How Long Does Dog Grooming Take?

Dog grooming is an essential part of keeping your furry friend happy, healthy and looking their best.

Whether you are a new pet parent or an experienced dog owner, you may still have many questions about the dog grooming process, such as how long the average grooming takes. 

The answer isnt straightforward, as it depends upon many factors that we will delve into below. As fellow dog owners & lovers, we want to help ensure you are best equipped with as much relevant information as possible so let's begin...

What does a typical dog groom include?

At D-O-G we have a range of dog grooming services available, ranging from full grooms for both long and short haired dogs, through to individual services such as ultrasonic teeth cleaning. 

The full range of dog grooming services we offer is:

• Shampoo 
• Blueberry facial
• Mud treatment
• Warm blow dry
• Full body coat styling
• Hygiene trim
• Nail clipping
• Ear cleaning
• De-shedding
• Pads trim
• Hand stripping
• Eye and fringe trim
• Ultrasonic teeth cleaning

The length of your dog grooming will depend heavily on how many different services your package includes. 

We do not rush through or cut corners, so the more your grooming package includes, the longer it will take!

Other factors that will affect grooming time:

The breed and coat type will be a massive determinant of how long your dog grooming will take. 

Short haired breeds, such as beagles and boxers, will typically have a shorter grooming time. 
A thorough bath, brush and nail trim might take roughly an hour. Longer haired breeds such as a Shih Tzu or Poodle will require more time due to the longer coat. 

The detangling and trimming can extend the grooming time upwards of two hours. 

Double-coated breeds, such as golden retrievers and huskies have a dense undercoat that requires special attention when it comes to grooming. The session can take longer, especially during shedding season!

As you would expect, the larger the dog, the longer the grooming. A great dane will take significantly longer to groom compared to a chihuahua! 

Similarly, a well-maintained coat will be quicker to groom, as there will be less time needed to detangle and clean the fur. 

Regularly brushing and bathing your dog can speed up the grooming process.

The dogs behaviour will also have a significant impact on the length of time needed for the groom, as qualified here by the Merryfield Academy. Calm, cooperative dogs take less time to groom compared to either nervous or aggressive dogs. 

We offer specific puppy grooming that helps young dogs to get used to grooming at an early age, which should help to acclimate your furry friend to the grooming environment and its sounds. 

Grooming does alter as your precious pooch ages which is another factor we delved into exploring, here.

Tips to speed up the process

Regular brushing and bathing

Keeping your dogs coat in top condition between grooming will help to reduce mats and tangles, which will not only help to reduce the length of time needed to groom your dog, but more importantly will help keep your pet happy and healthy.

Positive reinforcement

Training your dog, especially from a young age, to understand and enjoy the grooming session will help to make it a more pleasurable experience for all involved. We love all dogs, and work closely with nervous dogs to help them settle in.

Regular vet checks

Regularly visiting the vet can help to ensure your dogs teeth, ears and skin are in good health to avoid any complications during grooming. 

Dog grooming is more than just a beauty treatment, even though we do pamper every pet that comes to visit us at either our Battersea, Wandsworth Common or Wimbledon Park studio. 

Grooming is an important part of your dogs overall health and wellbeing with numerous direct and indirect benefits as listed in our previous blog. You can read about more benefits to your pup courtesy of dog grooming here. 

The time taken for dog grooming varies widely on a number of factors, but rest assured, every dog that we have the pleasure of grooming will be pampered and spoiled, helping them to look and feel at their very best.