How Often Should I Take My Labrador To The Groomer? Ever?

Every dog needs grooming, but how often depends on what kind of dog it is. How often should you take your lab to the groomer? Labradors can shed throughout the year, though it really only gets out of control about twice. If you groom them enough, you can control them better.

How Often Should I Take My Labrador To The Groomer? 

Labradors should be taken to the groomer at least once a month. The groomers can take care of tasks like brushing out the dead and shed hair, clipping nails, and cleaning the ears. However, even at home, you should groom your lab by brushing them out at least twice a week and bathing them twice a month.

Labradors look like they’re easy to take care of because of how simple and easy their coats are. You don’t need to detangle them or get rid of furballs. But even labs need proper grooming!

We asked dog experts for their opinions on how often labs should be groomed, how, and whether this can be done at home or not.

Grooming Your Labrador

The good thing is that Labradors don’t actually need a lot of maintenance, since their coats are relatively easy to care for. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to do anything at all. You do need to make some effort to keep your dog healthy and maintain their coat, as well as other grooming techniques.

Why Does Your Lab Need Grooming?

There are several reasons your labrador could need grooming, even if it doesn’t seem like they do. For one thing, it helps control shedding. As mentioned earlier, you can’t stop the shedding because it happens all year round. But if you know how much it sheds and when your dog’s molting season comes around, you can make a schedule so that this problem is reduced.

Grooming your dog means that your dog isn’t shedding all over the place, and when they are, you know when you need to bring out the vacuums.

Grooming also helps the dog too! By regular bathing and brushing, you’re spreading your dog’s natural oils through the coat, which keeps them hydrated and makes the coat shine. A healthy coat keeps your dog cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Grooming is also an important part of socializing and building trust between you and your dog. It becomes a way of spending time with them and allows them to get used to being touched by people. This means that they are less likely to react badly if a stranger touches them too.

How Often Should You Groom Your Lab?

Now, the question of ‘how often?’ comes up, and it is definitely an important one. Grooming too less can make problems since it’ll result in matted fur, dirt, and grime while grooming too often can make the dog’s coat lose its natural oils.

Different aspects of grooming will also have a different answer as to when it really becomes necessary. You should consider multiple factors.

The time of the year matters, since your dog will need more attention during molting season than the rest of the year, so you may need to make an extra effort and have more frequent groomer visits than you would otherwise.

The activity level also makes a difference. For example, active dogs will usually not need their nails trimmed than dogs who are less active.

Diet and health are also significantly important. What you feed your dog is what goes towards their coat. A bad diet will mean that they need more care, even though their coat and nails will actually grow slower. Healthy dogs will often follow the usual grooming schedule.

If your dog happens to suffer from an illness, it’s best to ask a vet about how frequently they should be groomed.

Dogs also love gross and stinky things – they like rolling around in mud, poop and sometimes even dead animals. This will obviously leave them dirty and smelling horrible, and you’d need to address that.

Besides these factors, you don’t actually need to groom your lab as often as you would other dogs. Healthy labradors can do pretty well with limited grooming.

Why Should You Take Your Dog To a Groomer?

No matter how much you love your dog, you’ll probably know less about how to care for them than a professional. Groomers know how dogs behave, how to calm down an aggressive dog and what kind of care they need. Even if you also know these things, you’ll likely not have the equipment you need for caring for your dog.

For example, different coat types need different brushes, and groomers have every kind. They can use the right brush on your dog that’ll make their coat really healthy.

Another thing groomers do that you probably can’t (or don’t want to!) is to take care of some of the grosser, but necessary tasks. For example, dogs need to have their anal glands cleaned, ticks and fleas removed, and if your dog has been rolling around in the mud, they may need their fur shampooed properly.

These are all important responsibilities that come with owning a dog but are not necessarily something you and I would be comfortable doing, even if we were equipped to. The good thing is that groomers can take care of the problem for you, and leave your dog clean and healthy.

Groomers will also take care of other things, like cleaning the dog’s ears and checking to see if there are any signs of infection that need addressing. 

Your labrador would be brushed and bathed, and their fur is trimmed to the right length. They also cut the dog’s nails to an appropriate length that is not dangerous or uncomfortable.

Some groomers will also brush your dog’s teeth for you with toothpaste made specifically for dogs, though teeth cleaning is part of everyday grooming.

Labradors are not usually aggressive, but they can be if they are old and anxiety-ridden, or if they have behavioral issues. Most labs will be fine with being groomed, but depending on the dog’s personality, there may be some cause for concern.

Groomers are also prepared to take care of your dog in such situations in a way that is suitable. They know how to handle an anxious or aggressive dog without making the dog act out and even manage to calm them down.

Taking your lab to the groomer is definitely beneficial, but again, when should you take them, and how often?

This answer, as mentioned earlier, depends on various factors. For the most part, you can do quite a lot of your dog’s regular grooming on your own.

For example, you don’t need to take your dog to the groomer to get their coat brushed – this is something you can do by yourself.

However, if your lab has been rolling around in the mud and you don’t think you can wash it off yourself, or if it’s been a while since your last groomer visit, it’s probably a good idea to take them.

You should take your lab to the groomer at least once a month to have some of the more complex tasks handled, such as anal glands and ear cleaning. Most other aspects of grooming can be done at home, but it helps to have a groomer look over your dog every once in a while.