Gentle Touch Grooming by Aly

I’ve brought my dog in a few times for grooming here and, in the past, it’s been alright. Not great, but fine. They don’t use cage or heat dryers so I felt it was a safe environment for grooming.
My dog is a papillon mix and they have strict instructions not to clip her tail fur or ear fringe. I have verbally confirmed this each time and it’s in their computer system. The owner, Aly, asked me if I wanted the same cut again and I agreed.
Just picked her up and her tail plume has been lopped off. At least 6 inches of hair bluntly cut off. The ear fringe completely shaved away. I can’t understand how anyone (let alone a groomer) could look at a papillon and think «let’s get rid of the ear and tail fur.» Who cuts a pap’s ear fringe?!
Aly told me they just followed what was done last time but that’s definitely not true, and the receptionist confirmed that my account record specified not to clip the ears or tail. Aly then shrugged off my concern with an «it’ll grow back» and charged me $ 80 for botching my dog’s haircut.
I’m so angry and upset, I left in tears. I wish I could give zero stars.

Mixed feelings here. I’ve been here 4 times, I think. My dog isn’t terrified when she comes out to me, and I really like that the dogs are able to roam around in another room before and after grooming.
Aly also seems very nice, and it looks like there are specific breeds that come out looking really good each time they’re groomed (from the photos). For the price though, I haven’t been blown away by what my dog looks like when I pick her up. Don’t get me wrong– she looks fine, just not the *best* grooming job I’ve seen on her. She’s a curly hair mixed-​breed, so I get that it’s a little more difficult to get a totally even cut because some hair can «hide» while you clip… but I’ve been bummed that once I get the dog home and brush her a time or two I find that there are areas that got missed or turned out uneven. So I’m paying $ 60 and then having to do touch-​ups myself. What I end up with is «A-​OK» but not «Yay!» Hence 3 stars.
Again, she doesn’t look *bad* or absurdly lop-​sided, it’s just not the most thorough cut she’s had before. I’ll keep coming back, and just try to be more specific in how I want her cut. Again, Aly and the other groomers seem nice and I’m sure they’d want to fix it if I brought it to their attention right away, but it takes a brushing or two at home to find the missed hairs and uneven patches. Also, there was one cut that I was so surprised at, I didn’t know what to say and just took the dog home. It didn’t seem prudent in the moment to be like, «Can you please fix her ears, and her tail, and her muzzle, because that’s not really what I asked for?» while the groomers were already working on other dogs. So I paid here and then shaped those areas myself at home. Sigh.
Hopefully soon they’ll give my dog a completely perfect cut, I’ll take a picture right away and have them keep it for reference. That just hasn’t happened here– yet.

We just moved here from Ohio and needed a groomer stat. We have Pomeranians and they are pretty high maintenance. Our female did indeed have mats due to rolling in manure, having to be bathed without being brushed first and my husband told the woman do whatever you need to do to get the mats out. We picked both dogs up. From afar, they looked good. We got them home and our female still has a ton of mats and our male has tufts of hair just falling out from not being groomed/​brushed properly. Their bellies are all wonky and long on one side and short on the other, much more noticeable on the male for multiple reasons. We chose this place based on reviews on Unilocal and we are disappointed because they are not cheap. It was $ 70 per dog after tips. I would definitely do your research and go elsewhere.
****update****
I spoke with Aly and she was concerned and wasn’t for sure what the dogs even looked like since she does not work weekends. She very kindly offered to re-​groom them and boy am I pleased! Aly did a wonderful job. Both of my Pomeranians look wonderful. I would say if you go to them, ask for her. She definitely knows her stuff. Thank you so much!

We have been going to Aly for about a year now. We moved back to the area from Arizona and our old groomer had closed. My Westie has always had anxiety when going to the groomer, but I can honestly say he loves Aly and walks right back to the grooming area without any prompting or hesitation. She does a beautiful job on both my dogs. My Westie looks like a Westie, and my Scottie looks like a Scottie when she gets done with them.

They used to be good, not sure what happened to my old groomer but the new one needs lots of training. My babies looked worst than they did when they came in. Ears were still filled with hair and one of my babies had a terrible rash on his cute little schnauzer face afterwards.

