How to Groom Every Breed
What a groom costs, how often your breed needs one, and what happens if you leave it. Plus more than 37,000 groomers across every state.
Find a Local Groomer
Real salons in your town, with addresses and phone numbers, not a national booking site that sells your details to somebody else.
Try a ZIP code, a town, a county or a state. A shop name works too, if you know it.
Browse the busiest states
Start With the Coat
Six coat types, across dogs and cats. Each one needs different work at a different interval. Clip a double coat and it may never grow back properly; leave a curly one a week too long and it mats to the skin.
Double Coat
Never clip · High matting risk
A soft dense undercoat under a coarser weather-resistant top coat. Huskies, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Maine Coons and Norwegian Forest Cats.
Double Coat Grooming
Curly Coat
Clips safely · Severe matting risk
Tight curls or a soft wool texture that traps shed hair instead of dropping it. Poodles, Bichons, doodle crosses, Devon Rex, Cornish Rex and Selkirk Rex.
Curly Coat Grooming
Wire Coat
Strip rather than clip · Moderate matting risk
A harsh bristly jacket over a soft undercoat. Most terriers, Schnauzers, Brussels Griffons, the wire Dachshund and the American Wirehair cat.
Wire Coat Grooming
Silky Coat
Clips safely · High matting risk
Long fine hair with little or no undercoat that keeps growing rather than shedding out. Yorkshire Terriers, Maltese, Shih Tzus, Afghan Hounds, Persians and Turkish Angoras.
Silky Coat Grooming
Smooth Coat
Clips safely · Low matting risk
Short hair lying flat against the body with little or no undercoat. Beagles, Boxers, Vizslas, Bengals, Siamese and British Shorthairs.
Smooth Coat Grooming
Hairless
No coat to clip · Low matting risk
No functional coat at all. Sphynx, Peterbald, Chinese Crested and the Xoloitzcuintli.
Hairless GroomingFeatured Breeds
The breeds that come through a grooming salon most often
Goldendoodle
The busiest coat in any grooming salon, and the one owners are warned about least
A Goldendoodle needs a full groom every four to six weeks and brushing at home most days. Why the coat mats so fast...
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Shih Tzu
A floor length coat on a dog that would rather be on your lap
A Shih Tzu needs a full groom every four to six weeks and daily brushing to the skin. The pet trim versus the full...
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Golden Retriever
A coat that needs deshedding rather than cutting, and must never be shaved
A Golden Retriever needs deshedding rather than haircuts. Why shaving the coat backfires, where the feathering mats...
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Poodle
The coat every doodle inherits, and the one the whole trade is built around
A Poodle needs a full groom every four to six weeks and daily combing. Clip lengths explained, why the coat mats to the...
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Yorkshire Terrier
Hair rather than fur, on a dog small enough to sit in one hand
A Yorkie needs a full groom every four to six weeks and daily brushing. The full coat versus a puppy cut, why the coat...
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Cockapoo
A doodle coat on a small frame, with a spaniel's ears to go with it
A Cockapoo needs a full groom every four to six weeks and daily combing. Why the coat mats so fast, what the spaniel...
Learn MoreHow Often Does Your Breed Need Grooming?
The breeds that need a groomer most often, and how long you can leave them
Grooming Guides
What a groom involves, what it costs, and how to keep a coat between appointments
What to Ask For at the Groomer
Puppy cut and teddy bear mean nothing on their own. Blade numbers and what each leaves, guard combs, the five parts of a dog that need...
Read Guide
Grooming an Anxious or Reactive Dog
Most grooming fear traces to something specific. Why the dryer is usually the problem, the handling work that helps, what to ask a salon...
Read Guide
When a Groom Goes Wrong
Which grooming problems are normal risks and which are not. Clipper burn, quicked nails, the skin infection that appears two days later...
Read GuideWhat Grooming Costs
What a full groom runs for your breed, and the things that move the price: coat condition, size, and how long it has been since the last one.
See typical prices →How Often to Groom
Every six weeks is a rule of thumb, not an answer. Coat type decides it, and stretching it costs more than the appointment you skipped.
Find your interval →Matting and Shave Downs
Why a groomer will refuse to brush out a badly matted coat, and why shaving it is usually the kinder option.
Read the guide →