How To Groom Your Golden Retriever

Some people have been asking me for help on how to groom their Goldens after seeing Chloe all prepped up for an upcoming show last year. Well, it's very simple actually & you don't even need to send your dog to the beauty parlor & spend all that money to get it done when you can do it yourself at home & spend zero dollars & get good results! Well, maybe not on your 1st try but practice makes it perfect. I am no professional groomer nor have I gone to any grooming lessons. I learned it all online. And if I can do it, so can you. I however do make some mistakes sometimes as I'm still new with this & still learning. Below here are some simple basic instructions on how to groom your Golden. So, let's get started!

What tools do you need?

Thinning Scissors, Straight-edged Scissors, Shaver(optional), Slicker Brush & of course a Grooming Table or a rubberized matting on any old table will do.

I always believe trimming should always be done before bathing but after bathing is fine too. For my preference, I always trim my dog the day before she takes her bath or a week before the show. If you are planning on entering your dog for a show, trim one week before it so that the dog doesn't look like it has just been freshly trimmed. But touch-up should be done on the day of the show if necessary.

Let's start with the TAIL

You can do this while your dog is laying down on its side on the floor or standing up. For me, I prefer my dog standing. First, brush tail thoroughly, making sure no hair is tangled. Hold tail down with fingers & cut hair using the Straight-edged Scissors at least 1 centimeter away from your fingers like demonstrated above. If you're a first timer, cut further away but please do this slowly & carefully. Be sure not to accidentally cut your dog's tail or your own fingers.

The tip should have a rounded shape & as you slowly cut towards the base, it should become wider almost like a 'knife-like' shape. Once you're done, brush dog's tail & see if you're satisfied with it or not.

This is how the tip of the tail should look like after being trimmed. Usually after trimming, the dog's tail will look atleast 1 to 2, sometimes 3 inches shorter.

This is the 'finished tail'. I personally don't like my dog's tail looking like it's been bluntly cut so I'll use the Thinning Scissors to blend it in.

Now EARS

This is the behind of an untrimmed ear. Very fluffy...

Using the Thinning Scissors, trim the fluffy parts fairly close to the skin, vertically like shown above. Do it slowly & carefully because you wouldn't want cutting the dog's skin. Make about 3 cuts & then stop & brush it out & see if it's okay. Repeat if necessary. Same steps will be applied for area number 2 & 3.

Do not cut out too much fur because you want it to still look natural like picture above.

This is the untrimmed front part of the ear. My dog doesn't have much hair on her ears but I still trim them anyway. Trim area 1 & 3 the same way you did for the behind part of the ear. For area 2, trim away the sides of the ear using the Thinning Scissors very slowly & carefully. If you feel nervous doing it, then stop or else you'll wind up cutting the dog's ear instead.

Here's a picture of a 'neatened' natural looking ear.

Last but not least, FEET

Here's a pair of untrimmed feet. Before you start trimming, nails should be cut 1st. If you don't know how much should be cut off, flash a flashlight through the nail & see where the quick(the pink part between the nail) is. Cut just after the tip of the quick. Never cut too close or else the nail will bleed. If you're going to enter your dog for a show, nails should be short & never touching the ground if possible. So try to maintain it while it's still short.

Using a Slicker brush, gently brush hair up like demonstrated above.

Pull out excess hair between toes using your fingers & trim away most of it using the Thinning Scissors.

Using the Straight-edged Scissors, trim away fur under paw & around paw pads carefully. If you would like to make your job easier, use the shaver to shave the under part of the paw. But if you're grooming your dog for a show, its feet should not be shaved.

Golden Retrievers should always have the 'cat-like' paws so try & get them to look like that. Above picture is an example of very neat paws. Not overdone & that's the way I like it. I don't like it when paws look very choppy like you see some people do.

Trimming the back feet is exactly the same as trimming the front feet. Trimming the hock is very simple. Using your Thinning Scissors, make a few vertical cuts following the red lines in above picture. Be sure not to trim away all the hair. Just trim a little bit to thin it.

The most important thing about grooming a Golden is that the dog should not have a 'hard look'. The dog should always look elegant, natural but yet neat. That's why it's very important not to over do it.

I hope this free grooming tutorial has been very helpful. If you have any comments, please feel free to leave me one. Thank you & enjoy grooming your dog!