How often should you groom your dog?

Ask five groomers how often a dog should be groomed and you will get five answers, all of them starting with "it depends". That is not evasion. A short-coated dog who swims twice a week and a doodle who sleeps on the sofa have almost nothing in common from a grooming standpoint.

Coat type does most of the deciding

Coats that keep growing — poodles, doodles, bichons, shih tzus and similar — need cutting on a rhythm, because the coat never stops. Coats that shed to a length — labradors, huskies, german shepherds — need the dead coat removed rather than cut, and the rhythm follows the shedding cycle instead of a haircut schedule.

• Continuously growing coats: the interval is set by how long you are happy for the coat to get, and how much brushing happens at home.
• Double coats: the interval tends to follow seasonal shedding, with heavier work during a coat blow.
• Short, smooth coats: often the least frequent grooming, mostly baths, nails and ears.
• Wiry coats: depends heavily on whether the coat is clipped or hand-stripped.

What happens between appointments matters more than the interval

A coat brushed properly at home three times a week can go noticeably longer between grooms than the same coat left alone. The reverse is also true: a long interval plus no home brushing is the most common reason a groom turns into a much shorter haircut than the owner wanted.

Signs it is time, regardless of the calendar

• The brush stops moving freely through the coat, or you find tight spots behind the ears, under the legs or around the collar.
• Nails make contact with the floor when your dog is standing still.
• The coat is holding dirt or odour that a normal bath is not shifting.
• Hair is starting to obstruct the eyes or gather between the pads.

The practical answer

Book the first appointment, then ask your groomer what interval they would suggest for your dog specifically, based on what they found in the coat. That answer will be far more accurate than any number on a website — including this one.