Sassy has a double coat of thick, soft fur, and it's floating in dandelion-tufts all over the house, drifting under furniture in wispy dust rhinos, garnishing dinner plates, and adhering to clothing.

Brutus has short hair that drops off where he sleeps.

Freckles generously spreads her Dalmatian hairs wherever she travels, all day, all week, all year.

Long-coated Lad is matted to the skin, his hair twisted into thick felt pads, his tender hide raw and fleabitten.

Each of these situations could be helped by regular grooming sessions with the family pet.

"Grooming" conjures up pictures of expensive salons for poodles or Shih Tzus or images of the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club dog show. The family Sassy or Freckles or Lad certainly doesn't need fancy haircuts or expensive baths with hot oil treatments. However, failing to groom the dog is akin to neglecting to comb a child's hair and wash behind his ears.

A long-coated dog should have her hair brushed and combed several times each week. A double-coated dog should have dead hair combed from the coat to hasten shedding and prevent hairy tumbleweeds from infesting the house. Even a short-coated dog should be brushed or rubbed down a couple of times a week to keep skin and coat healthy.

Much grooming can be done at home. A brush suitable for the dog's particular coat; a fine-toothed comb for soft, silky hair and flea control; a rubber mitt or coarse washcloth for short coats are minimal tools necessary for the job. Owners who can manage may also want a pair of clippers for trimming dog toenails.

The first step in home grooming is to teach the dog to accept the attention. The best strategy is to start when the pet is a puppy, teaching him to accept the handling of all his body parts and to stand and lie on his side by command. Use hands, a soft brush, or a coarse washcloth to groom a puppy. If the puppy has a tough time staying still, place a mat on the kitchen table for traction and work with the pup on the mat.

If the pup has grown up ungroomed, he can still be taught to stand or lie still and accept this necessary attention. As with any training effort, you will often need more patience to teach shy or fearful dogs than confident or dominant dogs.

When grooming a dog with a tangled coat, work gently to avoid irritating the skin. Comb the outside of the tangle, gently progressing towards the skin, just as you would comb a child's snarled tresses. If the coat is severely tangled or matted, work in short sessions and praise the dog frequently for accepting the sometimes irritating or painful combing. Or consider taking the pooch to a professional for an evaluation of his condition and possible clipping.

Dogs may shed dead hairs continuously, particularly in dry winter household heat. Double-coated dogs generally shed massive amounts of hair twice a year. Undercoat shedding often begins on the haunches and proceeds forward until the entire coat has molted. You may notice a dullness to the hair before the tufts begin to emerge from the coat. Full shedding can take a month or more, particularly in the heavy coated breeds.

Be prepared

All dogs need grooming, but some dogs need more grooming than others.

Baxter’s owners did not realize that their dog should be combed frequently and completely to prevent kinks and knots caused by intertwining of hairs or by dirt, grit, or vegetative matter in the coat. Mats can pull tender skin and cause pain and lead to hot spots or wounds to irritated skin and eventual infection, general skin outbreaks, or fungus or insect invasion.

Shaving may be the only solution for felted mats, but it must be done carefully to avoid nicking the dog or further irritating already inflamed skin.

Breeds that need frequent grooming to prevent mats and keep their coats healthy include Cocker Spaniel, Afghan Hound, Otterhound, Bernese Mountain Dog, Great Pyrenees, Newfoundland, Samoyed, long-coated St. Bernard, Maltese, English Toy Spaniel, Pomeranian, Shih Tzu, Yorkshire Terrier, Silky Terrier, Australian Terrier, Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, Bichon Frisé, Chow Chow, Keeshond, Tibetan Spaniel, Tibetan Terrier, Finnish Spitz, American Eskimo, Bearded Collie, Belgian Tervuren, Old English Sheepdog, Collie, Briard, and Shetland Sheepdog.

However, all dogs need some grooming. Although they are unlikely to develop mats or tangles — except around the ears or on the feathered legs of some breeds — medium-coated and short-coated dogs do need periodic grooming to keep coats and skin healthy. Grooming during shedding helps move the process along, lessen the hairy tumbleweeds in the family room, and encourage the growth of new coat.

Start with puppies

Good grooming habits begin with puppy care. All puppies should be taught to sit, stand, or lie down to have their bodies checked over and their hair combed.

