Dog grooming courses in Ontario: what each school publishes

Concept Pet Grooming Academy (Toronto and the GTA). Its Professional Pet Grooming and Services program is 360 hours, which the school splits into 120 hours of classroom theory, 205 hours of hands-on practice and 35 hours of group presentations and case studies; it lists the program as 10 to 12 weeks. Students train in a working salon. To apply you need a high school diploma or equivalent, or be at least 18 and pass a qualifying test approved by the Superintendent of Career Colleges. The school says it is a registered Ontario career college and links to its performance data.

Pet Grooming Studio Academy, also named the Canadian Professional Pet Stylist Grooming School (680 Major Mackenzie Dr. E., Richmond Hill). The ODGA lists a Professional Pet Grooming program in two parts, each 10 weeks and 300 hours. The school's own site returned an error when we tried it on 8 October, so these are the ODGA's figures and we have not read the school's own description.

Fluffy Paws Grooming School (Highway 7, Richmond Hill). The school describes a 300-hour Professional Pet Grooming Certificate Program that mixes lectures, instructor demonstrations, video and hands-on training. Its curriculum covers dog handling, brushing, bathing and drying, basic cat grooming, all-breed styling, first aid and sanitation, and the business side (customer relations, pricing, record keeping). The ODGA lists it at 10 weeks.

B-Pro Grooming Academy (Brampton). The school says its course runs 36 weeks, asks for at least grade 12, and takes drop-in interviews; the ODGA lists the program at 918 hours. B-Pro says it opened as a grooming salon in 1975 and added the academy in 1995.

Pampered Paws (Toronto, Mississauga and Scarborough). Different shape from the rest: its programs are built from four-week units, and its Groomers Professional Development Program is listed at 4 to 16 weeks, with separate advanced scissor, stylist and business-owner programs. It is not on the ODGA list, and we have not checked how its programs are registered, so ask the school.

• Concept Pet Grooming Academy — program page (read 8 October 2026)
• Fluffy Paws Grooming School — curriculum (read 8 October 2026)
• B-Pro Grooming — home page and course details (read 8 October 2026)
• Pampered Paws — schooling (read 8 October 2026)
• ODGA — grooming schools list, source for the Richmond Hill and Brampton hours and weeks (read 8 October 2026)

Three more programs appear on the ODGA's list. We have read these on that page only, not on the schools' own sites, so treat the figures as the ODGA's.

Pets Beautiful School of Styling (London): a Pet Styling program, 10 weeks and 300 hours. DogPort Academy of Dog Grooming (Woodstock): a 240-hour All Breed Dog Grooming Course over 6 weeks. Northern College, Haileybury campus: an Animal Grooming program, 28 weeks and 670 hours.

The ODGA introduces its list as schools listed with the Ontario ministry and says it posts the page for information only. It is the one public list of Ontario grooming schools we found, but it is an industry association's page, so it can be out of date. Check any school you are serious about against the province's own search below.

• ODGA — grooming schools list (read 8 October 2026)

Grooming is not regulated, but selling it as career training generally is. In Ontario, a career college that runs vocational programs has to be registered under the Ontario Career Colleges Act, 2005, and the Superintendent of Career Colleges registers it, authorizes each program and publishes notices and orders against institutions that break the rules. The province has a search for registered colleges on its career colleges page, and registered colleges publish key performance indicators, which usually include graduation and employment rates.

Do that check yourself rather than taking our list or the ODGA's as proof. If a school is not on the province's search, ask it directly how its program is registered before you pay a deposit. It's a reasonable question and a good school will answer it plainly.

• Government of Ontario — career colleges (read 8 October 2026)

Tuition is what most people want from a page like this, and it is the number we trust least. It changes more often than anything else on a school's site, and the fee a student pays is usually tuition plus books plus other fees, listed separately. When we compared one school's own page with a third-party listing of the same program, the two tuition figures differed by thousands of dollars.

Ask any school for the total in writing, with books, supplies, kit and any fees that are not tuition. Then ask what is refundable and when.

Hours are not all equal. A 300-hour program and a 360-hour program say nothing about how long you will have clippers in your hand. Concept is the only school above whose page we read that publishes its split (205 of 360 hours hands-on); for the others, ask how many hours are on live dogs and how many are lecture, video or watching.

Ask how many different dogs you will groom yourself and which coat types they are: a double coat, a curly poodle coat and a smooth coat are three different skills. Ask whether cats are included, who teaches and how long they have groomed professionally, and whether the school helps with placement or a starter portfolio. Ask what share of last year's students finished and found work, and whether that number matches the school's published performance data.

And ask what you will be ready to do the day you finish. Working under an experienced groomer and running your own van are different jobs, and a program should be able to say which one it is preparing you for.

We opened each school's own page and the ODGA's list on 8 October 2026 and copied only what they state. Where a school's page and the ODGA differ or one is missing, we say which source a figure comes from. We left out schools we could not find a public program page or listing for, and the list is not exhaustive: online programs, short workshops and in-salon apprenticeships are all real ways to learn that this page does not cover.

No school paid to be listed, WashDash is not affiliated with any of them, and nothing here is a recommendation. If you run one of these programs and a figure is wrong or out of date, email hello@washdash.ca with the page that shows the correct one and we'll fix it.