A smooth coat guide from your Cheshire grooming team
From Beagles to Bulldogs, smooth coat breeds come in all shapes and sizes. A smooth coat is great for owners who don’t have a great deal of time for coat maintenance thanks to its short length and shiny smooth texture. That said, even the most low maintenance pooches will still need some home grooming to help maintain their skin health and keep their coat shiny all year round. This is your ‘go-to’ dog grooming guide for smooth coated breeds.
Contents
- What is a smooth coat?
- What dog breeds have a smooth coat?
- What are the benefits of a smooth coat?
- About Smooth Coat Grooming
- What is required to maintain a smooth coat at home?
What is a smooth coat?
A smooth coat is the easiest to maintain. It is short in length and sits tight to the body, meaning that it can’t get matted or tangled. The coat stays short all year round needing no cutting or clipping. Smooth coats work to keep your dog warm by offering a dense layer of hairs growing close together. As a result of this thickness, the breed can shed heavily as old dead hairs fall out to make way for healthy new hair. A smooth coated dog with a healthy coat will often have a shiny appearance and this appearance can be maintained by regular brushing to spread essential oils across the skin.
What breeds have smooth coats?
Dogs with a smooth coat may have really short hair or they may have slightly longer hair that grows close to their skin. Breeds include: –
- Basset Hound
- Beagle
- Boston Terrier
- Boxer
- Bulldog
- Dalmatian
- Great Dane
- Greyhound
- Labrador Retriever
- Miniature Pinscher
- Pug
- Rottweiler
- Staffordshire Bull Terrier
- Weimaraner
What are the benefits of a smooth coat?
There are a range of benefits of a smooth coat. Most notably for owners, a smooth coat doesn’t require as much grooming as other breeds with long or wiry coats. Thanks to its slick feel and low profile it doesn’t matt or tangle as often as longer coats do.
You’ll also be able to see the contours of their body clearer than other breeds, which from a health point of view makes it easier to identify any lumps or bumps on their skin. They’re also less susceptible to tick bites, but if they do get bitten it’s easier to spot ticks lodged in the skin.
Unfortunately, there are a few slight negatives, particularly in cooler months. If you own a dog breed with a low body fat percentage, such as a greyhound, they may need a coat or jacket during the winter to help keep them warm. Their short hair isn’t the most effective at keeping them warm, particularly when wet.
About smooth coat grooming
Smooth coated breeds are probably the easiest coat types to maintain, but regular brushing and deshedding is essential to maintain their skin and coat health. A visit to The Pet Retreat will help ensure your dogs coat shines, here’s what we have in store for your pooch.
Shampoo
As with any grooming visit to The Pet Retreat, we’ll start by shampooing the hair before drying. With smooth coat dogs, we’ll use a shampoo treatment that’s specially designed to aid the deshedding process such as EarthBath Shed Control. This will ensure that their dead hairs come loose, leaving room for their new coat to grow through.
Deshedding
Following their deshedding treatment and bath, our expert groomers will give them a full body brush. We have a range of brush types suitable for removing excess hair, including a Furminator or a coat king, which dislodge old dead hairs. A Kong Zoom Groom will also help remove hairs from the fur and spread essential oils thanks to its rubber texture.
Finishing Touches
A smooth coated dog should shine and to help make them glisten we finish all of our grooms with a coat spray. Finally, before they leave, we’ll spray them with some Wildwash Cologne to ensure they smell as good as they look.
Other Maintenance
Even with a smooth coated breed you’ll still benefit from a visit to the groomers once in a while. Here at The Pet Retreat we offer a number of treatments which help keep your animal looking sharp and feeling great. Our Pet Pawdicure helps keep their paws and nails healthy, whilst we offer tooth brushing which will help protect their teeth and give them fresh smelling breath. Find out more about our Spa Treatments on our salon pages.
What is required to maintain a smooth coat at home?
Smooth coated dogs don’t require as much maintenance as other coat types and you’ll get away without brushing them every day. However, it’s still useful to brush them as often as you can for their overall coat health. We recommend using something like a Zoom Groom or a bronze pin brush at least twice a week to help remove dander and spread essential oils all over their body.
When the seasons change your dog’s coat will start to shed. To help reduce the amount of fur that sheds around the house and to speed up the process, it is worth using a deshedding comb or brush such as a furminator. This will help remove the hairs from their skin, giving room for their shiny summer coat to grow through.
Advice from the groomers
To help make you the right choice when it comes to grooming your smooth coat dog, we’ve consulted our groomers for their advice. Here’s what Rachel from our Holmes Chapel salon had to say about smooth coat dog grooming:
It might sound obvious, but regular professional grooming greatly reduces shedding. We use deshedding shampoo and a range of brushes to get rid of those pesky hairs and keep the shedding under control. Don’t believe us? We’ve got the pictures to prove it!
The picture on the left is chocolate labrador Coco, who regularly visits the salon for a bath and de-shed. The dogs on the left are ones that only visit once every 3-6 months. Because Coco visits regularly, her hair doesn’t build up on the surface, meaning she’ll have a healthier coat and a cleaner house!
How Do You Groom Other Types of Dog Coats?
At The Pet Retreat, we are often asked how often to maintain different types of coats. The frequency of your dog’s grooming appointments varies depending on their coat type. Speak to the professionals in our team for more insight.
Wiry Coat
If your dog has fur that is thick and bristly, they more than likely have a wiry coat. We have a full blog available on the hand stripping method for wiry coats. To get this process right, be aware of the growth cycle of your dog’s hair, which we detail in our wiry coat grooming guide.
Combination Coat
These coats are harder to maintain due to needing different types of brushes and combs. Dog breeds that have combination coats include Cocker Spaniels, Border Collies and Golden Retrievers. Make sure to follow our in depth combination coat grooming guide to maintain your dog’s coat at home.
Long Coat
Dogs with long coats become dirty more often due to their hair reaching or exceeding floor length. A consistent grooming routine is very important to make sure your dog stays happy and healthy. Read our long haired dogs guide, where you can find an in depth guide to maintaining their coat.
Wool Coat
Dogs with wool coats were originally water dogs as they needed water to bead off easily. This means regular grooming is essential to avoid tangling and matting. In addition to professional grooming sessions follow our wool coat guide to maintain your dog’s coat from home.
Book a Smooth Coat Appointment
We set the standard in pet grooming at The Pet Retreat and our whole team are experts in the different types of dog coats and their needs. We understand each dog has their own individual requirements. When you book your first appointment with us, we provide a complimentary consultation to find the best natural products to use for your dog’s coat.