Dog grooming is an important part of keeping your dog happy and healthy. Grooming is more than just brushing your dog. Grooming your fur friend is a full process that includes the following: checking their body for health issues, brushing them, bathing them and clipping their full body, including their ears, nails and tail. And yes, grooming also includes cleaning their teeth. While it seems common to wait a few months between grooming sessions, you really should groom a dog more frequently (typically on a monthly basis). Letting too much time pass in between grooming sessions can put your pup’s health at risk.
This article outlines everything you as a beginner will need to know about the basic steps on dog grooming at home. Let’s get started.
Where should you start when grooming your dog?
Most dog groomers typically start by doing a general overall check of the dog’s body. This is done to take a high level assessment of the condition of the dog’s skin and overall health. Start by gently petting your dog’s body as you watch their reaction. If you touch a spot that elicits a negative reaction in such a way where you can tell they are sore or in pain, stop the grooming session and schedule an appointment with your veterinarian. Professional groomers should alert the dog’s owner right away.
If you find that your dog seems generally uncomfortable with being groomed, use some tactics to try to make them feel more comfortable. This can be done through positive associations with grooming repetition and praising your dog. Ultimately what you are trying to do is teach your dog to enjoy being groomed, which for the beginner, will take some practice and a lot of patience.
While you need to be kind and gentle to make your dog as comfortable as possible, you also need to be firm. Being firm does not mean causing pain to your pup. It just means you are firm enough to avoid them from squirming out of your grasp while you are attempting to groom. This takes practice to get the hang of it. Once you do, you will find that the grooming process moves much quicker as you get more confident.
Essential Tools Needed Before You Start Grooming
To ensure a successful grooming session, invest in the following tools:
- Brush or Steel Comb: You will need a reliable brush or comb to get all maps and tangles out.
- Dog Hair Clippers: Choose a reliable set for trimming your dog’s coat.
- Curved or Straight Scissors: Essential for precise trimming, especially in sensitive areas.
- Thinning Scissors: Ideal for achieving a natural look in areas like the face and ears.
- Detangling Solution: Useful for addressing mats before bathing.
- Dog-formulated Shampoo: Maintain your dog’s skin health with a specialized shampoo.
- Towels: Use absorbent towels for drying after the bath.
- Blow Dryer: You can use a human hair blow dryer but you need to be careful of the heat setting. Its best to opt for dog grooming low-heat dryer to avoid discomfort or burns.
- Nail Clippers: Choose a suitable type based on your dog’s size and breed.
- Styptic Powder or Cornstarch: Essential for stopping bleeding if the nail quick is accidentally cut.
- Toothbrush and Toothpaste: Important for keeping your dog’s teeth and gums healthy.
- Bathtub: This is an optional tool as your home tub works well for bathing your dog but having a specific bathtub for your dog can make things easier on your and your four-legged friend.
Four Core Dog Grooming Steps
1. Brush your dog before bathing
Make sure your dog is well brushed before bathing. Brushing your dog’s coat before a bath helps to remove dirt, dead hair, and tangles. Brushing also keeps the coat smooth and shiny, and helps to prevent matting.
Start by looking for areas with matted or tangled hair. If you notice any matting, make sure that you brush it out before the bath. Brushing out matted fur prior to bathing will definitely be easier than after, as mats are even harder to remove when they are wet. You might find it helpful to apply a detangling solution when trying to remove those matted areas. Matted hair should always be addressed right away. Ignoring matted hair can reduce air circulation and could lead to medical problems (skin irritation to inadequate blood supply). Consult your vet if you have any concerns.
2. Now its time to bathe your dog
After your dog is well brushed, it’s time to give them a bath. Be sure to use a shampoo that is formulated for dogs. Using shampoos made for humans is a common mistake made by amateur groomers. Shampoos have different pH levels and human shampoo is much harsher on a dogs’ sensitive skin.
One very common mistake that is easy to avoid is water temperature. The bath water should be lukewarm. Having the water temperature too hot or too cold may hurt your dog or make them feel uncomfortable with the bath and overall grooming process.
Once your dog is fully wet, start applying the shampoo and use your hands to rub the shampoo into a good, bubbly lather. It’s typically easiest to work from head to tail and then top to bottom. At the same time you are lathering up the shampoo, you should be rubbing and massaging the dog’s skin. As it was suggested at the beginning of the grooming process, you can also use the shampooing time to try to locate any problems on the dog’s body. If you have properly removed any mats and tangles before you start shampooing, the rest of the grooming process should be much easier. Once you have fully shampooed your dog’s body, you can rinse it out. Be sure that you rinse well so that you clean off all suds from the dog’s fur. This is important because if you don’t get all the soap out, it will stay on the dog’s skin and could irritate it.
