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Dog Grooming by Breed

How often each breed needs a groom, and what tends to go wrong

Dogs of many breeds and coat types being groomed

Grooming needs vary more between dog breeds than almost anything else about them. A Labrador needs a bath and a deshed a few times a year. A Poodle of the same weight needs cutting every four to six weeks and combing to the skin in between, and letting that slip by a month costs real money at the salon.

Coat type is the one that answers the question. Whether a dog needs a haircut every five weeks or a deshed twice a year, whether it can be clipped at all, and what happens if the interval slips, are all decided by the coat and not by the breed name. Two dogs of the same weight in the same group can need completely different appointments.

Size decides the physical side: drying time, whether one person can handle the dog safely, and whether a salon has equipment that will take it.

Every Dog Breed, A to Z

206 breeds, page 7 of 9

A Pharaoh Hound, the dog that blushes when it is excited

Pharaoh Hound

A ten minute coat on a dog whose ears and nose genuinely flush pink when it is happy

Pharaoh Hound
A Plott Hound, a brindle coonhound from Germany with a five minute coat

Plott Hound

A German boarhound that became an American coonhound, with a five minute coat

Plott Hound
A Pointer, one of the shortest and easiest coats in the sporting group

Pointer

One of the shortest coats in dogs, and a weekly session that is really a health check

Pointer
A Pomeranian in full standing coat, a breed that must never be shaved

Pomeranian

A northern double coat on a five pound dog, and the breed shave downs ruin most often

Pomeranian
A Pomsky, a full husky double coat on a much smaller frame

Pomsky

The designer cross with no Poodle in it, so there is no low shedding outcome available

Pomsky
A Standard Poodle in a scissored pet trim showing the tight curl

Poodle

The coat every doodle inherits, and the one the whole trade is built around

Poodle
A Portuguese Podengo in wire coat, one of six size and coat combinations

Portuguese Podengo

Three sizes and two coats, so the breed name covers six different dogs

Portuguese Podengo
A Portuguese Water Dog in the traditional lion trim

Portuguese Water Dog

A curly working coat with two traditional clips, and one of them has a real reason behind it

Portuguese Water Dog
A Pug, a short double coat that sheds hard and a face fold that needs daily work

Pug

A small dog that sheds like a much larger one, and a face fold that is the actual appointment

Pug
A Puggle, a longer muzzle than a Pug and a coat that still sheds hard

Puggle

The one cross here made to fix something, and an honest look at whether it did

Puggle
A Puli, a corded coat that is separated by hand and never brushed

Puli

A corded coat that is separated by hand, never brushed, and takes a day to dry

Puli
A Pumi, a springy curly coat that is air dried and never blown straight

Pumi

A curly coat that is wetted and air dried, which is the opposite of what a Poodle needs

Pumi
A Pyrenean Shepherd in the rough faced variety, whose coat can form locks

Pyrenean Shepherd

Two coat varieties in one breed, and the rough faced one can form locks on its own

Pyrenean Shepherd
A Rat Terrier, the smooth coated breed the hairless one came from

Rat Terrier

A ten minute coat on a working farm terrier, in two sizes and two coat lengths

Rat Terrier
A Rhodesian Ridgeback, showing the reversed ridge along the spine

Rhodesian Ridgeback

The ridge is a feature and a warning, and the rest of the coat takes ten minutes

Rhodesian Ridgeback
A Rottweiler, a short coat over a dense undercoat

Rottweiler

A short coat that is genuinely double, and sheds far more than it looks like it should

Rottweiler
A Rough Collie, an enormous standing coat over a dense undercoat

Rough Collie

A Sheltie coat at twice the size, and one drug warning worth knowing before any sedation

Rough Collie
A Russell Terrier, the shortest legged of the three Russells

Russell Terrier

The shortest legged of the three Russells, and the same three coats again

Russell Terrier
A Saint Bernard in both of its coats: rough and smooth

Saint Bernard

Two coat lengths on one enormous dog, and a great deal of drool either way

Saint Bernard
A Saluki, a smooth body with long silky feathering on the ears and tail

Saluki

A smooth coated sighthound with long silky feathering on the ears, tail and legs

Saluki
A Samoyed, the whitest and heaviest double coat in the working group

Samoyed

The heaviest coat in the working group, and the one most often ruined by a summer shave

Samoyed
A Schipperke, a stand off ruff and cape that must never be clipped

Schipperke

A stand off double coat shaped into a ruff and cape that clipping destroys

Schipperke
A Schnoodle, a Schnauzer and Poodle cross that is always scissored

Schnoodle

A Schnauzer and Poodle cross where the stripping question has one answer: do not

Schnoodle
A Scottish Deerhound, a harsh crisp coat that is raked and never clipped

Scottish Deerhound

A harsh crisp coat that is raked and never clipped, on a very short lived giant

Scottish Deerhound

Why Cat Size Does Not Change the Groom

Cats have no size index here. Outside the genuine outliers the practical difference between a nine pound cat and a fourteen pound one is close to nothing: the same table, the same equipment, the same appointment. What changes a cat groom is the coat and the temperament.

The one place weight does matter is indirect: a heavy cat cannot reach its own back, sides and base of tail, and the areas it stops reaching are exactly the ones that mat. That is a coat problem with a weight cause, and it is covered on the silky coat and double coat pages.

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