Working at Petco as a Groomer: Jobs, Training and What It's Like

Petco's grooming careers page lays out one ladder: Junior Groomer, Pet Stylist Apprentice, Groomer, Pet Stylist Pro, Grooming Salon Manager and Instructor.

The first two rungs are training roles — 12 weeks of paid training as a Junior Groomer, covering bathing, drying and safety, then 6 weeks as a Pet Stylist Apprentice, learning to groom and style.

Titles shift between pages, so read them loosely at the entry level.

The careers page says Junior Groomer, while an October 2026 posting for that role describes the trainee as a "Junior Pet Stylist" — and for the groomer role itself, Petco's posting titles it "Groomer (Pet Stylist)".

The Groomer rung is where the styling work lands, which Petco's careers page describes as hourly pay plus incentives.

It can also carry supervision: Petco's Groomer posting says a groomer may train and supervise entry-level trainees when no Grooming Salon Leader is present.

Salons sit inside a large retail operation.

Petco's careers site says it operates 1,500+ Petco Pet Care Center store locations plus 250+ Vetco Total Care hospitals, though we did not find a count of how many of those stores run grooming salons.

Its fiscal 2025 annual report counts over 29,000 partners — employees — with over 26,000 in pet care centers, and describes the services business as veterinary care, grooming and training together.

Grooming's size inside that mix is not broken out: the same report puts "Services and other" net sales — veterinary, grooming, training and other services combined — at about $1.03 billion for fiscal 2025, with no grooming-only figure.

For what the groomer job looks like across settings, not just Petco's, start with the dog groomer career guide.

Petco posts its grooming openings on its own careers site, and the entry door is Junior Groomer.

A San Diego posting for that role from October 2026 asks for 0-1 year of animal-related experience, and says shelter volunteering or pet sitting counts toward it.

That posting prefers a high school diploma or GED but does not require one, and it lists weekend, evening and holiday availability as requirements.

The availability line matters as much as the experience line.

The Groomer (Pet Stylist) posting has a higher bar.

Petco requires successful completion of its own Pet Stylist Apprentice program, or previous experience as a professional groomer and/or completion of a technical grooming training program.

So there are two ways in at the Groomer level: grow up through Petco's own ladder, or arrive already trained with one of the qualifications above.

If you have no grooming background at all, the Junior Groomer route is the one built for you — it asks for animal experience, not grooming experience.

Training is paid, on Petco's own description, at the entry rungs and in the stylist certification program.

The careers page pairs 12 weeks of paid training with Junior Groomer and 6 weeks with Pet Stylist Apprentice, and it says every Petco Certified Pet Stylist begins with a paid, 20-week certification program.

Read those numbers carefully, because Petco's own materials state the length differently.

The careers page gives 12 and 6 weeks for the entry rungs and 20 weeks for the stylist program; a Junior Groomer posting from October 2026 describes a ten-week training period as a "Junior Pet Stylist".

The honest summary is paid training in the range of 10 to 20 weeks, depending on which Petco page you read and when.

The October posting also shows what the weeks contain: weeks 1 through 3 on dog behavior, safety and check-in, then weeks 3 through 10 performing bathing and walk-in services to weekly productivity goals.

Bathing comes first; styling is what the Apprentice rung adds.

Petco also supplies the gear.

Its posting lists the supplies and equipment a groomer needs — brushes, nail trimmers, clippers, blades, shampoo, sprays and dryers among them — as provided by the company.

And one framing note: the Pet Stylist certification is Petco's own program — the title and the curriculum are the company's — and it is not a government grooming license.

The schedule expectations are stated in the Junior Groomer posting itself: weekend, evening and holiday availability.

That is a retail schedule, stated right in the entry posting.

The physical demands are stated too.

Petco's postings for Junior Groomer, Groomer and Grooming Salon Manager describe bending, kneeling, lifting up to 30 pounds and standing for long periods, in a work environment the company says "can be noisy and wet".

Lift numbers differ by employer, so read each posting's own list: Petco's postings say up to 30 pounds, while PetSmart's Pet Groomer and Pet Bather postings require frequently lifting or moving up to 50 pounds.

Each figure is that employer's own posting requirement.

On pace, the posting talks in weeks, not headcounts: trainees work to weekly productivity goals, and the Petco postings we read publish no count of dogs handled per shift.

How many dogs move through a given salon is set by that store's booking, which is a fair question to ask in the interview.

Petco's careers page describes its Groomer rung as hourly pay plus incentives.

The pages we read do not publish a commission percentage, so how the incentive piece is built is something to ask about at the store.

What a store pays shows up in its posting.

One October 2026 Junior Groomer posting in San Diego listed a pay range of $10.00–$21.50 per hour.

The posting notes that the regulatory minimum wage applies if it is higher than the range minimum.

Treat that range as that one posting's, dated October 2026 — not as a Petco-wide figure.

The current posting is the source of record for a specific salon.

This page is built from the company's own careers pages, postings and annual report rather than worker surveys; we did not gather groomer reviews.

The balance below is what those documents show.

The upside, from Petco's own documents:

• Training is paid at the entry rungs and in the stylist certification program (per its careers page).
• Tools and products are supplied by the company — brushes, clippers, blades, shampoo and dryers are on its list.
• The ladder is published: Junior Groomer to Instructor, so the next rung is named rather than guessed.
• The entry posting asks for animal experience, not grooming experience, and counts shelter volunteering or pet sitting toward it.
• Petco's annual report tells investors that its ability to hire, train and retain skilled personnel, including groomers, is a risk factor.

The trade-offs, from the same documents:

• Weekend, evening and holiday availability is stated in the entry posting.
• The work bends, kneels, lifts up to 30 pounds and stands for long periods, in surroundings Petco itself describes as noisy and wet.
• Weekly productivity goals are written into the training period itself.
• The certification is Petco's own program — the title and curriculum are the company's, not a government grooming license.
• Petco's pages state the training length differently, so the store's actual calendar is the number that counts.

For a beginner, Petco's offer is built around paid training and supplied tools.

The training is paid on the company's own description, the equipment is supplied, and the entry posting asks for animal experience rather than grooming experience.

You also get a structure to measure progress by.

The rungs are named, the Groomer posting says exactly what it accepts — Petco's apprentice program, prior professional experience, or a technical grooming program — and the company supplies the equipment while you learn.

The trade-off is that the whole structure is Petco's: your training, your certification, your title and your pay plan are defined by one company, and its retail schedule and productivity goals are part of the deal.

For a first table, that structure is the point; the question is whether the terms fit you.

Weigh it against the other routes in — grooming school, a salon apprenticeship, or starting as a bather anywhere — with how to become a dog groomer, which compares all of them step by step.

When you are ready to look around, browse dog groomer jobs to see which salons and big-box grooming departments are hiring near you, and check Petco's careers site for its current Junior Groomer openings.

Petco's postings, careers pages and filings change; the details above are dated as read. Confirm current openings, pay and training terms with Petco's careers site before you apply.