Photo courtesy of Happy Dog Baths and Grooming.
Dr. Kris and Mike Mahaffey, owners of Happy Dog Baths and Grooming and Dr. Kris’s Mobile Vet Clinic.
In Mountain Brook, waiting weeks for a good salon appointment is just part of the routine — and local dogs are no exception, lining up for a spot at Happy Dog Baths & Grooming.
Three groomers are booked out about three weeks, seeing 20 to 25 dogs a day, five days a week, on a steady six- to eight-week rotation.
“There’s so many amazing dogs, and the parents just truly care about their animals,” said Kristine Harrison, who has been a groomer at Happy Dog in Crestline for six years.
Happy Dog Baths and Grooming didn’t just appear out of nowhere. It grew out of a business that was already well known to local pet owners.
Photo by Erin Nelson.
Orbe Sanchez trims the fur behind Olive’s ears during her grooming appointment. Mike Mahafey, owner of the dog salon, also expanded operations to a location in Vestavia Hills.
“We knew that there was a need,” owner Mike Mahaffey said.
Before the grooming shop, Mahaffey and his wife, Dr. Kris Mahaffey, ran Pet Vet Express, a veterinary clinic in Mountain Brook.
About six years ago, they sold that clinic, which now operates as Crestline Pet Care under a different veterinarian. In 2021, they opened Dr. Kris’s Mobile Vet Clinic in Vestavia Hills, serving Over the Mountain pet clients at their homes.
They kept the Crestline grooming portion of the business and turned it into its own venture, Happy Dog, with a signature feature being that dogs are all groomed in the front of the shop — always in full view.
“We had at the time one groomer, and we had such a demand, we had the opportunity to get a second storefront, which is the one we’re in now,” Mahaffey said. “So we took the leap.”
They also run a Vestavia Hills location of Happy Dog Baths & Grooming.
The mix of breeds tells its own story about Mountain Brook.
“We see a lot of doodles — Goldendoodles, Bernedoodles, Labradoodles,” Mahaffey said. “We see a lot of doodles, but we see a lot of small dogs too.”
Photo courtesy of Happy Dog Baths and Grooming.
Happy Dog Baths and Grooming client Rocky shows off a fresh new haircut. The salon sees about 25 dogs a day, five days a week.
Mahaffey said there is no complicated formula behind their success. To him, it feels as straightforward as a trip to the barber.
“It’s just like getting a bad haircut,” Mahaffey said. “You get a bad haircut, you’re probably not going to go back to that person, but if you like the way it looks, you just keep coming back and back and back.”
The rest, he said, comes down to the people who live here.
“Mountain Brook people like to support Mountain Brook businesses, and that’s part of what has made us as successful as we are, along with having good service and great groomers,” Mahaffey said. “We’re proud to be a Mountain Brook business.”
Happy Dog has been an active part of the business community since it first opened.
“Happy Dog Baths & Grooming has long been a beloved part of Crestline Village and the Mountain Brook community,” said Lizzie Maymon, executive director of the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce. “They are the kind of business that reminds us what local truly means: building relationships, caring for our four-legged family members and creating connections that extend far beyond the front door.”
For more, visit happydog205.com.
