The most recognizable thing about a Golden Retriever is their remarkably beautiful coat. To keep that beautiful coat looking it’s best it takes a bit of work on the owners’ part. Grooming is more than just for looks, it also is necessary to prevent serious health problems. And there’s a lot more to grooming than just brushing it’s also important to keep up with a Golden’s nails, teeth, eyes and ears.

To start, brushing is something a Golden Retriever needs one to three times a week. Brushing is needed even more than that during the heavy shedding seasons. It is a good idea to begin a brushing routine when your Golden Retriever is just a pup to get them used to being brushed and checked over. When you set aside time for brushing, take a minute to also check out your Golden’s nails to see if they need trimming and look at his teeth for loose teeth or plaque buildup. You may also work with brushing your Golden’s teeth with specially made toothbrushes for dogs. Go ahead and gaze into his eyes and flip up the ears to check for waxy build-up. It’s a good idea to do this along with the five minute check-up any time you can, the more you work with your Golden the easier the tasks become.

Now back to the brushing. To get started you will need a few different brushes each having their own use.

• Comb
• Slicker Brush
• Bristle Brush
• Scissors

To get started, you may want to spritz the coat with water from a spray bottle. Brushing a dry coat could result in hair breakage. Next, run through the coat with the comb. Should you run across any matts while combing, use the end of the comb to try to get them out. If that doesn’t work, you may need to cut them out. Be very careful when cutting out a matt and do not cut your dogs’ skin as sometimes if the matt is bad it will be close to the skin.

After combing, use the slicker or pin brush to get out the dead or shedding hair. This is the best way to get rid of a lot of hair. So from a show grooming stand point, you’ll want to do this sparingly. Lastly, the bristle brush is good for removing dirt and distributing the oils.

Along wth regular brushing, your Golden Retriever will need bathes too! It’s a good idea to brush before and after bathing to save you from unwanted matting. For bathing, your choice of shampoo is completely up to you and there are a lot of choices out there. Just be sure to read the labels carefully before purchasing a shampoo for your dog. With shampoo in hand and Golden in the tub, wet them down good and lather up. When finished scrubbing, be sure to rinse, rinse and rinse again to get all of the soap out so your Golden’s skin doesn’t get irritated by soap left behind.

After bathing be sure to dry your Golden well. You may decide to blow dry the coat or just use several, yes several, towels. It is important not to let your Golden outside with damp hair on a chilly day because after bathing, you have just removed all the oils from his coat and saturated him to the skin taking away his protection from the cold temperatures.

After a couple of good hours to dry, brush your Golden once more and then you are done!

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