How to Become a Dog Groomer in Australia: A Career Change

Heads up: this is general information for people thinking about a career in grooming, not career, legal or financial advice. Training codes were checked on training.gov.au on 30 October 2026. Course names, fees and rules change, so confirm them with the training provider before you enrol.

A lot of people are looking at their job right now and asking what else they could do. Grooming comes up again and again. It's hands-on, there's always demand, you can work for yourself, and at the end of the day there's a dog who looks better than when it arrived.

It's also physical, skilled work with a learning curve, and the people who do well at it plan the switch rather than jumping. This is what we'd want a friend to know before they started.

Do you need a qualification?

Not by law. There's no national licence to groom dogs in Australia. We went through what does and doesn't need registering in do you need a licence to groom dogs in Australia?, and the short version is that grooming itself isn't licensed. Some of the things groomers drift into, like boarding or daycare, can be.

Not needing a qualification is not the same as not needing training, though. Clients trust you with an animal that can bite, panic or overheat. Insurers ask what training you've done. And the difference between a groom that takes two hours and one that takes four is almost all technique.

The nationally recognised options

Grooming sits in the national animal care training package. As listed on training.gov.au on 30 October 2026:

The grooming units themselves are where the skills live. A few you'll see in course outlines:

• ACMGRM201 Bath, dry and brush domestic dogs
• ACMGRM303 Provide sanitary and hygiene grooms for companion animals
• ACMGRM304 Perform grooms on cross breed dogs
• ACMGRM305 Groom dogs to meet breed style and coat requirements
• ACMGRM401 Carry out advanced grooming to dog breed standards

One thing to watch: older courses still get advertised under names that have been replaced. The Certificate III in Pet Grooming (ACM30617) is superseded. The current Certificate III for grooming is the Certificate III in Animal Care Services with the Pet Grooming specialisation. A course is fine if it delivers a current qualification. Check the code on training.gov.au before you pay.

Nationally recognised courses are run by registered training organisations (RTOs), which include TAFEs and private colleges. Search the course code, not the course name, when you compare them.

Plenty of good groomers also learn through private academies that aren't nationally accredited, or through an apprenticeship-style job in a salon. That can be a fine route. Just ask what you'll be able to show an employer or an insurer at the end.

Three ways to work

Once you can groom, you choose where. Most people end up trying more than one.

In someone else's salon. You learn fastest here: lots of dogs, an experienced groomer to ask, and no business to run. You trade the upside for a steady wage. Many groomers spend their first year or two here, even if they plan to go out on their own.

From home. A grooming room in a garage or spare room. It's the cheapest way to work for yourself, but it has rules. Councils care about home businesses in residential streets, and how much they care depends on your zone. In Victoria, for example, the planning rules for a home-based business cap the floor area and the number of staff who don't live there. We cover the setup in how to start a home or mobile grooming business.

From a van. Clients pay more because you come to them, and you spend part of every day driving. A van is a bigger start-up cost, but it frees you from finding premises. If you're weighing it up, mobile vs salon prices shows why the higher price mostly pays for the drive.

How much do dog groomers earn?

We can't tell you what you'll earn. That depends on your suburb, your speed, your prices and how many hours your body will do. What we can show is how the maths works once you're on your own, using the starting prices in our own menus:

• A salon medium full groom starts at $95 for two hours. A mobile one starts at $135 for two and a half.
• That's about $47 to $55 per booked hour before costs. Products, insurance, fuel or rent, software and tax all come out of it.
• The number that decides your income isn't the price. It's how many of your hours are booked. Ten groomers charging the same price earn ten different amounts.

What the first year really looks like

Your first year is about filling the diary. The groomers who get there fastest tend to do the same few things:

1. Start with a menu, not a blank page. Price by size and coat, write down how long each service takes, and stick to it until you have evidence to change it. What to charge for dog grooming in Australia goes through it.
2. Rebook at the door. A client who leaves with their next appointment is far more likely to come back than one who says "I'll call you".
3. Take a deposit for new clients. No-shows hurt most when you're small, and a deposit is the simplest fix.
4. Look established from day one. A booking page, reminders and a clean invoice make a new business look like an old one, and clients choose the one that looks reliable.
5. Look after your body. A good table, a decent dryer and fewer, better-priced grooms beat a punishing schedule you can't keep up.

Is it right for you?

Grooming tends to suit people who like animals more than they mind being wet, hairy and tired, and who are patient with a dog that doesn't want to be there. It suits people who like working with their hands, and who'd rather build a client list than climb a ladder.

It's harder than it looks from the outside, and more rewarding than most people expect. If you're thinking about it, the best next step is cheap: spend a day with a working groomer, then look at a current course code.

When you're ready to work for yourself, our checklist for starting a grooming business goes through the ABN, insurance, council and your first clients. And when you're ready to take your first booking, we built My Pet Groomer for exactly that moment, with a 30-day free trial.