Fuzzy Monsters Pet Boutique & Salon

Fuzzy Monsters is a pet boutique and grooming salon in Chippendale, just south of Sydney's CBD, where the retail side — coats, clothes and accessories, with staff happy to help try things on — sits alongside the grooming room. Groomer Tara draws most of the comment. Long-standing clients, including a pair of Havanese who have been coming for three years, alternate between a wash and tidy and a full groom done with scissors only.

A pattern across the feedback is how settled the dogs are at both ends of the appointment: owners describe pets handing over calmly and coming back out bouncing, still smelling clean days later. Sensitive dogs are handled with the same patience — a labradoodle his owner describes as anxious is a regular — and first puppy grooms get an unhurried treatment. Bookings are made directly rather than online, something one reviewer would like to see change. It suits long-coated dogs whose owners want scissor work over a clipper finish, and dogs that find grooming stressful.