How to Groom Your Dog at Home (Step by Step Australian Guide)
Dog LoveDog Love · Adelaide Groomer's Method
How to groom your dog at home, the professional method.
This is the step by step workflow we use in our Adelaide salon, written for owners who already know how to handle their dog and just want to know how a professional does it properly. We are not teaching you what a brush is. We are showing you the technique, the dilution ratios we work to, and the order of operations that separates a real groom from a half done bath at home.
Shop Grooming Essentials
🐾 Who this is for
This guide is for people who already know how to groom. It assumes you can confidently handle your dog, you understand basic coat behaviour, and your dog comes to the bath already brushed out and free of major mats. If you are newer to home grooming, start with our guide on how to brush a Cavoodle properly at home first. This one is the salon level method.
The Numbers That Matter
Dilution ratios, at a glance.
Dilution is where most home baths come unstuck, and it is also where products differ the most. Some professional shampoos are heavy concentrates, some are ready to use straight from the bottle, and a few treatment products are not meant to be diluted at all. Always start with the dilution instructions for the product in your hand. Once you know what your product wants, the principle is the same one we work to in the salon: properly diluted product spreads evenly, rinses out cleanly and sits more comfortably on the skin. Here are the ratios we typically use with our own salon concentrates.
These are our numbers for the concentrates we buy, not a universal rule. Check the label on yours and adjust.
Step 01 of 05
Wash twice, and dilute properly.
Wet the coat thoroughly with lukewarm water. Apply your first diluted shampoo, around 1:10 with our concentrates, across the body and lather to clean off the surface dirt, dust, and grease. Rinse it out. Then apply the second diluted shampoo, around 1:20. This is the treatment pass: whitening, soothing, deodorising, whatever the coat needs. Leave the second shampoo on the coat for two full minutes before you rinse it.
During those two minutes, massage the coat thoroughly. Use your hands, a rubber brush, or a soft brush with intact tips. This is where the work happens. The massage lifts dirt out of the coat, distributes the product evenly, and stimulates circulation in the skin.
🐾 Check your brush tips
Before you brush a wet coat, run the head of the brush over your own palm. Worn, bare or damaged pins can scratch the skin, and a wet coat gives you less warning that it is happening. If the tips feel sharp on your hand, they are too sharp for your dog, so retire that brush and use one in better condition.
For washing the face, switch to a weaker mix, around 1:30 with ours. Lather very gently and avoid the eyes. Stronger ratios on the face risk irritation if any product runs into the eyes.
🐾 The ear rule
Avoid water in the ears as much as possible. Never rinse inside the ear canal. Moisture sitting in the canal is one of the common triggers for yeast and bacterial infections, particularly in floppy eared breeds. Wipe the ear flap and the visible outer ear only. Anything deeper is a vet job, not a bath job.
Step 02 of 05
Condition, also diluted.
Dilute your conditioner as directed, around 1:10 with ours, and spread it evenly throughout the whole coat. Work it from the skin out to the tips, not just on the surface. Concentrate on the longer feathering and any areas that are prone to dryness or tangling.
Let the conditioner sit for at least five minutes before you rinse. Use this time to massage the coat again, the same way you did during the second shampoo. The combination of dwell time and massage is what makes the conditioner actually work. Rushing this step is why home conditioner never feels as good as a salon finish.
Step 03 of 05
Rinse thoroughly, until there is nothing left.
Rinse the coat with lukewarm water until there is no visible foam anywhere on the dog. Run your hands through the coat as the water flows. If you feel any slipperiness or see any foam, keep going. Pay special attention to:
The tummy
It is the easiest area to miss because the dog is standing on all fours. Get underneath and rinse it properly.
Sanitary area
The groin and around the anus. Residual product trapped here causes irritation, redness, and licking afterwards.
Armpits and chest
Friction zones where product builds up and rinse water often does not reach properly.
Step 04 of 05
Blow dry thoroughly, and finish the coat.
Towel down the bulk of the water first. Then blow dry the coat with a high velocity pet dryer (not a human hair dryer) until there is no moisture left, particularly down at the skin and through the friction areas. A damp coat traps bacteria, causes mats to set, and makes everything that follows harder. Dry completely. There is no shortcut here.
While the dog is drying, this is the right moment to do two important finishing tasks.
