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Large Dog Grooming

Fifty to ninety pounds. Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Labradors and Standard Poodles.

A Golden Retriever and a Standard Poodle, where drying takes longer than cutting

What counts as a Large dog

Fifty to ninety pounds. Golden Retrievers, Labradors, German Shepherds, Standard Poodles, Boxers, Dobermans, Rough Collies and Old English Sheepdogs.

Something changes at this size that owners rarely anticipate: the haircut stops being the long part of the appointment. On a large double coated dog, getting the coat properly dry takes longer than everything else combined, and a coat that is not properly dry cannot be finished and should not go home.

Everything about booking a large dog follows from that.

Weight

50 to 90 lb

Time on the table

Drying is the bottleneck, not cutting. A large double coat can take longer to dry than to groom.

Drying is the bottleneck, not cutting

A soaked Golden Retriever holds a remarkable amount of water, most of it in the undercoat rather than in the top coat you can see. Getting that out is a mechanical job done with a high velocity dryer, which is a powerful air blower rather than a heater, and it works by physically driving water off the hair shaft and blasting loose undercoat out with it.

On a large double coat this takes a long time, and it cannot be shortened by turning up heat, because there is very little heat involved by design. It is done in sections, working against the lie of the coat, with a brush following behind.

Skipping it has consequences beyond a damp dog. A double coat left to air dry keeps moisture against the skin for hours, and warm damp skin under dense hair is where hot spots come from, particularly in summer. Undercoat that would have blown out in the dryer stays in the coat instead, so a deshed that was not properly dried is barely a deshed at all. And on a coat that will be scissored, hair dried flat cannot be cut to a true line.

This is the honest answer to why a large dog costs what it does even when the trim is simple, and why a full groom on one is usually a half day booking rather than an hour.

The equipment a salon needs to take you

Some salons cannot take a large dog, and it is generally a building problem rather than a willingness one. Knowing what to ask for saves a wasted trip.

A hydraulic or electric table is close to essential. Lifting a ninety pound dog onto a fixed table is a two person job and a back injury waiting to happen, so a salon without one will either decline or work on the floor. A walk in bath with a ramp or a low step matters for the same reason, and it is easier on an older dog's joints than being lifted into a tub.

Then the dryer. A large double coat needs a proper high velocity unit rather than a cage dryer or a handheld, and cage drying a big double coated dog is slow, less effective and best avoided for the reasons in the previous section.

Floor space is the quiet one. A large dog needs room to stand, turn and be worked around, and a salon set up around small breeds may genuinely not have it.

When you call, ask whether they have a hydraulic table and a high velocity dryer, and how long they book for your breed. A salon that regularly grooms large dogs answers those instantly.

Standing tolerance, joints and older dogs

A full groom on a large dog asks it to stand, mostly still, for a long time. For a fit young dog that is unremarkable. For an older one, or one with hip or elbow problems, it is the hardest part of the appointment and it is worth planning around.

Large breeds carry a high rate of hip dysplasia and arthritis, and both are worse after a long stand on a hard surface. A good groomer will work in a sensible order, let the dog lie down for the parts that allow it, use a non slip surface, and avoid asking the dog to hold an awkward position while a leg is lifted.

Tell the salon in advance if your dog has joint problems, is elderly, or has had surgery. It changes how they book: a shorter session, or the work split across two visits, is much better than one long appointment the dog struggles with. Splitting a bath and deshed from a trim is completely normal for a senior dog.

Regular short appointments beat occasional long ones at this size, for the dog and for the coat. A large double coat kept on a schedule is a bath, a deshed and a tidy. The same coat left for a year is a much harder day for everybody.

Large dog breeds

65 breeds, page 1 of 3

An Afghan Hound in full coat, the highest maintenance coat in dogs

Afghan Hound

The highest maintenance coat in dogs, and the only one whose honest bath interval is weekly

Afghan Hound
An Airedale Terrier, the largest terrier and a full hand stripping job

Airedale Terrier

The largest terrier there is, and the biggest hand stripping job a salon will take on

Airedale Terrier
An Akita, a heavy spitz double coat on a very large frame

Akita

A heavy spitz coat, twice yearly devastation, and a dog that will not be talked into anything

Akita
An Alaskan Malamute, a heavy freighting coat built for Arctic work

Alaskan Malamute

A freighting coat rather than a racing one, and heavier work than the Husky it gets mistaken for

Alaskan Malamute
An American Bulldog, a short coat over skin and folds that need checking

