No licence is needed to groom dogs in Australia. There is no registration board, and no qualification you must hold before you pick up a pair of clippers and charge someone. The rules that do exist are about the business: New South Wales and the ACT have codes of practice for grooming establishments, and councils have their own rules for premises.
That is the honest starting point and it cuts both ways. It means you can begin, which is genuinely good. It also means the person down the road who has never been shown how to handle an anxious dog can begin too, and the industry carries the consequences of that.
The qualification, and what it is actually for
The nationally recognised one is ACM30122 Certificate III in Animal Care Services (Pet Grooming). It replaced ACM30121 in July 2022. ACM30121 was the 2021 qualification that merged the old ACM30617 Certificate III in Pet Grooming with two other animal care certificates, and ACM30617 had itself replaced ACM30612 in 2017. You will still see those older codes on the national training register and on some older course pages. What the qualification covers, and who teaches it in each state, is in how to choose a dog grooming course.
It is delivered by registered training organisations and by TAFE, usually as a blend of online theory and hands-on practical. The content is what you would expect: bathing, drying, brushing and combing, nail and ear work, clipping, scissor finishing, breed patterns, plus the parts people skip when self-teaching, which are animal handling, workplace safety and talking to customers.
If you are already working in a salon or an animal care role, ask about recognition of prior learning. Your existing skills get assessed against the units instead of you sitting through them. Plenty of experienced groomers formalise this way rather than starting from nothing.
What the certificate is for, honestly: it is not a licence, because there is nothing to license. It is a credential that helps you get hired, satisfies some insurers and some landlords, and gives you a structured version of knowledge you would otherwise assemble in a random order over five years.
The route most working groomers actually took
Ask around and you will find the same path repeatedly: get a job as a bather.
Bathing is the apprenticeship this trade actually runs on, whatever the paperwork says. You wash, you dry, you learn what a coat does when it is wet, you learn which dogs hate the dryer, and you watch someone competent work for a year. Then you start doing feet and faces, then whole dogs, then you are a groomer.
There is a formal version of this route, the traineeship, which comes next. But most people in this industry did not come through one. They came through a bucket and a hose.
If you can do both, do both. Work as a bather and study alongside it. The theory lands very differently when you had that exact dog on the table last Tuesday.
Dog grooming apprenticeships and traineeships
What people search for as a dog grooming apprenticeship is registered as a traineeship in the states we checked. A salon employs and pays you, and you work towards the Certificate III at the same time, with a training organisation assessing you on the job.
- New South Wales: an approved traineeship with a nominal term of 24 months, or 12 months if you already hold the Certificate II in Animal Care. It is not open to school students part time. A registered trainee pays no fee for the TAFE NSW course.
- Victoria: an approved traineeship of up to 24 months full time or 48 months part time, at a minimum of 13 hours a week. GOTAFE runs it over two years part time.
- Queensland: a traineeship of its own, Animal Attendant (Pet Grooming), with a nominal term of 24 months. It is funded, and school-based traineeships are allowed.
We could not confirm the arrangement in Western Australia or South Australia, so ask the state training authority there before you plan around one.
A trainee's pay comes from the National Training Wage in Schedule E of the Miscellaneous Award 2020, where clause E.6.2 puts the Animal Care and Management training package at Wage Level B. The weekly rate then depends on the highest year of school you finished and how long you have been out of school, so check it in Fair Work's Pay and Conditions Tool rather than trusting a figure in a job ad. Off a traineeship, the award's ordinary rates apply, at a percentage of the adult rate if you are under 21.
If you are the salon, one catch: neither the federal Priority Hiring Incentive nor the Australian Apprentice Training Support Payment applies, because the Australian Apprenticeships Priority List carries this qualification only for veterinary nurses.
On dog grooming courses online in Australia
Online has a real place and a hard limit.
The theory genuinely works online. Coat types, breed standards, skin conditions, safety, customer handling, the business side. Read it at night, at your pace, cheaply.
Scissoring does not work online. Neither does handling. You cannot learn to feel when a dog is about to move from a video, and you cannot learn a blade angle without someone standing next to you saying no, like this.
So the question to ask any online provider is a simple one: how many practical hours do I do, where, and with whose dogs. If the answer is vague, or if the course is entirely online with no assessed practical component, you are buying a folder of PDFs.
Be equally careful with the short unaccredited courses. A two-day workshop from a good groomer can be excellent, and it is not a qualification. Both things are true.
What it costs your body, before you commit
We would rather you knew this now than in year four.
You will stand for eight to ten hours on a hard floor. You will lift dogs that do not want to be lifted. You will hold your arms up and your wrists at an angle for most of the day. The dryer is loud enough to damage your hearing and the air carries fine hair and dander into your lungs.
None of that is a reason not to do it. All of it is manageable if you set up properly from the start, and close to unmanageable if you fix it after the damage.
Read these three before you buy anything else: shoes, mats and your back, the dryer and your hearing, and air, dust and groomer's lung. They are the three things nobody warns a new groomer about.
The professional dog grooming kit to start with
If you get a salon job, your employer provides the table, the tub and the dryer. That is the norm and it is worth knowing, because being asked to supply your own is a sign about the salon rather than about the industry.
What you buy is your hand tools. Realistically, to start:
One clipper, a set of about ten blades so you can swap a hot one, a guard comb set that fits those blades, a straight shear and a curved shear, a steel comb, a slicker brush, a nail clipper, blade oil and a cloth. That is a professional dog grooming kit and it is a smaller list than the shops will sell you.
