The Dapper Dog, a mobile dog grooming business, is looking to fluff up pups where they live.

Groomer Nicole Ferguson and her business partners Lee Ann and Tony Jackson started the service this month and it’s already gaining traction.

“Durango is such a dog town, we figured it would be a good fit,” Tony Jackson said.

The van offers several advantages over dropping a dog off at the groomers, Ferguson said.

It’s convenient for dog owners and, in general, it keeps dogs much calmer because they don’t have to be taken to a strange place and kept in a kennel all day, she said.

“They just don’t seem stressed,” Ferguson said.

Dogs walk into the van and onto an electric grooming table that can be lowered to the floor and then raised even with the bathtub so they can walk from one to the other.

In the bottom of the tub, the shampoo and water are mixed together and then sucked up into a sprayer so that Ferguson doesn’t have to get the dogs wet before shampooing them. Soaking dogs with water before shampooing them can actually make it harder to get unpleasant smells out of their fur, she said.

Her shampoo helps loosen a dog’s undercoat, if they have one, and then she may use a high-velocity blow dryer to remove fur they are going to shed, she said.

The gray water is biodegradable, so it can be used to water the Jacksons’ vegetables and plants.

Ferguson grew up in Durango, but she learned to groom dogs in Austin, Texas.

Ferguson has groomed 30 dogs in the last three weeks, and The Dapper Dog has some repeat bookings already, Lee Ann Jackson said.

Ferguson hopes to serve the region and spend a day at a time in areas such as Mancos and Bayfield.

It takes Ferguson about an hour to groom a dog, but it varies based on the dog’s size, and prices range from $45 to over $100.

mshinn@durangoherald.com