A dog bather washes, dries and brushes dogs — the bath-and-brush front half of the groom.
The core ticket is bath, blow-dry, brush-out, nail trim, ear clean.
Around it, employer postings add check-in, appointments, records, retail and cleaning.
The checklist, as this page shows, is written by each employer.
Core tasks: bath, blow-dry, brush-out, nails, ears
The core of the job is one repeating cycle: brush-outs around the bath, blow-drying, then nail trims and ear cleaning — dog after dog, shift after shift.
O*NET's task list for animal caretakers — the occupation whose reported titles include Dog Bather — names washing, brushing, clipping and trimming coats, cutting nails, and cleaning ears, along with discussing a pet's grooming needs with clients, answering telephones and scheduling appointments.
The bath is not the whole ticket: the employer postings put blow-drying and brush-outs on the bather's list alongside the tub work.
One posting shows how far the ticket can stretch.
Scenthound's Dog Bather — it calls the role Scent Tech — bathes, blow-dries, trims or grinds nails, cleans ears, brushes coats, cleans teeth and expresses glands, and records the dog's health indicators in its S.C.E.N.T. check app — Skin, Coat, Ears, Nails, Teeth, per its postings.
That posting also names a training path from bather to Groomer ("Trimmer"), with front desk and management tracks beyond it.
Titles vary by employer — Pet Bather, Junior Groomer, Grooming Technician, Scent Tech — so read the task list, not the label.
The list doubles as the vocabulary for a dog bather job description on a resume: name the services you performed, not just "helped around the salon."
For pay, settings, experience requirements and the move from bather to groomer, the dog bather career guide covers the role in full.
Big-box bather tasks: PetSmart, Petco and Pet Supplies Plus
The big-box pet stores hire bathers into the grooming salons they run inside their stores, and their bather postings read like service menus: a bath-and-brush core, a list of standalone services, and front-desk and cleaning work attached around it.
PetSmart's posting says its Pet Bather independently performs the full menu of bath and brush services and standalone services such as nail trims, teeth brushing and sanitary services, as well as standalone services for cats.
The same posting adds check-in and reservations, selling merchandise and keeping the whole store clean.
Cats are part of the job for new hires: PetSmart requires bathers hired on or after March 2, 2026 to provide standalone grooming services for cats, while bathers hired before that date can opt in to cat training.
PetSmart also requires its Pet Bathers to complete the company's Splash training and safety certification program.
Petco's entry role is the Junior Groomer: bathing, drying, nail trimming, brushing, ear cleaning and gland cleaning under close supervision of experienced groomers.
The posting adds cleaning the salon — air filters, vents and drains included — plus scheduling appointments and keeping grooming records.
Pet Supplies Plus posts a bather role under another name — one franchisee's listing calls it Grooming Technician (Bather / Student Groomer).
That posting asked for no prior experience, listed a 65-lb lifting requirement, and named hands-on training plus online grooming coursework.
It is also one owner's posting: Pet Supplies Plus's postings state that its franchised stores are independently owned, and the franchisee — not Pet Supplies Plus Franchise Operations — is the sole employer.
Gland work is named on Petco's and Scenthound's lists, while PetSmart's posting names its standalone services with a "such as", not as a full list — a small example of why the interview question "what exactly lands on a bather's ticket?" is worth asking.
Independent salon tasks: the same tub, a shorter script
Take away the corporate menu and the core ticket is the same cycle this page opened with: brush-outs around the bath, dry, nails, ears.
O*NET's occupation-level task list reads much like an independent salon's bather ticket — Dog Bather is among the reported titles behind it.
What changes is who writes the list.
In a small salon, without a corporate menu, the ticket is whatever the owner or the lead groomer hands you that day.
It can reach past the tub, too: the phone and booking work O*NET lists for the occupation — answering telephones, scheduling appointments — can sit with the bather.
Ask for the task list in the interview, not after.
Which services a bather performs, who checks the finished dog, and what to do when you notice something on a dog's skin — those answers are each salon's own, and they define the job more than the title does.
Ask for the ticket, not the title
Safety tasks: watching the dog at every step
Tub work puts the bather's hands on the dog — and on whatever the coat was hiding.
O*NET lists examining animals for signs of illness or injury — and contacting veterinarians — among animal caretakers' tasks.
Scenthound turns that habit into workflow: its posting has Scent Techs identify the dog's health indicators and enter them into its S.C.E.N.T. check app.
Whatever you find — a lump, a raw patch, a tender ear, fleas — the move is the same: stop, tell the groomer and the owner, and let the owner's veterinarian decide what it is.
Bathers spot and refer.
Diagnosing or treating is not the job.
Attention extends to the equipment.
Follow the salon's dryer rules, keep checking the dog under the nozzle, and use the restraints the salon provides at the tub and on the table.
Injury risk is real in this work — BLS counts it among the realities of caring for animals — so report every bite and scratch to the lead and follow the salon's injury procedure.
What bathers don't do
The haircut is the clearest boundary.
Petco's Junior Groomer performs limited grooming services under close supervision of experienced groomers, and PetSmart's bather posting describes bath-and-brush plus standalone services — neither posting frames the bather's job as cutting.
The cut and styling are the groomer's work.
Diagnosis is the second.
Bathers see skin, ears and coats all day, and what they see goes to the groomer and the owner — the veterinarian decides what it is and how to treat it.
Medication and treatment calls are not the bather's to make.
Supervision varies by employer: Petco's Junior Groomer works under close supervision of experienced groomers, while PetSmart's posting says its Pet Bather independently performs the bath-and-brush menu.
How much autonomy a bather gets is the employer's call — one more interview question.
Career information, not legal, tax, insurance or veterinary advice — for what a specific bather job includes, ask the employer; for a pet's health, talk to a veterinarian.