Eye gunk removal
Use a facial comb, like the one in the Dogify Kit, to gently lift any tear staining or gunk from around the eyes. Eye area cleaning is much easier when the surrounding coat is freshly washed and partially dry.
Tangle removal at 80%
When the coat is about 80% dry, spray any remaining tangles with a detangling spray and comb them out with a coat specific comb. On fleece and curly coats, that is the Dogify detangling spray and Detangling Comb. Working at 80% dry gives you the slip you need without the coat being so wet that mats tighten.
The right comb for your dog matters. Curly coats need a different comb to silky coats, which need a different comb again to double coats. Match the tool to the coat or you will damage one or both. The first Dogify Kit is made for fleece and curly coats, and the comb inside is matched to the coat you choose when you order.
Step 05 of 05
Clip or deshed, depending on the coat.
Now you have a fully clean, fully dry, fully detangled coat to work with. The last step depends on your dog's coat type and what you are trying to achieve.
If your dog needs clipping
For curly and wavy coats that need a body trim: pick up the blade you normally use and start slowly at the back of the dog, working your way through the whole body in steady, consistent passes. Keep the blade flat against the coat, do not press down, and let the clipper do the work.
This is the part of the guide that genuinely is only for people who already know how to clip. If you have never clipped a dog before, do not learn on your own dog. Book a session with a groomer first and watch.
If your dog does not need clipping
For double coated breeds and any dog where you are not cutting length, this is where you deshed. At about 80% dry, work a release spray through the coat. A good release spray lets the loose undercoat slide out instead of being dragged out. Then clear the coat with a coat specific deshedding comb, finish with a brush, and continue drying until there is no moisture left.
Deshedding on a fully dry coat is harder. Deshedding on a wet coat is damaging. The 80% dry window is the right moment, and the spray is what makes the difference between clearing a coat and pulling at it.
🐾 Deshedding tools to avoid
Skip the undercoat rakes and the Furminator style blades, whatever the packaging promises. Rakes drag and pull against the skin, and bladed deshedding tools cut the coat and can leave the skin underneath sore. You do not need either of them. A brush, a coat specific deshedding comb and a release spray will clear more loose coat, more comfortably, without damaging the coat or the skin. A Dogify kit for double coats, built on a release spray and a deshedding comb, is coming soon, and you can join the waitlist to hear when it is ready.
🐾 What comes after
Once the coat is finished, do the nails, clean the ears (outside only), and check the paw pads. These finishing touches can be done in any order, but they should never be done before the wash and dry. A clean dog is easier to handle, and you can see what you are working with.
Quick Summary
- Follow the dilution instructions on your own products first. With our salon concentrates that means a first shampoo around 1:10 and a second around 1:20
- Leave the second shampoo on for 2 minutes. Massage with hands, a rubber brush, or a soft brush with intact tips
- Check your brush pins before every wet brush out. Worn or sharp tips can scratch the skin
- Dilute facial shampoo further than body shampoo, around 1:30 with ours. Avoid water in the ears entirely
- Dilute conditioner as directed, around 1:10 with ours. Spread evenly, leave on for 5 minutes, massage during that time
- Rinse until no foam is visible. Pay special attention to the tummy and sanitary area
- Blow dry thoroughly with a high velocity pet dryer. No moisture left anywhere
- Clean eye gunk and spray detangler at the 80% dry point. Comb out with a coat specific comb
- Either clip (experienced groomers only) or deshed with a release spray, a coat specific deshedding comb and a brush
- No undercoat rakes and no Furminator style blades. They pull against the skin and damage the coat
- Nails, ears, and paws come last, never first
14 November · Dogify Kit
An at home kit for the weeks between grooms
The first Dogify Kit launches on 14 November for fleece and curly coats: five products, each chosen and specced for its job on these coats over ten years in our salon. A detangling spray reworked through dozens of formula rounds, a slicker brush, a detangling comb matched to your dog's coat, a facial comb and a dematting rake. Other coat types need a different routine, so check your dog's coat type first.
Launching 14 November, 12pm Adelaide time
Dogify Kit is now available
Be the first to know when it goes live.
Dog Love · Tranmere, Adelaide
The right products make the method work.
This method depends on having the right shampoo, conditioner, brushes, dryer, and finishing tools. Generic supermarket products do not dilute or rinse properly. Cheap brushes scratch coats. Slow dryers leave damp patches that turn into mats. Get the gear that the professionals use.