American Bulldog

A working bulldog with a real muzzle, and far fewer folds than the English

American Bulldog
An American Staffordshire Terrier, a short coat over skin that needs the attention

American Staffordshire Terrier

A coat that takes ten minutes and skin that can take the rest of your life

American Staffordshire Terrier
An Azawakh, skin so thin that ordinary salon handling can bruise it

Azawakh

Almost no body fat and skin thin enough that ordinary handling bruises it

Azawakh
A Barbet, a woolly curly coat with a beard that soaks up every drink

Barbet

A woolly curly coat that mats to the skin, with a beard that goes in the water first

Barbet
A Beauceron, double hind dewclaws on a short smooth coat

Beauceron

Double hind dewclaws like the Briard, on a coat short enough to see them

Beauceron
A Belgian Laekenois, the wire coated one of the four Belgian varieties

Belgian Laekenois

The wire coated Belgian, deliberately unkempt and never brushed smooth

Belgian Laekenois
A Belgian Malinois, a short double coat that sheds like a much longer one

Belgian Malinois

A short coat that sheds like a long one, on a dog that needs a job far more than a salon

Belgian Malinois
A Belgian Sheepdog, the long black coat of the four Belgian varieties

Belgian Sheepdog

The long black coat of four Belgian varieties that are otherwise the same dog

Belgian Sheepdog
A Belgian Tervuren, the long coated Belgian and a far longer appointment

Belgian Tervuren

The long coated Belgian, and four times the appointment a Malinois needs

Belgian Tervuren
A Bergamasco Sheepdog, whose coat forms broad flat plates and not cords

Bergamasco Sheepdog

Broad flat plates and not cords, from three different hair types that have to tangle

Bergamasco Sheepdog
A Berger Picard, a shaggy dog whose coat needs almost nothing at all

Berger Picard

A shaggy dog that needs a brush a month, which is not what shaggy usually means

Berger Picard
A Bernedoodle in a full fleece coat, a giant dog with a doodle coat

Bernedoodle

A doodle coat on a giant frame, which is the most expensive combination in grooming

Bernedoodle
A Bloodhound, the most extreme ears and folds on any dog

Bloodhound

The longest ears and the deepest folds on any dog, and a great deal of drool underneath them

Bloodhound
A Bluetick Coonhound, an easy coat under very long heavy ears

Bluetick Coonhound

A ten minute coat under some of the longest ears in dogs, and a real hound smell

Bluetick Coonhound
A Borzoi, a long silky sighthound coat that is far easier than it looks

Borzoi

A long silky coat in the same group as the Afghan, and a fraction of the work

Borzoi
A Bouvier des Flandres, a harsh tousled coat with a beard that holds everything

Bouvier des Flandres

A harsh tousled double coat that is stripped or scissored, and a beard that soaks

Bouvier des Flandres
A Boxer, one of the few genuinely single coated breeds

Boxer

One layer of coat and nothing underneath, which is rarer than it sounds

Boxer
A Bracco Italiano, whose ears and jowls are the whole grooming job

Bracco Italiano

A five minute coat under the longest ears and the loosest jowls of any pointer

Bracco Italiano
A Briard, a long goat textured coat over double dewclaws on each back leg

Briard

A long goat textured coat, and two dewclaws on each back leg that must be trimmed

Briard
A Bull Terrier, a very short coat over skin that gives constant trouble

Bull Terrier

Ten minutes of coat over one of the most allergy prone skins in dogs

Bull Terrier

The other dog sizes

Weight decides the equipment and the drying time. Coat decides everything else.

A Pomeranian and a Yorkshire Terrier, both under ten pounds

Toy

Under 10 lb

Under about ten pounds. Chihuahuas, Yorkshire Terriers, Maltese and Pomeranians.

Toy
A Bichon Frise and a Shih Tzu, the ten to twenty-five pound range most grooming books are written around

Small

10 to 25 lb

Ten to twenty-five pounds. Shih Tzus, Bichons, Cocker Spaniels and Miniature Schnauzers.

Small
A Border Collie and a Cockapoo in the twenty-five to fifty pound range

Medium

25 to 50 lb

Twenty-five to fifty pounds. Border Collies, Springers, Standard Schnauzers and most doodle crosses.

Medium
A Newfoundland and a Bernese Mountain Dog, a half day appointment and often two groomers

Giant

90 lb and up

Ninety pounds and up. Newfoundlands, Saint Bernards, Great Pyrenees and Bernese Mountain Dogs.

Giant

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