The Dog Stop Bundles Grooming, Wellness Checks, and Telehealth Into a $49 Monthly Membership

The Dog Stop, the Pittsburgh-based dog daycare and grooming franchise operating 49 locations across 19 states, launched Complete Care, a monthly membership that bundles grooming, wellness check-ins, and 24/7 vet telehealth into one no-contract plan. Daycare members pay $49 a month, customers who don't use daycare pay $69. The company says the program delivers more than $200 in monthly value.

The service bundle and what it changes about the revenue model

Complete Care combines what the company calls premium benefits into one plan. The program includes grooming services, wellness check-ins with staff trained in dog behavior and nutrition, and 24/7 vet telehealth. Members who join now get priority access to the TDS Wellness Tracker, a smart wearable device powered by Fi Collar that monitors activity and wellness data. The tracker costs members a one-time $19.99 activation fee covering the device and six months of monitoring, with optional renewal after that.

The program is month-to-month. No long-term contract, which lowers the barrier but also means retention has to work every billing cycle.

Jesse Coslov, CEO and co-founder of The Dog Stop, said the program makes the company "their trusted partner for their dog's health and happiness" by consolidating services pet parents would otherwise piece together from separate providers.

What the subscription model does to cash flow and visit frequency

Subscription revenue smooths the peaks and valleys of appointment-based grooming. A franchisee collects $49 or $69 every month whether the customer books that week or not, which steadies cash flow. The trade: you're now responsible for delivering enough perceived value that the member doesn't cancel after month two.

The bundle also creates reasons to come back. The program includes grooming benefits that give a customer permission to visit more often than the typical six-week appointment cycle. More visits mean more chances to upsell retail, training, or boarding. Dave Sims, vice president of marketing at The Dog Stop, framed the wellness tracker as a tool that "lets us, and our pet parents, notice those things even when a dog is at home on the couch," extending the relationship beyond the four walls.

The $200-plus claimed monthly value assumes the customer uses the full set of benefits. A member who uses only a fraction of what's included is paying $49 for services they could price separately elsewhere. Retention depends on whether the average member activates enough of the bundle to feel like they're winning.

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The operational load this adds to a franchise location

The Dog Stop is a franchise system, which means success depends on whether individual locations can operationalize the program without breaking their labor model. Grooming benefits that encourage frequent visits sound simple until you're staffing for unpredictable walk-in volume on top of scheduled grooming and daycare. Monthly wellness check-ins require trained staff who can spot behavior or nutrition flags, not someone working the register.

The telehealth component is almost certainly white-labeled, which keeps the franchisee from having to hire a vet but also means the experience is only as good as the third-party provider's responsiveness. If a member calls the vet line at 9 p.m. and gets a runaround, they blame The Dog Stop, not the vendor.

The wellness tracker adds another layer. The company says members can discuss activity data during their monthly check-ins, which sounds useful but also assumes the staff member doing the check-in knows how to interpret the tracker's output and turn it into advice the pet parent can act on. That's a training lift.

Our read: the model works if the bundle drives enough incremental visits to cover the discount

The Dog Stop is assuming that a $49 or $69 monthly fee will increase lifetime customer value enough to offset the margin it's giving up on à la carte grooming. That works if members visit more often, buy more retail on those visits, and stay subscribed long enough to cover the acquisition cost of signing them up in the first place.

The no-contract structure is the right call for a new program, but it also means churn will show up fast if the perceived value doesn't match the pitch. A member who pays for a few months and uses only part of what's included is a margin loss, not a win.

The tracker could be the retention hook that makes the whole thing work, or it could be a device that sits in a drawer. The $19.99 activation fee is low enough that members will try it, but the six-month monitoring window means the company has half a year to prove the data is useful before the renewal decision hits.

What we'd watch: how many members are still subscribed at month six, and whether the program increases retail sales per visit or cannibalizes grooming revenue that was already happening.

What to do if you're deciding whether to add a subscription tier to your own services

If you run grooming, daycare, or boarding and you're considering a membership model, start by looking at your current customer. How often does your average grooming customer visit now, and what do they spend per visit when you include retail? A subscription makes sense if it increases visit frequency enough to drive incremental retail sales that cover the discount you're giving on the bundled services.

Don't bundle services you can't deliver consistently. Benefits that encourage frequent visits only work if you can staff for walk-in volume without turning appointments away. Monthly wellness check-ins only work if your team is trained to do them and has time to do them well.

Price the membership so a customer who uses half the benefits still feels like they're winning. If the only way it works is if they use everything every month, your churn rate will tell you that by month three.

Test it as an add-on for existing customers before you market it to new ones. Your current customers already trust you, which makes them more likely to subscribe and more forgiving if the program has rough edges in the first few months. If they don't renew, you learn what's broken before you've spent money acquiring new members who leave as fast.

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