it was last groomed comes back with a service, a price and a time. Nothing is held until the salon has replied and a time is agreed.
Talk to the salon
Ask about a groom before anything is arranged
A message reaches Bramble & Paw Pet Grooming directly and is read during opening hours. Nothing on this page holds an appointment on its own.
The column
A short note when the salon changes something
Holiday hours, a groomer joining or leaving, a price that moves. Two or three notes a year and nothing else.