Grooming provides bonding time. In the wild, wolves and other canines groom each other as part of the social interaction of the pack or family group. Dog incisors (the front teeth) are an effective comb; the little nibbles they etch on the bodies of pack mates stimulate the skin and have a calming effect. Puppy owners can also use grooming as pleasurable time with their new family member.

Tools

Pet supply stores have a dizzying variety of tools and products to assist in dog grooming. There are combs with fine teeth, combs with medium teeth, and combs with coarse teeth, combs with handles and without. There are brushes with short metal pins, brushes with slanted metal pins, brushes with flexible plastic pins, oval-shaped brushes and rectangular brushes. There are shedding blades for thick-coated dogs that shed gobs of undercoat and nubby gloves for smooth-coated breeds.

There are shampoos and rinses and gels and whiteners and conditioners and supplements to clean and soften coats.

A basic home grooming kit for a long-coated dog should include a soft wire slicker brush, a comb that has both fine and coarse teeth, a Universal brush and mat comb for dealing with the tangles that do form, and an oil-based conditioner that is applied before brushing or combing the coat. The mat comb has long teeth that are inserted into the mat rocked in a sawing motion to loosen the hairs.

A kit for medium-coated or short-coated dogs should include a slicker brush or flexible-pin brush. Bony dogs should be brushed with a soft brush or one with blunt bristles. Feathery hairs on the legs, ears, and tail should be combed. A nubby glove or coarse rag is suitable for grooming faces and for stimulating the skin and conditioning the coat on short-coated dogs.

Bathing

Ginger doesn’t need frequent baths. In fact, frequent baths can dry the natural oils in canine skin and lead to constant scratching, which in turn can lead to bacterial infections and oozing hot spots.

For dogs that get bathed more than once a month, aloe-based shampoos and coat conditioners and foods and supplements with Omega fatty acids help maintain coat oils and skin health.

• Before bathing, clear any mats or tangles from Ginger’s coat.
• Teach her to stand in the tub, then add warm or tepid water.
• Soak her to the skin, lather, then rinse thoroughly to prevent dull, sticky coat and dry skin.
• Take care to keep water and soap out of her eyes and ears and clean her face and the insides of her ears with a sponge or washcloth.

Daily examination

Even if Ginger doesn’t need daily grooming, check her thoroughly to make sure she has no cuts, sores, fleas, rashes, bumps, ticks, or hitchhikers in her coat or dirt in her ears. Remove fleas with a fine-toothed comb and drop them into a container of soapy water. Remove embedded ticks with tweezers or protected fingers and drop them in a vial of alcohol. (Grasp the tick body, rock it back and forth, then pull firmly.) Carefully remove vegetative matter such as grass awns, seed casings, or thorny twigs with fingers or comb.

During this daily exam, check Ginger’s feet and ears, look at her teeth, and feel for cuts or tumors.

Shedding

Dog hair grows and dies just as human hair does. Some dogs — particularly hard-coated terriers and Poodles — hang on to their dead hair, thus requiring special grooming to remove it. Other dogs give it up quite readily, all over the house. Double-coated dogs generally drop their soft undercoats twice a year and lose their guard hairs once a year, although some individual dogs might shed constantly or only every 10-12 months. Shedding can take anywhere from three weeks to two months. A warm bath helps accelerate the process and daily (or twice-daily) grooming can help control clouds of hair that scurry into corners and under furniture.

Shedding is controlled by hormonal changes that are tied to photoperiod (day length) and is influenced by level of nutrition and general state of health. In addition to natural biennial shedding, a dog may drop its coat after surgery, x-rays under anesthesia, and whelping puppies.

Double-coated dogs that shed heavily are Akita, Alaskan Malamute, Keeshond, Siberian Husky, Samoyed, Norwegian Elkhound, Collie, Great Pyrenees, Kuvasz, Newfoundland, St. Bernard, English Toy Spaniel, Pomeranian, Belgian Sheepdog, Belgian Malinois, Belgian Tervuren, Australian Shepherd, German Shepherd, Smooth Collie, Shetland Sheepdog, and American Eskimo. The Dalmatian sheds constantly, and many dogs shed a moderate amount of hair.

Owners should be aware before purchase that a long-coated dog, purebred or mixed, will require grooming throughout its life. If the inclination to groom or the time to do so are not part of the plan, provisions should be made for professional coat care for the dog. Otherwise, a dog that can do with a lick and a promise is a better choice as a family pet.