Dog grooming includes brushing, bathing, nail trimming, ear cleaning, hair trimming or styling, teeth brushing, and sanitary trimming around sensitive areas. A full grooming session addresses your dog’s coat, skin, nails, ears, teeth, and sometimes anal glands. What’s involved in each step varies depending on your dog’s breed, coat type, and individual needs.
Brushing and Coat Maintenance
Brushing is the foundation of grooming and does more than keep your dog looking neat. It removes loose fur, distributes natural oils across the skin, and prevents mats from forming. The technique and tools depend entirely on your dog’s coat type.
Double-coated breeds like Golden Retrievers and Huskies need undercoat rakes and slicker brushes to work through their thick layers of fur, especially during shedding seasons in spring and fall. A de-shedding treatment is often part of their grooming appointments, which pulls out the loose undercoat before it ends up on your furniture. Curly-coated breeds like Poodles and Doodles need regular brushing with a detangling spray to keep their curls from knotting up. Between professional visits, brushing at home a few times a week prevents mats from tightening close to the skin, where they become painful to remove.
Bathing and Skin Care
A bath is a core part of any grooming session. The water should be slightly warm, never hot. Groomers select shampoos based on your dog’s skin and coat needs. Standard shampoos clean without stripping moisture, while sensitive-skin formulas often contain oatmeal or aloe vera to soothe irritation. Dogs with specific skin problems may need medicated shampoos designed for itching, fungal issues, or allergies.
Common shampoo ingredients serve different purposes: coconut oil cleanses and moisturizes, vitamin E nourishes skin and helps detangle fur, and omega-3 or omega-6 fatty acids can reduce excess shedding. Thorough rinsing matters just as much as the wash itself. For double-coated breeds, any moisture trapped beneath the outer layer of fur can lead to skin irritation or fungal growth, so complete drying is essential.
Nail Trimming
Overgrown nails change the way your dog walks and can curl into the paw pads if left too long. Inside each nail is a structure called the quick, a soft area packed with blood vessels and nerve endings. It sits roughly where the nail begins to curve and appears as a small pink center in light-colored nails. In dark nails, the quick isn’t visible, which makes careful, gradual trimming especially important.
The goal is to cut just before the curve of the nail, staying well clear of the quick. If a groomer or owner accidentally nicks it, the nail will bleed and the dog will feel a sharp sting. Keeping clotting powder on hand stops the bleeding quickly. Dogs that haven’t had their nails trimmed in a while often have quicks that have grown longer alongside the nail, so getting nails back to a healthy length can take several sessions of small, incremental trims.
Ear Cleaning
Ears are one of the most overlooked parts of grooming, but they’re a common source of infections, particularly in floppy-eared breeds. Cleaning involves filling the ear canal with a veterinary ear cleaning solution, gently massaging the base of the ear to loosen debris, and then letting the dog shake their head to work the loosened material out. For dogs that don’t tolerate liquid in the ear canal, saturating a cotton pad with solution and wiping the outer ear is an alternative.
Cornell University’s veterinary program recommends keeping the experience as gentle as possible and rewarding your dog with treats throughout. Having a towel ready is practical advice, since the head-shaking step sends solution and debris flying. Some breeds also grow hair inside the ear canal, and groomers may pluck or trim this hair to improve airflow and reduce moisture buildup.
Hair Trimming and Styling
Not every dog needs a haircut, but breeds with continuously growing coats do. Poodles, Shih Tzus, Yorkshire Terriers, and most Doodle mixes all require regular trimming to keep their coats manageable. Curly coats need precision cutting to maintain their shape, whether that means a breed-standard style or a simple all-over trim based on the owner’s preference.
Wire-haired breeds like many Terriers have a unique option called hand-stripping, where dead outer hairs are pulled rather than clipped. This preserves the coat’s natural texture and color. Clipping is faster and more common but softens the coat over time. Double-coated breeds generally should not be shaved, since the undercoat helps regulate body temperature in both hot and cold weather.
Sanitary Trimming
A sanitary trim cleans up the hair around your dog’s rear end, belly, and groin area. This is especially important for long-haired breeds where fur around these areas can trap waste and cause hygiene problems or skin infections. Groomers use clippers to keep these spots short and tidy between full grooming sessions. It’s a quick addition but one that makes a real difference in keeping your dog comfortable and clean day to day.
Teeth Brushing
Many grooming sessions include a basic teeth brushing. This involves using a dog-safe toothpaste and a soft brush to remove plaque from the tooth surfaces. Regular brushing is the most effective way to reduce bacteria in a dog’s mouth and slow the buildup that leads to gum disease. Some groomers offer this as a standard part of a full groom, while others list it as an add-on.
Teeth brushing at the groomer’s (or at home) is preventive care, not a substitute for veterinary dental cleanings. Professional scaling to remove hardened tartar requires anesthesia and specialized tools, and only a veterinarian can perform it. But consistent brushing between those visits significantly reduces how quickly tartar builds up.
Anal Gland Expression
Dogs have two small scent glands on either side of the anus that normally empty on their own during bowel movements. When they don’t, the glands can become impacted, uncomfortable, and sometimes infected. You’ll notice your dog scooting across the floor or licking the area excessively when the glands are full.
Many groomers include external anal gland expression as part of a full grooming service, while others offer it as an add-on. The groomer wears gloves, applies lubricant, and gently presses on each gland to release the fluid. It’s important that groomers recognize signs of anal sac disease, such as swelling or discharge, and refer you to a vet rather than attempting to express infected glands.
How Often Each Service Is Needed
Your dog’s breed and coat type determine the grooming schedule. Short-haired breeds like Beagles, Boxers, and Dalmatians typically need professional grooming every 8 to 12 weeks. Double-coated breeds benefit from visits every 6 to 8 weeks, timed to manage undercoat buildup. Long-haired and curly-coated breeds are the most demanding, needing professional grooming every 4 to 6 weeks to prevent matting and keep their coats in shape. Wire-haired and terrier breeds fall in the 6 to 8 week range if clipped.
Between professional sessions, home maintenance fills the gaps. Brushing two to three times a week (daily for curly coats), regular ear checks, and periodic teeth brushing all extend the benefits of each grooming appointment. Nail trims may be needed every 2 to 4 weeks depending on how quickly your dog’s nails grow and how much they walk on hard surfaces, which naturally files nails down.
What to Expect at a Professional Groomer
A reputable groomer will ask about your dog’s vaccination history, any known medical conditions, and your preferences for the finished look. Proposed legislation in New York State reflects a broader industry push toward formal standards: requiring groomers to maintain records for each animal, request proof of vaccinations, and complete training in health, safety, animal first aid, and sanitation practices.
Safety basics to look for include groomers who never leave a dog unattended on a grooming table or in a bathing area, use appropriate restraints without leaving a dog alone in them, and monitor dogs continuously during drying. A full grooming appointment for most breeds takes between one and three hours, depending on the dog’s size, coat condition, and the services requested.