How much time do you spend grooming?

[Dekka]

I got thinking of this with Schen. I am seeing if I (and he) can handle living in nearly full coat.

After years of JRTs and a couple of LHW I am not used to grooming. JRTs don't get knots and they are scotch guard'd at birth lol. They can be covered in disgusting stuff and as soon as they dry off they are white again. Whippets didn't need much brushing but a little more frequent bathing as their soft coats could hold dirt.

Well nothing compared to Schen. His coat is super super soft. It holds dirt and smells like crazy. He is brushed most days and bathed 1-2 times a week and thoroughly combed after bathing. Its not as bad as I thought.

How much time do you spend grooming your dogs?

 

[BostonBanker]

Probably 30 minutes a week on average? I do teeth four or five times a week (2 or 3 minutes). Nails once or twice a week (5 minutes). Meg gets brushed a tiny bit weekly, because she's got a bit of an undercoat and it keeps the bed a touch cleaner. But that's maybe minutes a week.

Baths are once a month max, unless they roll in something.

15 years with a Bedlington taught me that I should not own dogs with coats that require grooming. I enjoy it as an occasional activity, not a requirement to my life.

 

[krissy]

Grooming? What's that?

I do nails once a week... so five minutes a week.

Baths once every year and a half for Summit, and as needed for Kili... though I think she's coming up on a year as well.

Every once in a blue moon, or during shedding season, I break out the hound brush.

 

[xpaeanx]

All the breeds I like are double coated... So I brush every few days and during shedding season I found they absolutely MUST be washed and force air dryed. So about 3 times a year we rent a grooming room and spend like 5 hours going all out... But in between those days it's just quick over all brushing to pull out excess undercoat and prevent knots.

And that is about as much as I ever want to groom. I could never own a breed that required extreme grooming... I just can't.

 

[Annabell]

Lol I probably spend less time than I should.

I give Fable a bath at the u-wash place about every 6 weeks. The owner of the shop gives us a free nail trim with the u-wash, so it's about 20 minutes total since I don't blow-dry. I usually brush her out once she dries, and that tends to take about 15 minutes (or however long I want it to). So... maybe 30 minutes every 6 weeks?

I would do her nails more often, but I'm terrified of clipping black nails, so I just leave it to the groomer whenever I take her in for her bath. (I promise they never get too long).

 

[Oko]

Umm...I do nails. And I pet her purty furs to make like two hairs come out?

 

[pinkspore]

Brisbane gets washed in baby shampoo at least once a week. I have access to a whole pro setup at work and usually blow dry him and clean his ears out too. Nails we're still working on because my delicate snowflake needs to be sedated at the vet and have two people hold him down to get them done. I've never made it far with desensitization techniques because he seems to know what is up and gets tense and unhappy with any touching past his ears. (He's OK having his feet handled when I'm not thinking about the possibility of someday cutting his nails.)

Ru gets his teeth brushed every day, nails every week or so, bath every few months when he gets gross.

Uly gets a bath every couple of weeks when he starts getting smelly.

 

[Lilyharmony]

As long as I need to until I'm satisfied!

Really, though, I bathe once every two weeks or so, depending on what we've been doing.

 

[meepitsmeagan]

Not as much as I should because my vacuum and clothes come up full every time.

With four dogs, I spend about 20 minutes/week doing nails. I try to brush with an undercoat rake for about a half hour/ACD once a week, but sometimes it doesn't happen. Because I'm lazy.

During coat blows, we head to work and everybody gets a bath/forced air dry. Typically takes about 2 hours to do 3 dogs, plus I normally bathe Harlow in there too.

 

[Toller_08]

Not much. Fifteen or twenty minutes doing nails weekly combined and a few hours one day every 4-6 weeks trimming and bathing everyone. In between my hairy dogs might get a thirty second quick brushing. I don't mind grooming but it's not my favourite so I'd never have dogs hairier than my current dogs. No time for excessive grooming around here lol.

