How Often Should I Have My Dog Groomed? Grooming Frequency Explained

How often a dog should be bathed is a hot button topic in some circles. There are those with the opinion that dogs should be bathed as frequently as possible, sometimes two to three times a week. There are those who say dogs should be bathed no more than twice a year. There are even folks out there who say certain breeds should never be bathed at all unless absolutely necessary!

So what is the truth? Is there a standard time frame for bathing a dog? Well, there is and there isn’t. It really depends on your dog, their habits, their health, and the products you use.

As we have mentioned before, a dog’s skin regenerates every 21 days. The dead skin cells are then shed off. By bathing your dog every 21 days, you can ensure that all the old cells are being fully removed, keeping the surface of their skin as healthy as it can be. Does this mean you need to make an appointment for your furry friend every three weeks? That depends on you and your dog. If you are confident you can bathe, dry, and brush your dog properly at home, go ahead and bathe them at home! If you need a little help, give your groomer a call to set up an appointment.

21 days is a guideline but it is not set in stone. If you bathe your dog after 19 days or wait until 30 days, that is also just fine. While timing is important for maximum benefits, the products you use are arguably more important.

There is an astonishingly wide variety of shampoos available for dogs and cats these days. These products range from low-cost concoctions available in grocery stores to high end, higher cost, more natural products available through only specialty sellers. Along side these shampoos are a more important product: conditioner. While just about any shampoo specifically formulated for dogs or cats will remove all the dirt from their coats, it will also remove the good oils from their skin. Using a conditioner will not only moisturize their fur, it will help to replace those good oils.

By using a good quality, non-drying shampoo and conditioner combo, it is possible to safely bathe your dog once a week. If you have a dog who delights in playing in the mud and water (Looking at you again, Noodles!), sometimes weekly bathing is hard to avoid! Ask us what products we recommend if you need to bathe your mud puppy frequently. We will be happy to help you find something that works!

Another situation that might require frequent bathing would be if your veterinarian has prescribed a prescription shampoo to help with a skin problem such as a bacterial or fungal infection. Some of these shampoos can be extremely drying. While you should always follow all of your veterinarian’s instructions, you might want to ask if you can follow up with a light conditioner to avoid damaging any healthy skin.

“So if I can bathe my dog at home anywhere from every week to once a month, when should I bring them to the salon for grooming?” Once again, it depends on you and your dog! If you like to keep your long haired dog in a longer style or if you live with a short haired breed that sheds buckets every day, you might want to consider appointments every 4 weeks. This will help keep the long hair fluffy and tangle free and that shedding hair to a minimum. For dogs with shorter styles or fur that doesn’t shed quite as much, visits to the salon every 6 to 8 weeks will keep them comfortable and in style! If you find your dogs hair tends to grow faster, the seem to tangle and mat, or they become stinky faster, we can easily adjust their grooming schedule to keep them and you as happy and comfortable as possible!

Waiting too long between groomings can lead to uncomfortable situations for both long haired and short haired pets. They can develop mats and impacted undercoat, both of which will block the airflow to their skin. Their skin may become dry, flaky, or greasy. Yeast and bacterial infections can start to develop. They can get hot spots or other sores and wounds on their skin. If you notice any of these things, it is best to first consult with your veterinarian then think about how you can revamp their grooming schedule!

All Dogs Need Grooming

When we think of dog grooming, we tend to think of show dogs with their beautiful, flowing fur or their perky poms and top knots. Poodles and Shih Tzus immediately pop into most peoples’ heads as examples of grooms. Scruffy terriers with their carefully hand stripped coats might join the mix. And who can forget a perfect Schnauzer cut too?

Grooming goes far beyond styles for the show ring. It even goes beyond hair cuts in general. All dogs need to be groomed. Even short haired and hairless dogs will benefit from a bath, brush, and deshed treatment. Why? It is pretty simple!

Just like humans, dogs shed their skin cells in a 21 day cycle. The new cells form under the skin and mature over this period of time. Once they reach the surface, they hang around for a while before dying and shedding off, revealing healthy new cells underneath. The process happens in a never ending cycle starting the day they are born. It happens with humans too! Unlike humans, the skin surface for a dog is under a layer of fur. This can prevent those old cells from sloughing off in a timely manner. Dogs may develop itchy dandruff, flaky patches, yeast infections, or a host of other problems if they are not able to shed this skin.

Shedding hair can become a problem for even shorter haired pets. All dogs shed. Even so called “non-shedding” breeds like poodles and bichons shed. They simply shed less since their hair has a much longer growth cycle. Their kinky fur also tends to hold that shed fur in, potentially creating mats if it is not brushed out on a regular basis. Any dog with hair longer than an inch or two in length is at danger of developing mats. The longer the hair, the more easily it tangles. But even shorter haired dogs can have shedding problems. Their shed fur can impact into their coat, creating a thick, tight, hard to remove layer of fur and dander.

The good news is that grooming helps to solve both the problems of proper skin overturn and shedding! A proper bath with quality, pet specific shampoos and conditioners along with a good blow and brush out will help all the excess skin cells blow away. The shedding hair will come out as well, preventing any mats or impacting. You pet’s coat will be softer, shinier, and brighter after a bath. They will feel amazing too! Regular appointments will help to keep their nails in tip top shape as well!

Even hairless dogs and cats will benefit from a good scrub. They might not have as much hair to shed, but their skin is still prone to build-ups. They can develop black heads and zits. A moisturizing bath and an exfoliating scrub can greatly reduce the problems!