Once bathed, use one or two dry towels to initially dry off the dog. Then follow-up with a blow dryer. You should keep the nozzle a few inches away from your dog’s fur and keep moving the hair dryer constantly in order to prevent heat from centering on one spot and burning your dog. Also, be sure to set your dryer to the lowest possible heat setting when using it on your dog. Remember that dogs have sensitive skin and cannot warn you when the heat is too hot until it is too late and you have burned them.
After your dog is fully dried, it’s a good idea to do another brushing before trimming their fur.
3. Then beginning trimming your dog's fur
Now that your dog’s coat is clean and dry it’s time to trim. The tools you use may depend on the type of breed you are grooming, but in general, you could get by with dog hair clippers and curved or straight scissors.
Neck to tail
A good rule of thumb is to start trimming from the neck and move down to the tail. For short-haired dogs, a pair of curved or straight scissors is all you need to trim their coat. For long-haired dogs, you can typically start with the clippers then finish with scissors. As you are trimming your dog, be sure to trim the coat in the natural direction that the hair flows. Going against the grain, so to speak, can create lines on their coat.
When using hair clippers, be sure that the clippers are placed flat on the coat while shaving. This will prevent shaving too deeply or cutting your dog’s skin. Hair clippers typically come with different guards to cut hair at different lengths. It’s best to start with the largest clipping guard and move to the smallest, if needed. Doing this gives you a chance to see what length each clipper cuts at. Once you have groomed your dog a couple times you will get a sense of what clipper guard you will mostly use.
After you have trimmed your dog’s neck, move to the back and belly. These are sensitive areas, so be very careful. For example the underbelly, underarm, and hock (joint located on a dog’s back leg below the knee) can be areas where you can hurt your dog if you are not careful. Be aware that some dogs find it irritating when you use clippers on these areas. If this is the case, then you should switch to a pair of scissors. Always hold the point of the scissors facing away from your pup and trim away with the scissors.
Head, legs and tail
Lastly, trim the head, legs, and tail. Many professional groomers will tell you they leave these areas for last because this is where the dog will want to move around the most. By saving these areas for last, you may find that you have calmed the dog a bit by starting with the other parts of their body. If you saved these areas for last and still find that your dog moves a lot, consider enlisting some help by having someone hold the dog while you carefully trim them.
Trimming a dog’s face usually proves to be the most challenging task, as you will want to hold your dog’s head very still while grooming their face. Brush their face so that long strands of hair can be trimmed more easily with scissors. If you are using clippers, be gentle while slowly following your dog’s facial lines. If you decide to only use scissors, sometimes it’s best to use thinning scissors as they don’t leave straight cut lines. This can make the end result look more natural.
Trim the ear flaps, the sides of the face, and below the jaws. One important tip when trimming around your dogs mouth with scissors is to hold their snoot closed with your opposite hand. This prevents the dog from sticking out its tongue and you accidently clipping it. Lastly, do not forget to trim the eyebrows, especially for dogs that grow a lot of facial hair.
Once you are done with the dog’s face and ears, move on to their legs. You will want to trim one leg first, and then move to the next. Don’t forget to trim between the paw pads to remove excess hair with a pair of scissors.
Last but not least, move on to the tail. First brush the tail before you start trimming with a clipper or scissors. Once brushed, hold the tail steady and gently trim away from the dog’s body towards the tip.
4. Finish the dog grooming session with your dog's nails
One of the key steps for keeping your dog groomed is giving them regular nail trims every few weeks, or whenever you notice they are long. If you’re new to grooming, you will know when your dog’s nails are long when you notice them snagging on things or making a scratching sound on hardwood or tile surfaces as your dog walks. If you don’t keep up with your dog’s nails they can become ingrown or cause serious infections. Consult your veterinarian if you suspect one of these issues.
Before you start trimming a dog’s nails you will first want to identify where the nail Quick starts. The Quick refers to the blood vessels inside the nails. Depending on breed, this will be the pinkish or blackish part just under the nail that houses blood capillaries. Knowing where the Quick is will help in knowing how far you can go when trimming your dog’s nails. Keep in mind that if you nick or cut the Quick, the dog can bleed, and it may take a few weeks to heal fully.
Once you have identified where the Quick is you can cut the nail and stop just before the Quick. Don’t forget to cut the dewclaw (nail that some dog breeds have on the side of their foot). If you accidentally nick the Quick, dab some cornstarch or styptic powder and apply pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. Consult your vet if needed.
If you would like a more details overview on clipping a dogs nails refer to our Step By Step Guide On How To Trim A Dog’s Nails And Why Its Important article.
Conclusion
As you can see, dog grooming is a pretty involved process. Grooming can be a pleasurable activity for both you and your dog. Enjoy this time you have to groom your dog. It’s a great bonding experience while you keep your four-legged friend clean, happy, healthy and looking great!
