If you’re a pet parent with a dog with long hair, this post is for you. We’ll cover how to groom your pup and get rid of the loose hairs, so they don’t get all over the place.
You’ll need to start by brushing their coat gently, then follow up with a comb or brush to remove any knots. Next, grab your scissors and carefully trim them around their head and feet while avoiding getting too close to sensitive areas like eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. And finally, we will show you how to finish up by getting all those loose hairs off your floor and into the trash can!
It’s not hard at all!
Let’s look in detail at how to groom a long hair dog
How to Groom a Small Dog With Long Hair
Brushing is essential in removing all the dirt, loose hair, and tangles that accumulate in your pup’s coat.
Not only will brushing help prevent matting, but it will allow you to check out any changes in their skin or body, which can be helpful if they’ve had surgery or are having any health issues like allergies, illness, or parasites (like fleas and ticks).
Here are the steps to follow.
Step 1: Comb Out All the Tangles
Begin your grooming session by gently combing through your pet’s entire coat with a steel-pin brush. If you’re working on a pup with long hair, be sure to start at their head and work down toward their tail.
Using long, firm strokes on both sides of the body helps remove tangles and mats, stimulate the skin, and improve circulation.
Avoid brushing over sensitive areas like the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth to prevent irritation.
Step 2: Give Your Dog a Bath
Once all the tangles and knots have been gently worked out of your dog’s long hair, you can begin to bathe them. We recommend using a natural shampoo or soap-free cleanser like UltraGroom Oatmeal Shampoo because they leave the coat shiny and soft without stripping away oils.
Follow up with a conditioning rinse made with UltraGroom Oatmeal Conditioning Rinse to help detangle and moisturize the coat.
Step 3: Wrap Your Dog Up to Dry
Use a towel to help dry your pet’s feet and legs first, then wrap them up in a big, soft towel or blanket.
This will keep them warm as they’re drying off and prevent any cool drafts from getting into their skin, as well as preventing chills after bath time. Then you can move on to the finishing touches – clipping the nails, brushing the teeth, cleaning the eyes and ears.
Step 4: Trim Their Nails and Paws
Take your dog to a professional groomer and ask them to do the nail and paw trims for you. It’s easy to cut too short if you’re not familiar with cutting nails, so we recommend taking them somewhere where they will know what they are doing.
You can also use a Dremel tool on their nails, which will help smooth out any sharp edges and prevent the quick from growing too far into the nail.
Step 5: Trim the Hair Around Their Eyes
Use a pair of dog grooming scissors to trim the hair around your pet’s eyes. This will help keep it from getting into their eyes, causing irritation and infection.
Step 6: Brush Their Teeth
Oral hygiene is essential for both dogs AND people! For example, when you use an UltraGroom Toothbrush, you are helping to get rid of the germs and bacteria that cause bad breath, as well as helping to prevent cavities or gum disease.
UltraGroom Toothpaste is a great way to keep your dog’s teeth healthy and strong. UltraGroom Toothpaste & UltraGroom Triple Clean Toothbrush – Healthy Teeth For Your Pets
Step 7: Clean Their Ears
UltraGroom also offers ear care products that can help keep ears fresh, dry, and odor-free. For example, UltraGroom Ear Cleaner & UltraGroom Ear Wipes make it easy to clean out dirt, excess wax buildup (which can cause infections), and other irritants like pollen or cigar smoke.
Step 8: Give Them a Final Grooming Session
Once your dog has dried off, you can use an UltraGroom comb (like the UltraGroom Shed-less Slicker Comb ) to get their fur extra smooth.
How to Groom a Large Dog With Long Hair?
Grooming a large dog with long hair can be difficult. You have to follow a certain number of steps that may seem complicated, but I’m going to list them for you. These are:
Step 1. Make Sure You Have the Right Tools
When grooming your dog, you will need to make sure that you have the right tools. This means having a good brush, comb, clippers, and shaver. Other useful things are nail clippers, scissors, shampoo, and conditioner.
While these aren’t essentials, they can be quite helpful when grooming long-haired dogs, so I recommend having them.
Step 2. Prepare Your Dog to Get Groomed
This step is fairly easy. However, before you start actually grooming your dog, bath it and dry it off by brushing or with a towel. Only then should you start grooming.
Step 4. Use the Clippers to Groom Your Dog
This is the only time when you should use your clippers. However, using them too often can make your dog sick and weak, so using them now and then is fine.
First, start by brushing out all of your dog’s knots. This will save you a lot of time later on. Once the knots are gone, take a comb, preferably the one that has the shield, and start using it on your dog. Make sure to brush in small strokes when doing this, so you don’t hurt your dog.
Step 5. Use Scissors for the Difficult Areas
If you feel like your dog’s hair is a little too long for your clippers, by all means, go ahead and use scissors. Make sure that the scissors are sharp, though, or else you could end up hurting your dog.
How Do You Cut a Long-Haired Dog With Clippers?
The first thing you need to do is, with a comb in one hand and the clippers ready in the other, brush your dog’s hair down towards the floor.
Once that’s done, place the comb underneath one of your dog’s legs and then trim it up to it. Do this on every leg until all four of them are done.
What Does a Dog Grooming Include?
Dog grooming includes brushing and trimming. You can use clippers or scissors for this, and you should try it at least once a month.
If your dog is filthy, you will need to bathe him more often than that – every two weeks – but make sure he gets dry enough before you start brushing him again.
This will make your dog look better, and it will feel way softer. It might take a while to get used to grooming your dog, but with the steps I gave you, anyone can do it!
Do Long-Haired Dogs Need Haircuts?
No, long-haired dogs don’t need haircuts. But if your dog is large enough, you can use your clippers to cut off some of the hair around his feet and ears.
But make sure not to give him a haircut or shave unless you know what you are doing! It can make him sick and really hurt him.
How Do You Shave a Dog With Long Hair?
Shaving a dog with long hair is hard and can make your dog feel sick. So you shouldn’t do it unless you really know what you’re doing.
However, if you think your long-haired dog could use a haircut, here’s how to do it:
Take the clippers and brush your dog’s hair down towards the floor. Start with his legs and slowly shave upwards, going over every part of his leg, doing it a second time if you feel like you missed a spot.
Once that’s done, take a brush and comb and start brushing up your dog’s back to his head. If there are any spots you missed with the clippers, this is when you should go and cut them off.
Now it’s time to do your dog’s head. First, comb out his hair and then take a clipper and slowly shave upwards towards his head.
Once that’s done, comb out the rest of his hair and use one of your shaver’s attachments to get it all even.
Can I Use Human Clippers on My Long-haired Dog?
No, it would help if you did not use human clippers on your dog. They are made for humans and are not strong enough to cut dog hair. This can make your dog sick, hurt him, or even come close to killing him!
Do You Bathe a Dog Before Grooming?
No, it would help if you did not bathe your dog before grooming. This will make his hair wet and actually harder to brush. It also could dry out his skin and leave him feeling itchy.