Help even your short haired buddies feel their absolute best by getting them on a regular grooming schedule. They will absolutely adore all the attention they receive in the salon and at home afterwards too!

What sets us apart from everyone else? "Small Spaces"

Our next series of topics will deal with what makes us special. 

Things that help to set us apart from the rest!

One of the biggest things that sets us apart from some other salons, 

especially from big box corporate stores, is our size! If you have 

been into the building, you know that TLC Pet Services is small! 

When you walk in, what you see is pretty much all there is! We 

have a small area behind the wall that is about half the size of the 

grooming room where we have our tub, drying table, kennels, and 

furnace. We can comfortably keep 7 dogs in our kennels. With a 

little wiggling and setting up crates and x-pens in the grooming 

room, we can house a few more. Since there are only two of us 

here, odds are there will be no more than 6 dogs in the building at 

any given time (not including Lucky the shop dog of course!) 

Some of the larger corporate salons have literally dozens of 

kennels. 30+ is not unheard of in the larger stores. With a half 

dozen groomers and several more bathers, all these kennels can be 

filled all day long with dogs.

Sometimes, bigger is not always better. Many dogs become 

overwhelmed in such a large, noisy, slightly crowded environment. 

Who could blame them? The dryers are running. The bathers are 

bathing. Dogs around them are barking. Clippers are going. People 

are talking. Customers and coming and going. Other customers are 

watching through the windows. It can be very overwhelming! 

Nervous dogs then either shut down and just accept what it 

happening or they start to fight back out of fear. Some dogs might 

not like other dogs but they feel like they have no room to escape. 

They start barking in fear or frustration because they can see four 

other dogs and hear a dozen more. Even a good, well mannered 

dog who is used to the grooming process might start barking along 

if others are. My own Shaak Ti was well known for starting “sing 

alongs!” She would howl in her kennel and get all the other dogs 

barking and howling along!

TLC Pet Services is small. Very small. Purposefully small. Would 

we like a bit more room? Yes but what we have is pretty much 

perfect. By staying small, we can control who comes on what day. 

We can control the level of noise in the building. We can book 

nervous dogs on one day and the barkers on another. Does your 

dog do best when there are no other dogs around? No problem. We 

can book you first thing in the morning on a quieter day, last thing 

in the afternoon after the rest of the dogs have left, or even a day 

when we know we have a full house with only well mannered, 

quiet, non-threatening dogs. Maybe your dog doesn’t like other 

dogs but is great with cats. We will eventually have cat only days. 

Your dog might be a candidate for coming toward the end of a cat 

only day. We even have the ability to open on a special day just for 

a special dog if we really need to. Each day is tailored to the dogs 

and cats on the books.

Both Stacey and I came from a corporate back ground. While we 

are not here to bash corporate salons or their groomers (we’re all 

on the same team after all!), we did absolutely have some problems

 with the way things were done which influenced why TLC is TLC.

 The biggest thing we wanted to change beyond creating a quieter 

environment was eliminating walk-in services. Walk-in nail trims, 

brush outs, teeth brushing, and even nail painting seems like a 

convenient thing, right? It absolutely is! However, it can cause 

added and unnecessary stress to the dogs who have appointments. 

When a walk-in client walks in, the groomer or bather must put the 

dog they are working on back in a kennel while they assist the 

walk-in. After they have trimmed the nails, brushed the dog out, 

etc, they then get their appointment dog back out and continue their

 scheduled service. One or two breaks probably won’t make a big 

difference to that appointment dog’s attitude about the day. But 

once you hit three, four, ten or more breaks, that dog starts to feel 

just as frustrated as the groomer does! We don’t want that 

happening to our clients. That is why we decided that even nail 

trims need to be scheduled. It is all for the comfort of the pets in 

our care!

With up to a dozen or more people working in a larger salon, 

corporate or not, it can also be hard to know who is doing what on 

any given day. While this might not make a big difference in some 

areas like folding towels or sweeping the floor, when it comes to 

cleaning, it can be a big problem if things are not properly 

organized and tasks are not properly assigned! By being a small 

salon, we know exactly who is cleaning what on any given day. We 

have a schedule for cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing that we 

follow between each dog and at the end of the day. There are daily, 

weekly, and monthly tasks that we undertake so we know things are

 clean, tidy, and most importantly sanitary for your pets! With only 

two people, it doesn’t take long to figure out who washed the 

windows yesterday or when the floor was last mopped! We know 

with absolute certainty that the tub has been disinfected between 

dogs. We know 100% that the floor has been swept, vacuumed, and

 mopped. We’ll cover our policies and procedures for cleaning in 

more depth in the future too.

Most importantly, our small size lets you be confident that your 

dogs and cats know their groomers! Even if Stacey is their regular 

groomer, they will be familiar with Jess as well since she is the 

only other person in the building most of the time. Stacey will 

know if Jess’s regular clients have any little quirks such as needing 

to be in a bottom kennel or needing to “fly” for their nails. Regular 

clients will be familiar with both of us and can be confident when 

leaving their dogs in Jess’s care because Stacey is running a few 

minutes late. Personable and personal service are our goal! We 

never want to have a staff so large that you don’t recognize all the 

employees floating around!

We value the comfort, health, safety, and happiness of our furry 

clients and their parents! We want everyone to be comfortable in 

our purposefully small space!