01/10/2025
WHY GETTING YOUR DOG GROOMED IN THE WINTER IS SO IMPORTANT
With winter upon us, my grooming clients may be considering the impact this will have on their dog’s grooming routine.
Although popular belief is that dogs don’t need grooming as often in the winter, it’s just as important to groom them during this time as any other time of the year, particularly if they spend a lot of time outdoors.
At Heather's, we want to use our professional expertise to help your clients care for their dogs this winter. In this guide, we’re answering the most frequently asked questions on winter grooming, to aid you in looking after your dogs during the winter months.
From scheduling grooming appointments to advice on keeping a dog’s coat in check between visits, our essential tips will help keep dogs at their happiest and healthiest during the winter.
Do dogs need grooming in winter?
Whether your dog spends more time indoors over the winter with fewer walks or it’s out just as much as in the summer, it will still need to be groomed.
Although popular belief is that a dog’s hair should be allowed to grow out during wintertime to keep it warm, this can be more detrimental than beneficial. Suppose a dog’s hair is left long and isn’t regularly groomed. This can cause the formation of uncomfortable mats and tangles, leading to skin irritations and infections. I encourage clients to keep regular grooming appointments and establish a regular brushing routine for their dogs between visits.
Keeping dogs well-groomed and short during winter also helps keep their coats more manageable for their owners and makes keeping them clean easier.
Double-coated breeds, such as Border Collies, Huskies and Golden Retrievers, have a soft undercoat for insulation and a thick, dense outer coat. Generally, these breeds love the great outdoors, so they should be groomed regularly to remove loose, moulting fur and prevent mats and tangles from forming.
When a dog’s undercoat becomes severely matted and tangled, it can’t fulfil its main function of regulating its temperature making it more susceptible to hypothermia, alongside the common skin problems and discomfort associated with complicated mats and tangles.
Regular brushing between appointments can prevent this and should be practised, regardless of the season. As a general rule, I recommend the following brushes to keep on top of your dog’s coat in winter:
• A slicker brush is a great choice for long-haired breeds. It helps to maintain the top coat and remove any loose hair.
• A bristle brush works well for single-coated breeds as it helps to spread oils around the dog’s coat and prevents tangles from forming.
• A de-shedding rake is good for double-coated breeds as it gets down to the undercoat and removes loose or dead hair.
• A metal comb is good for all breeds, especially coats that require clipping
***Learning to line brush your dog is a great tool to keep your dogs coat maintained between grooms. Im more then happy to show you the proper technique to line brush/comb!
Does dog hair grow faster in the winter?
The seasons impact the speed of growth of a dog’s coat. The longer daylight hours stimulate fur growth in the lighter summer months, so hair grows faster than in the colder, darker months.
However, this doesn’t mean that dog owners should reduce their dog’s appointments during winter. A regular trim can help to maintain the coat and prevent it from becoming overgrown and tangled.
Here are some other reasons you should continue regular winter grooming appointments:
• Bathing, brushing and moisturising help to eliminate mats and tangles. Regular appointments can help you keep unruly mats and tangles under control.
• A dog’s nails wear down less in the winter as the ground is softer, and they spend more time indoors. By keeping up with regular grooming appointments, we can keep your dog’s nails under control to prevent them from becoming uncomfortable, snapping or splitting.
• As the hair between the pads continues to grow, it can collect snow, dirt and chemicals from de-icers, making it painful for a dog to walk and exposing them to ingestion of toxic chemicals. I advise washing your dog’s feet after winter walks to prevent pain and discomfort and check between the pads and toes for any lodged hard objects.
• Artificial heat can cause a dog’s skin to dry out and flake, so it’s important that your dogs appointments are kept up so I can monitor the condition of your dogs skin, which can easily be cared for with a gentle moisturising shampoo and conditioner. Regular grooming you do between appointments removes dead skin and spreads natural oils throughout the coat. Winter grooming prevents dry skin from cracking.
How often should you wash your dog in winter?
How often a dog needs bathing during winter depends on its lifestyle and coat type. If a dog spends a lot of time outdoors, it may require more frequent bathing to eliminate dirt and bacteria from its coat.
If a dog regularly visits my grooming salon, you should schedule appointments as normal in the winter. I encourage clients to increase appointments should their dog’s coat become difficult to manage with the changing weather.
Suggestions after outdoor winter walks:
• Fully dry their dog’s coat when they come home from a walk. ** DO NOT rub your dog with a towel as that encourages matting and tangles. Wrap the towel around your dog or the damp area and gently squeeze the towel against the fur until suitably dry. Using a peoples hair dryer while you brush the hair on low warm/cool setting will help the area to dry
• Brush and comb their dog frequently and thoroughly to prevent mats and tangles.
• Bathe them only when necessary with a good moisturising shampoo and conditioner to prevent the skin from drying and always follow up with a complete to skin comb or brush out.
Do dogs get cold when you shave them in the winter?
A dog regulates its temperature very differently from a human, with heat leaving its body through panting, the pads of its feet.
If they spend a lot of time outdoors in the winter, double-coated breeds need their undercoat to be kept healthy and intact, which they rely on to keep them warm in colder weather. Brushing a double coat helps to loft and trap their body heat between the layers keeping them warm. A clumped up undercoat traps moisture under the layers making their skin susceptible to hotspots and infection.
If a dog’s coat is matted and tangled beyond repair, shaving may be your only option to help restore it to health and prevent skin allergies and irritations from developing. However, this should only be used as a last resort for double-coated breeds.
Single-coated dogs such as Maltese are okay to be shaved as their hair doesn’t regulate their temperature like a double-coated dog’s does. If your single-coated breed gets shaved in the winter and you notice that it shivers, a good insulating dog coat with a slippery lining to prevent friction mats will keep them warm while out.
So should i get my dog groomed during winter, as frequently as summer! Yes!!
