To start with you need to work out what type of fur your dog has. Some dog breeds do not require any more grooming than just a good brush every day. For this you can buy specialist brushes from pet shops and they are suited to your dogs coat type. For example German Shepherds have a double coat. This is to say that there are 2 layers to their coat, both slightly different.

The double coat means that there are essentially two layers to their coats, and a brush especially designed for this, will pull out the thicker undercoat, which in turn means that the problem of shedding their fur quite heavily can be substantially reduced with gentle brushing on a daily basis. When brushing dogs fur, always brush in the direction the fur grows.

For spaniel kinds of dogs, they do not have such a course, dense coat as a shepherd, but their fur can grow quite long, and their ears are quite woolly, with a tendency to get into big matted knots if not groomed regularly. To begin with brush the whole body with a medium coarse brush to get rid of bits of grass and buds that tend to stick to springer’s coats. Do not use a hard or stiff brush on your dogs face, use a softer brush as it is much nicer for them.

If the feathery type fur they tend to get when their coat gets long needs a trim you can either buy thinning scissors to get rid of it, or regular straight scissors, but make sure they are specifically for dog grooming and not household scissors as they won’t be sharp enough. Thin out the fur on their hind legs, along their tail, under their belly and along their chest.

It is particularly important with springer’s that you keep their ears well groomed, cut neatly and cleaned, but never clean inside the ear itself. Due to the kind of fur that they have on their ears, it will become knotted and matted without grooming and could cause ear problems which are quite common in this type of dog.

Another area to pay particular attention to are dogs claws. You should never attempt to clip a dogs claws unless you have been taught how to do it by a professional as it can cause serious harm to your pets paws if done wrong. If you are competent however, trim the fur away from in between claws and around pads, then clip the nails.

Once you have got the basics and hang of dog grooming at home you will find that the more you do it, the easier it becomes, also taking less time as there won’t be so much to do!