Does your dog need a professional groom, or just a bath at home?
You bathed the dog in the laundry on Saturday. By Tuesday the couch is covered again. The coat sits flat and dull, and there are small knots behind the ears that were not there before.
A bath at home removes dirt, smell and loose surface hair. Whether your dog also needs professional grooming comes down to the jobs a bath cannot reach. Dead undercoat packed against the skin. A coat that keeps growing and has to be clipped to a length. Nails, a sanitary and paw pad trim, and ears. Coat type decides which of those your dog needs, and how often.
One pattern is worth knowing before you decide. The dogs that arrive at the Ivanhoe grooming station needing the whole coat clipped off are rarely the dogs nobody washes. They are more often the well-washed ones. Bathed regularly, brushed over the top, never combed down to the skin. The top layer looks fine. The layer against the skin has turned solid.
| Coat type | What you can manage at home | When to book a groomer |
|---|---|---|
| Short and smooth (staffy, kelpie, beagle, boxer) | Weekly brush with a rubber or bristle brush. Bath when dirty. | Rarely needed for the coat. Book for nails, or a bath and dry if you would rather not do it. |
| Long and silky (cavalier, maltese, shih tzu) | Comb three or four times a week, down to the skin. | Every 6 to 8 weeks for a trim, plus feet, face and sanitary tidy. |
| Double coat (golden retriever, husky, german shepherd, corgi) | Brush several times a week, daily while the coat is blowing. | Every 8 to 10 weeks, plus a deshed in spring and autumn. |
| Curly or wool (poodle, cavoodle, bichon) | Leave the tools out where your dog can see and sniff them with nothing happening | Which sound or tool sets your dog off, and what they do when it starts |
| Won’t have paws, face or ears touched | Comb daily or every second day, section by section. | Every 4 to 6 weeks. The coat keeps growing and holds shed hair. |
| Wire coat (schnauzer, border terrier, wire fox terrier) | Brush two or three times a week. | Every 6 to 8 weeks for clipping or hand stripping. |
What a bath at home does, and where it stops
A bath removes surface dirt, smell and hair that is already on its way out. For plenty of dogs, that is the whole job.
A bath will not pull out a packed undercoat. Shampoo and water loosen dead hair. They do not move it out of a dense coat. That takes air pushed through the coat, or a rake worked down to the skin. If your dog still sheds heavily two days after a wash, the undercoat is still in there.
A bath will not shorten a coat that keeps growing. Poodles, maltese, shih tzus and schnauzers do not drop hair the way a labrador does. The RSPCA notes that clipping is what removes hair from breeds that do not shed. Wash one of these dogs as often as you like. The coat still gets longer.
Bathing a knotted coat makes the knots worse. Water swells the hair, and the tangle tightens as it dries. A soft knot goes into the bath and comes out firm. Brush and comb down to the skin first, then wash. The RSPCA also suggests brushing again once the coat is dry, to lift out the hair the wash loosened.
Use a shampoo made for dogs. Human skin sits at about pH 5.5, which is mildly acidic. Dog skin is closer to neutral, roughly 6.2 to 7.4, and thinner as well. Human shampoo strips the oils that protect it, which leaves some dogs dry and itchy. The all-natural, Australian-made washes used on the grooming table are a fair guide for what to buy at home: made for dogs, simple ingredients, no heavy perfume. If the skin is already irritated, ask your vet what to use.
What a professional groom includes that a bath doesn’t
A professional groom is a set of jobs, not a longer wash. Most need equipment or a steady hand that is hard to reproduce in a laundry.
- A high-velocity dry. A high-velocity dryer is a blower that pushes water and dead undercoat out of the coat rather than heating it. It changes how much your dog sheds afterwards.
- An undercoat rake worked in sections down to the skin, clearing the layer a brush skates over.
- Clipping to a set length. Electric clippers close to skin take practice, which is why the RSPCA suggests using a professional rather than trying it at home.
- Nails, including the dew claws.
- A sanitary and paw pad trim: the hair around the back end and between the pads, where mess and grass seeds collect.
- An ear check and clean.
- A skin check while the dog is on the table.
That last one is worth more than it sounds. The RSPCA lists ear build-up, fleas and ticks, matts, grass seeds, scratches and lumps as the things a proper groom should turn up. Anything red, broken or infected goes to a vet, not a groomer.
How often should you groom a dog?
How often to groom a dog depends on the coat. The home half matters more than the salon half, because brushing is what keeps a coat workable between appointments. These are typical ranges, not rules.
Short, smooth coats usually need a brush once a week and a bath when dirty. Many never need a professional groom for the coat itself. Every 8 to 12 weeks suits owners who would rather someone else did the washing and nails.
Long, silky coats need combing three or four times a week, down to the skin rather than over the top. A trim every 6 to 8 weeks keeps the feet, face and back end tidy.
