Dog Breeds & Their Grooming Needs

A well-groomed dog is bound to look healthy and feel healthy. More or less, every dog needs grooming. Whether it is a long-coated dog like the German Spitz or a curly-haired Bichon-Frise, a double-coated Australian Cattle Dog or a short-coated Dachshund – all of them needs grooming. Of course the type and amount of grooming varies from one dog breed to another – depending on their pelt-type, eyes and ears.

Subscribe to a Free Course on Dog Grooming and learn all about how to groom your dog at home, how to use different grooming tools.

Most dog owners look forward to the grooming sessions as these moments spent together enhances the bonding between a pet and its owner.

Dog Breeds with Very High Grooming Needs

Dog Breeds with High Grooming Needs

Dog Breeds with Moderate Grooming Needs

Dog Breeds with Low Grooming Needs

Dog Breeds with Very Low Grooming Needs

Dog Breeds with Very High Grooming Needs

A double-coated, a thick-coated or heavily-coated dog comes with very high grooming need that will entail daily brushing, combing and cleaning. This is a must for them. Some might even need professional dog groomers if their owners are not experts at grooming. Even the ears, armpits, legs and tail of such dogs need regular combing and trimming. Without frequent grooming and care, these dogs will look dull and the coat will tend to tangle.

Cleaning the eyes and the ears are important to keep away the fungal attacks. If the dog has prominent eyes, special care is required. There are eye-care and ear-care solutions available that washes the eyes and ears and keeps them clean.

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Dog Breeds with High Grooming Needs

The dogs having long-hairs or thick and curly coat needs good amount of brushing and combing everyday. Bathing the hairy pelt with good pet shampoo is necessary to keep away breeding of hidden ticks and mites. Some dog owners prefer to keep the fur long while others clip the furs after every 8 weeks. However, to make these dogs look and feel healthy, clipping or combing away the bad mats is important.

For dogs with long coats, the hair around the eyes should be trimmed properly for better vision – as this is a major part of eye care. Also fur present in-between the pads, near the ears, and around the bottom needs close trimming. The dead hairs need to be plucked out of the ears every week and the nails need to be trimmed each month. Some even needs stripping of the coat once or twice a year.

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Dog Breeds with Moderate Grooming Needs

These dogs do not require extensive grooming although they do need regular brushing and combing to maintain the glossiness of the coat. They also require bathing only when necessary. A medium-coated dog might not have tangles to deal with. However, many need regular cleaning of the eyes and the ears to avoid infection. Some dogs need grooming only during the time of shedding.

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Dog Breeds with Low Grooming Needs

Such dogs need limited attention where grooming is concerned since they have average-to-groom coats. Brushing is required only to keep the pelt in good condition. These dogs are generally low maintenance breeds. Bathing is strictly when required. Some dogs might have long coats but should never be clipped, like for example Affenpinscher. Also these breeds are mostly non-shedders. However, even they require regular cleaning of the eyes and ears to avoid fungal infections.

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Dog Breeds with Very Low Grooming Needs

These dogs need very little attention where grooming is concerned. Brushing should be done only once or twice a week. Bathing for these dogs is unnecessary most of the times. Most of them also don't need clipping. However, even though they don't require much of brushing or combing, their eyes and ears should be cleaned regularly to avoid infections and for hygiene purposes.

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Grooming is important to keep a dog healthy and happy. Proper grooming ensures a dog is free of tick and mite attacks, allergies and body odors. If a dog's pelt looks dull and its skin looks dry and flaky, the dog is definitely not well-groomed and needs immediate human attention. After all a bright, shiny coat, smooth skin, and normal body odor provides proof of a dog's health condition to everyone around him.

Grooming Eyes, Ears, Nose, Nails

Grooming does not only mean brushing and combing. Grooming also entails trimming the nails, cleaning the eyes and ears and giving periodic baths, not to mention brushing the teeth. Many require haircuts too.

For example, the coat of long-haired dogs tend to tangle and become smelly, thus they needregular brushing. The 'silky-coated' Setters and Spaniels have abundance of dead hair that needs to be removed by hand as the matted hairs become very painful. Wire-haired dogs need stripping of the coat at least once a year.

Even the hairless dogs need special care. Dogs like American Hairless Terrier or Chinese (Hairless) Crested have delicate skin that cannot take direct sun rays, thus they require sunscreen lotion before being taken outside. Dirt and moisture tend to find home in the wrinkled or creased skin of dogs like Pug, Shar Pei, and Bulldog that needs to be cleaned everyday with a damp cloth to avoid skin disorders.

Dogs like Chihuahua, Boston Terrier or Pekingese have prominent eyes where dirt tend to collect. Also, dead hair tend to accumulate in the eyes and ears of dogs having hairy coat like Affenpinscher, Golden Retriever, Japanese Spitz, etc. Cleaning is necessary to wash away the gathered dirt, hair, wax and even mites inside the eye and ear ducts.

Dogs like the Toy Poodle, the Dachshund or the German Wire-haired Pointer needs extensive brushing and combing several times a week, if not more. Whereas the Basset Hound or the Doberman Pinscher can do with a little brushing.

Thus the level of maintenance or grooming depends on each individual breed itself.

Grooming vs Shedding

Shedding is a natural process of discarding dead hairs off the body. A heavy shedder or a seasonal shedder will continue to shed when its shedding-time comes.

Many suffer from the misconception that a dog that sheds little need less amount of grooming and the ones that shed heavily need extensive grooming.

For example: Dogs like the Collie, Spanish Mastiff, or Alaskan Husky shed heavily twice a year but Don't need much grooming apart from regular brushing and combing.

On the other hand, dogs like the Kerry Blue Terrier, Poodle, Bichon-Frise need Extensive grooming but they shed little to no hair.

Grooming encompasses, not just brushing and combing the coat, but cleaning and taking care of eyes, ears, nose, skin and nails of your dog. Shedding is but a natural of getting rid of dead hairs, and whether your dog is a heavy or light shedder, grooming is a daily dog care routine.

Proper grooming might reduce shedding but it will not stop the process altogether.

Subscribe to a Free Course on Dog Grooming and learn all about how to groom your dog at home, how to use different grooming tools.