Dog Grooming Brushes

Slicker brushes and deshedding tools pull out the dead undercoat that causes most shedding and matting. For long or double coats, an undercoat rake or dematting comb works through knots gently; short-coated dogs often love a rubbery grooming mitt. Nearly every dog ends up needing two tools, one to remove loose coat and one to find knots, and the comb is the one people skip.

Regular brushing spreads natural oils, spots lumps, ticks and sore patches early, and means far less hair on your clothes and sofa. It is also how a dog learns that being handled is fine, which pays off at the vet and the groomer.

A slicker brush has fine bent wire pins that lift loose hair and tease out small tangles, and it suits most coats with any length to them: the Ancol Ergo Universal Slicker and the Mikki Soft Pin Slicker are the everyday versions, and a self-cleaning slicker with a button that retracts the pins saves picking hair out by hand. An undercoat rake, such as the Ancol Ergo Undercoat Rake or the Mikki Undercoat Rake, has longer, wider-spaced teeth that reach through a thick top coat to the dead undercoat beneath.

A deshedding tool like the Furminator Undercoat Deshedding Tool has a fine-toothed edge that pulls dead undercoat out in handfuls, which is transformative on a labrador or a German shepherd in moult and too much for a single-coated dog. A metal comb, such as the Wahl Steel Comb or the Ancol Ergo Medium Comb, is the tool that finds the knots a brush glides over. A rubber grooming mitt lifts loose surface hair from a short coat without scratching the skin and doubles as a bath brush.

A cockapoo, cavapoo or poodle has a curly single coat that mats close to the skin, so it needs a slicker for the surface and a comb through to the skin every few days, with a dematting rake for anything that has already knotted behind the ears and under the collar. A spaniel or a retriever with feathering wants a pin brush along the length, a slicker for the feathering and a rake through the undercoat in spring and autumn.

A labrador, husky, German shepherd or collie has a dense double coat that sheds in sheets twice a year, and a deshedding tool or undercoat rake is the only thing that keeps up; a slicker alone barely touches it. A staffie, whippet, boxer or beagle has a short smooth coat that needs no more than a rubber mitt or a bristle brush like the Ancol Ergo Soft Bristle Brush once a week, and a hound glove during the moult.

A mat that has tightened to the skin cannot be brushed out without pain, and pulling at it is how a dog learns to hate being groomed. Work from the ends of the hair inwards and hold the coat at its base so you are not tugging the skin with every stroke.

If a mat is solid, cut it out or let a groomer take it — but never with scissors held flat against the skin, which tents up underneath and gets caught. Short daily sessions during a moult remove more coat, and cause far less resentment, than half an hour at the weekend.