July 25, 2026
Coat Care Between Grooming Visits
This is for owners between appointments. Brushing at home does three things: it takes out loose hair before it mats, it spreads the skin's natural oils down the hair shaft, and it makes the next groom shorter and more comfortable for the dog. What it does not have is one correct method — the right tool and the right frequency depend on the coat.
Match the routine to the coat
- Double coats (huskies, shepherds, corgis) — an undercoat rake once or twice a week. A slicker brush tidies the surface and leaves the shedding undercoat where it is.
- Curly coats (doodles, poodles, bichons) — line brushing three to four times a week, followed by a comb to check. This is the highest-maintenance coat of the four, by a distance.
- Wiry coats (terriers, schnauzers) — a slicker brush weekly, plus a comb through the leg furnishings and beard, which mat faster than the body.
- Short coats (beagles, boxers, staffies) — a rubber curry brush once a week. Ten minutes is genuinely enough.
Brush to the skin, not across the top
Mats form at the skin and grow outward, so a coat can look well kept and be matted underneath. The test is a metal comb: if it passes from skin to tip without catching, the coat is clear. If it stops, brushing the surface harder will not help — that is a mat, and it needs working from beneath or clipping out.
The five places to check first
Mats start where the coat rubs. Check behind and under the ears, in the armpits, on the inside of the back legs, under the collar or harness, and around the base of the tail. Those five spots account for most of the dematting we do.
If you find one you cannot clear in a minute or two, leave it for us rather than working at it. Dematting is $15 per 15 minutes, and a mat caught early is usually a few minutes of work; the same mat a month later often is not.