Double coats need brushing several times a week, and daily while the dog is blowing coat. The RSPCA recommends daily grooming for double-coated breeds such as Samoyeds, Australian Shepherds and Siberian Huskies. A groom every 8 to 10 weeks suits most, with a deshedding treatment through the heavy sheds. In Melbourne the big spring blow runs roughly September to November. Do not shave a double coat. The RSPCA advises against it, because the undercoat helps the dog handle heat as well as cold.
Curly and wool coats need combing daily or every second day, section by section. These dogs need a groomer more often than any other coat type, usually every 4 to 6 weeks. The hair keeps growing, and shed hair stays in the coat instead of dropping, so it turns from soft to matted quickly.
Wire coats need a brush two or three times a week and a groom every 6 to 8 weeks. Some owners choose hand stripping, which means pulling the dead outer hairs out by hand instead of clipping them.
Nails are the job most often left too long. The RSPCA gives a test that beats counting weeks. A dog’s nails should be trimmed just before they start to touch the ground when the dog is standing. If you can hear them clicking on floorboards, they are already past that. Most dogs need a trim every three to eight weeks. Dew claws never touch the ground, so they do not wear down at all.
Signs your dog needs a groomer, not another bath
Some signs mean the coat has moved past what a wash and a brush can fix.
- A knot that will not comb out. Pulling harder tightens it and teaches the dog to dread the brush.
- Matting at friction points: under the collar or harness, behind the ears, in the armpits and under the tail. Use your fingers, because a brush skates over a mat that is still forming.
- Hair growing over the eyes. The RSPCA recommends trimming this so the dog can see and the hair does not irritate the eye.
- Hair growing in the ear canal, or an ear that smells.
- Nails clicking on hard floors, or a dew claw curving back towards the pad.
- A coat that never dries properly, or feels damp against the skin hours after a bath.
One line worth being firm about. Skin that is red, broken, smelly or itchy is a vet visit, not a grooming appointment. The same goes for discharge from an ear, or a lump you have not felt before. A groomer can work around a sore patch. They cannot treat it.
When you can skip the groomer entirely
Plenty of dogs do not need a professional groom, and it is worth saying so plainly.
A short, smooth-coated dog with healthy skin needs a weekly brush, a bath when dirty, and nails kept short. Staffies, kelpies, beagles, boxers and greyhounds mostly sit in this group. A full groom every six weeks buys very little you cannot do at home in twenty minutes.
The same goes for a long-coated dog whose owner combs down to the skin every second day. Do that properly and the gap between appointments stretches a long way. What ends the run is not the calendar. It is the first fortnight the combing slips.
There is also a middle option that gets overlooked. A wash and blow dry, with no clipping, is a shorter appointment than a full groom. Most salons offer it as its own service, including the grooming station in Ivanhoe. Some will do a nail trim on its own, though not everywhere, so ask when you ring.
Where skipping stops making sense is when the coat decides for you. A cavoodle will not be fine on a weekly brush and a bath. That coat grows continuously and holds every hair it sheds.
Common questions about grooming your dog at home
How often should I bathe my dog?
There is no set number. The RSPCA says it depends on the individual dog, their coat type, skin, health and activity. A dog who swims at the beach needs washing far more often than one who sleeps on a couch. Most dogs sit somewhere between monthly and every few months. Washing more often than the skin needs can leave it dry.
Can I use human shampoo on my dog?
No. Human shampoo is mixed for skin at around pH 5.5, and a dog’s skin sits closer to neutral. It strips the layer of oil that protects the skin, which can leave it dry, flaky and itchy. Once in an emergency is unlikely to do harm. As a habit it causes problems.
Is it cheaper to groom my dog at home?
Per wash, yes. Across a year it depends on the coat. Matching what a groom does means a high-velocity dryer, clippers and blades, an undercoat rake and somewhere to work at waist height. For a short-coated dog, home grooming makes obvious sense. For a curly coat, the cost that catches people out is a clip that goes wrong.
How long does a professional groom take?
A full groom usually runs one to three hours. Size, coat and how the dog copes with handling all change that. Most of the time goes on drying and brushing out rather than the haircut, which is why a matted coat takes so much longer than a clean one.
Booking a groom, or asking first
Two things are worth knowing before a first appointment. Bring your dog unwashed. A coat that has been washed but not brushed out is harder to work with, not easier. And when you talk about length, describe what you want the coat to look like in six weeks rather than on the day. The length chosen at the first groom sets how soon the second one is needed.
If you are not sure which side of the line your dog sits on, the quickest answer comes from someone putting their hands on the coat. The grooming station at Belvedere’s Pet Supplies is at 93 Upper Heidelberg Road, Ivanhoe, open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5:30pm. You are welcome to bring your dog in on a walk for a coat check before you commit to anything.