How often should you groom your dog? A schedule by coat type

When people ask how often to groom a dog, they usually mean the trip to the groomer. But the haircut is the least frequent part. The jobs that decide whether your dog stays comfortable happen at home, on much shorter clocks.

• Brushing: a few times a week for most dogs, daily for long, silky or curly coats.
• Bathing: roughly monthly for a typical house dog, more for hairless or oily-coated breeds, less for many double coats.
• Nails: every three to four weeks. If you hear clicking on the floor, they are already too long.
• Ears: a check and clean about once a month, more often for floppy-eared dogs prone to infections.
• Teeth: daily brushing is ideal, and a few times a week still helps.

A professional groom bundles several of these together, plus a haircut if the coat needs one. How often you need that depends almost entirely on coat type, so that is where the schedule really comes from.

Find your dog’s coat in the table. Mixed breeds usually take after one parent’s coat more than the other, so go by what the hair actually does, not the breed on the adoption paperwork.

The four-to-eight-week haircut range for curly and silky coats is a real range, not a hedge. A dog kept in a short “puppy cut” can stretch closer to eight weeks. A dog kept long and fluffy needs the groomer sooner, because longer hair mats faster.

Less often than most people think. Frequent washing strips the natural oils that protect the skin and coat, which is why vets and the AKC both lean toward “regularly, but not too often.” For a typical indoor dog, about once a month is a sensible default.

That said, washing weekly is not automatically harmful. Washington State University’s veterinary hospital says a weekly bath with a veterinary shampoo is generally safe. The trouble starts with human shampoo or dish soap, which can strip oils and irritate dog skin. If your dog is on a medicated shampoo, follow your vet’s schedule instead of any chart.

Celebrity groomer Jorge Bendersky gave the AKC the most useful rule of thumb: wash your dog when they are no longer huggable. Swimmers, farm dogs and anything that rolls in things will need more baths than a couch dog. For a quick clean-up between baths, a damp washcloth on legs and belly does a lot.

If bathing a big dog at home is the hard part, a self-serve wash gives you a raised tub, warm water and a dryer. Our guide to using a self-serve dog wash walks through a first visit.

If you only do one grooming job well, make it brushing. It removes loose hair before it lands on your sofa, spreads skin oils, and catches tangles while they are still tangles and not mats.

Mats are the reason so many doodles and Shih Tzus end up shaved short. A mat pulls on the skin every time the dog moves, traps moisture and dirt against it, and can hide sores. Once a coat is matted close to the skin, the kindest fix is usually to clip it off and start again, which is why groomers charge extra for dematting.

Two habits keep this from happening. First, brush down to the skin, not just the surface: run a metal comb through afterward, and if it snags, you missed a spot. Second, always brush before a bath, never after. Wet fur tangles more easily than dry fur, so washing a tangled coat tightens the tangles into mats.

Most dogs need their nails trimmed every three to four weeks, according to both VCA and the AKC. Dogs that walk a lot on pavement wear them down and can go longer. Older, lighter or indoor dogs may need a trim every three weeks or even weekly.

The easy test: if you hear your dog’s nails clicking on a hard floor, they are too long. Long nails change how a dog stands and walks, and they snag and split. Don’t forget the dewclaws on the inside of the leg. They never touch the ground, so they never wear down and can curl back toward the skin.

Many groomers and some vet clinics offer walk-in nail trims for a small fee, which is a good way to stay on schedule between full grooms.

Calendars slip. These are the signs that tell you to book something now rather than next month:

• Your comb snags or stops near the skin, especially behind the ears, in the armpits or on the back legs.
• Hair is growing over the eyes or the dog squints.
• Nails click on the floor or the toes splay.
• A smell that comes back within days of a bath, or a sour smell from the ears.
• Hair matted or soiled around the rear end.
• Constant scratching, flaky skin or a greasy coat.

If you are pricing out a regular schedule, our dog grooming cost by state study shows what groomers actually charge where you live.