 

[Grab]

The Chows I brush every few weeks, more often if it's coat blowing time. I do Brooks' topknot and legs once a week or so. When he had a puppy coat it was more frequently. Newt and Jules are kept short and Nog has a terrier-y coat, so really no upkeep

 

[lancerandrara]

About 20 minutes every three days for Lancer. I should be grooming more though, or there wouldn't be as many fluffy tumbleweeds everywhere.

For Rara, hardly any fur comes off her- she barely has an undercoat (probably the Papillon side of things? Or just malnutrition as a puppy before we got her).

 

[Slick]

Very very little.

Leo has a very easy care coat.
I brush him when he seems to be shedding particularly a lot. I wash him every couple of weeks (mostly not even because he smells, but because I feel like maybe it is time again, he doesn't really need it).

I probably should do nails a lot more than I do. He has black nails so I really really don't like doing it because I am constantly scared of quicking him. Probably once a week, I do a paw or two, which takes like 5 minutes.

Overall, maybe 10 minutes a week?

 

[thehoundgirl]

Buster was really never groomed regularly he was a short haired dog and it was a chore getting him in the bath tub. His nails were clipped often but just the tips he had the thickest nails ever. But he wasn't a gross dog so he didn't need to be bathed and stuff all the time.

Dixie - She goes to the groomers to get groomed. She gets a bath, shaved down and nails trimmed. She's a Schnauzer Mix so we don't have to brush her out or anything. She's a bit shaggy right now but is probably going to go to the groomer next weekend as this is a holiday weekend and we're not sure if the groomer is open.

Rudy - He gets brushed out so he doesn't get mats. He's never been shaved down or anything at the groomer because he's so sensitive it would probably make him shut down no matter how gentle the groomer is. He has the weirdest fur I have ever seen but he's like a lion with all that fur. And he's cute. He usually wears his nails down outside so they don't need clipping. He doesn't get bathed because he's not a dirty dog. But he gets poop stuck on his butt sometimes where we have to clip around his butt and wipe him down. Yay for having such a hairy dog. :lol-sign:

 

[Fran101]

Groomer/vet/anybody else takes care of his nails.

I do spend quite a bit brushing/bathing him. He is not trimmed or otherwise groomed but he is always very clean

He gets a bath/blow on average once a week

 

[LostAndConfused]

Umm...I do nails. And I pet her purty furs to make like two hairs come out?

basically this. I've been saying since July that I should give my dog a bath because it's been a while. I just haven't had a need to. I normally do a bath in the spring when he starts to shed

 

[SpringerLover]

Maybe half an hour a week on average. It takes me a couple hours to do a full groom on Gabby or Bailey and I do that every couple of months. I used to do it a LOT more frequently but I don't have a great set up anymore.

Diego is SUPER easy. I love his coat. He just needs his feet, neck, and tail trimmed every couple of weeks. Nails I try to do weekly.

 

[Elrohwen]

I do a full bath and groom about once every 6 weeks. Grooming takes maybe an hour once he's dry, a bit longer if I'm being nitpicky. In between I brush him maybe once a week (takes less than 5 min) and once I might trim up his feet and ears a little between baths if they're getting fluffy and I'm bored. I also spray him with waterless shampoo daily where he pees on his feathers, otherwise they get gross quickly.

 

[Laurelin]

About every month and a half or so I groom the papillons. I do full baths and feet trimming and such. Other than that just nails every few weeks and baths as needed. Mia gets greasy and Summer is having some pee dribbling issues and Hank likes foul smells so we don't have a schedule... just as needed basis. I brush them maybe once a month. It's bad.

I'd probably say 2-3 hours a month? Maybe. And most that is trying to convince Hank that nail trims are not the devil. Nails on Hank is a painful experience.

 

[Torch]

Probably about an hour a week between the two dogs. Both have relatively easy coats to care for, but Rhys I bathe once a week to help with his allergies. They also get brushed for a few minutes a couple of times a week, and nails are done every 7-10 days.