Dog Grooming Tips for Beginners

A common question dog groomers are asked is, “How often should I groom my dog?” The answer to that dog grooming question is based on what breed of dog you own. Other factors are the length of the coat, whether it grows quickly or at a slower rate and the rate at which the coat sheds. It’s also based on your personal preference, as in do you want a dog with medium to long hair or very short hair, and just how much effort you are willing to put into maintaining your dog’s coat.

To help you out, here are some basic guidelines for using your dog’s coat as a dog grooming point of reference:

Double-Coated Long Haired Dogs

These beautiful dogs, Golden Retrievers, for example, do shed seasonally. If you want the hair on your dog to stay long and unmatted, then you should brush it every day, and take a trip to the groomer every 4 weeks so that its nails can be filed, it can have its ears cleaned, and paw pads trimmed. In addition to their generally long fur, they have long, silky feathery fur on their legs, feet, stomachs, rears, and ears that you just may want to have out of the way. Longer hair is more apt to become matted. Don’t attempt to cut matted dog hair on your own, because you just might end up cutting your dog instead. The answer is, of course, a trip to the dog groomer for a dog haircut.

Dogs that Have Thick Undercoats

Certain types of dogs, such as a Newfoundland breed have an extremely dense undercoat that needs to be combed out and brushed out seasonally or it can lead to terrible matting that will need to be shaved out. While the shaving itself won’t hurt your dog, it does harm your dog’s fur and really shouldn’t be done unless the situation is severe. Also, be cautious of harmful UV rays with this type of coat. Shaving the coat lets the sun reach the skin and causes sunburns. It is essential to groom your dog every three months in these cases.

Short Haired Breeds

Pugs are an excellent example of this type of breed. They are less work to take care of because they only require baths every now and then, and there is little brushing involved.

Short Haired Double-Coated Breeds

German Shepherds are a great example of this kind of dog. These dogs normally shed seasonally. Give them a thorough grooming four times a year to get out the dead undercoat, which will just lay there undisturbed until it finds its way to your carpet.

Silky-Coated Dogs

Yorkies are members of this class of dogs. The dogs in this category have a single coat that never stops growing and needs occasional trimming. If you want to go the easy way, then an extremely short cut will last about two to three months, but basically, unless you have your dog shaved to within a hair of its skin, it really requires grooming about every four to six weeks so that there won’t be any matting.

Terriers

Their short, wiry fur is less liable to mat. You can let them go up to two or three months between dog grooming sessions.

Curly and Wavy Fur

Now a Goldendoodle is a great example of this type of dog. You can count on these breeds to become matted no matter what you do. Brush coats that are longer than half an inch twice a week or more. Fur that is longer than one inch requires every day brushing. This kind of dog must receive dog grooming every four to six weeks to avoid severe matting.