We only have good things to say about Gentle Touch Grooming by Aly. The prices are comparable to other groomers in the area, maybe even a little cheaper, and first time customers get 10 dollars off.
Our schnauzer hadn’t been groomed in two months, and the last groomer did not do a great job on him. He had some matting, and Gentle Touch cleaned him up beautifully. Not only was this the best groomer we’ve had, but he was so incredibly happy when we picked him up.
They get to run around the back and play, which makes a huge difference. Last time he was stressed out and almost panicked to see us, but this time, he was smiling and just a ball of happiness. We absolutely recommend this groomer!

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Gentle Touch. We took our cat here for the first time and we were excited because of the rave reviews on Unilocal… first of all, there are MANY more dogs than cats here and all the barking scared our cat so badly that he was shaking and they had to put him back in his cage and wait an hour for him to calm down… this delayed the whole appointment and I came back to pick him up only to be told that he was too scared and I should come back in another 2 hours…
It cost us $ 70 just for a bath and eye cleaning, which is steep… I used to pay $ 30 for my cats in my hometown. To make matters worse, our cat got really sick the next day with vomiting and diarrhea and I had to take him to the vet. The vet said he picked it up at the groomer most likely because he’s a single, indoor cat. We won’t be going back. Too expensive, traumatized our cat, and made him sick.

Aly has done wonders with my standard poodle! Whenever he goes in for a groom, he starts out as a dirty matted farm dog & comes out as a show-​quality poodle. We’re now half-​way to his championship thanks to Aly’s grooming skills! And, on top of that, he absolutely loves going to get groomed. I used to battle with him for hours trying to get him to deal with it, but the «gentle touch» definitely has worked for him!

I am thoroughly impressed! I took my mini schnauzer there for the first time today and she looks great. I was initially nervous but I was met in the parking lot by another loyal customer who assured me my girl would be just fine! I was also apprehensive about having her around other dogs outside of a crate but the were so patient with me and allowed my dog to be in a room by herself… My dog hates to have her nails clipped but they used a dremel on her at no extra charge. When I arrived to pick her up she was excited and wagging her tail! I even got a free premium service deal off Unilocal!I’m am now a loyal customer and I can’t thank Gentle Touch by Aly enough. Their price was also lower than any of the other groomers I contacted…

I cannot begin to tell you how great Ali and the gang are. I brought in my neighbors Cocker in who hasn’t been groomed in a while. I left this morning telling Ali good luck. She called me a few hours later and I didn’t even recognize the dog. Simply AMAZING work. They took an over-​grown matted pooch and got her near show ready in a few short hours. Even if you are in Baltimore or DC it is worth the short drive to have this team work magic on your pup. Highly recommended, you will not be disappointed #OLK9MD

So let me just say this is a great dog groomers! I tried Petsmart but was very unsatisfied on several different occasions. This place is so sweet with my dog and they don’t lock him up in a cage. There is an area where he and the other dogs can play and he really seems to like it :-) This is our second time going and I am still impressed with how well his groom is and how thorough they are. Will update if anything changes but so far this is our spot!

My first visit was great! My little pooch looked adorable. The cut was good — even though the hair was not removed/​trimmed inside the ears. It was forgiveable because I was very pleased with her appearance. I believe the owner groomed her on that occasion.
My second visit was HORRIBLE. The cut was uneven/​choppy. I had to ask for it to be corrected before leaving. If I saw it, how could they miss it??? Once again, the hair was not trimmed/​removed from the ears. The WORST part was the red, inflammed bruising around my dogs genitals. It was apparent after about 24 hours that she has been cut down with the trimmers. It was obvisiously uncomfortable, but resolved in about a week with twice daily Neosporin.
I really wanted to like this place, but $ 60 for a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ chance of the dog being grommed properly or injured. There are better options.

Gentle Touch Groomers is wonderful, we’ve been taking Roscoe there since before the location moved. The new ownership was seamless and our labradoodle always looks great! I think their prices are very competitive as well!

I’ve taken my yorkie here twice, and we both like it. My yorkie has had a few bad experiences at other groomers and I thought he would never want to go be groomed again. But Niki is awesome!!! She made both of us feel comfortable, and I’ve noticed my dog is much less stressed being dropped off and happy when he’s picked up. Plus she doesn’t crate them while they wait; my little guy is able to play and socialize with the other dogs and seems super happy. Great cut… she really nails how I want his hair each time. Super happy I found this place, we will keep coming here!

Took my 5 month old yorkie here today to get her groomed. The owner and other employee were so nice! They groomed her in less than 2 hours, she looks great and smells great too!