We have written each of those up properly: clippers and blades, shears, and what to wear.
Buy the shears last. Your grip and your preferences change enormously in the first two years, and a beginner buying expensive scissors is buying somebody else's opinion.
Then the part nobody teaches
The technical skill is the easy half. Groomers who last are the ones who learn the other half: saying no to a dog you cannot safely handle, charging properly for a matted coat instead of absorbing three extra hours, and telling an owner something they do not want to hear about their dog's skin.
Those are the skills that decide whether this is a career or a burnout, and no certificate covers them.
If you are going to work for yourself
Not immediately. Work for somebody else first, long enough to be fast, because speed is what makes the numbers work and you cannot price properly until you know how long you actually take.
When you do go out on your own, the decisions are: mobile, home salon or shopfront, and each has a different cost and a different council conversation. We have written the mobile van fit-out and its power and water separately, and there is a whole guide to pet business insurance in Australia, which you need before the first dog and not after the first incident.
Frequently asked questions
Can you become a dog groomer without going to grooming school?
Yes. No licence or qualification is needed to work, and plenty of groomers learnt on the job after starting as a bather. If you want the qualification later, the Certificate III has no entry requirements, and an experienced groomer can be assessed through recognition of prior learning instead of sitting every unit.
What qualification do you need to be a dog groomer?
None by law. The recognised one is ACM30122 Certificate III in Animal Care Services (Pet Grooming). Check that a course includes the grooming units, because the same certificate is also sold as a general animal care course without them. We list who teaches the grooming version in how to choose a dog grooming course.
How do you get your first grooming job?
Apply to busy salons for bathing work, and ask at the interview whether you would be taught to groom. A salon that only wants a pair of bathing hands will usually say so, which is worth knowing before you start.
How do you get grooming experience as a beginner?
On real dogs, with someone correcting you. A bathing job is the usual start because it puts hundreds of dogs through your hands, and a traineeship adds the qualification to that job. If you would rather learn before you look for work, a practical short course gets you supervised grooms within weeks. Heiniger Academy's Practical Pet Grooming, for one, ends in a statement of attainment for five grooming units that counts towards the Certificate III.
Should you start as a bather?
For most people, yes. Bathing is how this trade actually trains people: you learn what a wet coat does and which dogs hate the dryer before you pick up scissors. Choose a salon with a groomer willing to teach, and ask when you would start on feet and faces.
Can a trainee practise on real clients?
Yes, under supervision. On a traineeship or a workplace-based Certificate III you work on the salon's own clients while a qualified groomer checks the work and your training organisation assesses it on the job. The ACT's code of practice for grooming establishments recommends full supervision by senior, experienced staff while someone is in training.
When are you ready to groom on your own?
When you can finish the common coats in commercial time without anyone checking, and you know how long each job takes you, because that is the number you will price from. Most groomers get there working for someone else first. Nobody tests you for it.
How do you keep learning after the qualification?
There is no Certificate IV in grooming any more: the Certificate IV in Pet Styling was deleted in 2021. The formal step up is the ACMSS00032 Advanced Dog Grooming Skill Set, four units on grooming to breed standard, up to competition and show level. After that it is workshops and time next to groomers better than you.
What should go in a grooming portfolio?
Before and after photos of every breed you work on, taken the same way each time, with the owner's permission. Start on your first day, not the week you need a job. It gets you hired more reliably than a certificate.
How do you find a mentor?
Usually by working for one. Choose your first salon partly for the groomer who will teach you, and ask about it at the interview. On a course, ask when your trainer last groomed for money, because you want someone who still works at commercial pace.
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Sources
- training.gov.au, ACM30122 Certificate III in Animal Care Services: training.gov.au
- training.gov.au, ACM30122 qualification and packaging rules: training.gov.au
- training.gov.au, ACM30121 Certificate III in Animal Care Services, superseded: training.gov.au
- training.gov.au, ACM30617 Certificate III in Pet Grooming, superseded: training.gov.au
- training.gov.au, ACM40617 Certificate IV in Pet Styling, deleted: training.gov.au
- training.gov.au, ACMSS00032 Advanced Dog Grooming Skill Set: training.gov.au
- NSW Government, Traineeship 8068, Animal Care Services Certificate III: training.nsw.gov.au
- NSW Government, Commencement Information Bulletin 737: nsw.gov.au
- NSW Government, Smart and Skilled qualification prices and fees: nsw.gov.au
- Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority, Animal Care and Management training schemes: vrqa.vic.gov.au
- Queensland Government, Animal Attendant (Pet Grooming) traineeship: qtis.training.qld.gov.au
- Fair Work Commission, Miscellaneous Award 2020 [MA000104], consolidated to 1 July 2026, clause 15.4 and Schedule E: fwc.gov.au
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Trainee rates in the National Training Wage schedule: library.fairwork.gov.au
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Pay and Conditions Tool: calculate.fairwork.gov.au
- Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Apprenticeships Priority List from 1 April 2026: dewr.gov.au
- Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System guidelines: dewr.gov.au
- Australian Business Licence and Information Service, NSW Animal Welfare Code of Practice No 8: ablis.business.gov.au
- ACT Government, Code of Practice for Pet Grooming Establishments in the ACT: legislation.act.gov.au
- GOTAFE, Certificate III in Animal Care Services: gotafe.vic.edu.au
- Heiniger Academy, Practical Pet Grooming short course: heinigeracademy.com.au
Check current delivery, fees and practical hours with the training organisation, and traineeship arrangements with your state training authority, because those vary.