What to Consider When Choosing a Dog Grooming Brush

Grooming or brushing a dog’s coat can be relatively easy and anxiety-free. However, a lot of dog owners still manage to take this simple task for granted. If you want to properly groom your dog, you will need to get a quality and suitable dog brush to make dog brushing enjoyable for you and your dog. There are different types of dog brush, and before you buy one, make sure you have a proper understanding of what a certain brush does as well as your dog coat type.

When you are looking for a Dog Brooming Brush there are several factors you have to look at:

• Anti-slip handle
• Alternative pins
• Comfortable grip
• Complete package
• Easy to clean
• Rotatable
• Retractable bristles
• Length:
• The number of teeth:
• Rust-resistant
• Safe and skin-friendly

Choosing a Dog Brooming Brush that works for you

When choosing a new brooming brush for your dog have to look to the following factors:

● Anti-slip handle:  

You must consider choosing a dog grooming brush that has a specially designed anti-slip handle, to prevent your hand, arm, and wrist from straining. Don’t buy the brush if its handle is smooth otherwise it will slip out of your hand and fall on the ground each time your dog shakes.

● Alternative pins:

You should consider choosing a dog grooming brush that has firm grade curved slickers with long and short alternative pins to help you with grooming your dog.

● Comfortable grip:

You should consider choosing a dog grooming brush whose grip is neither too thin nor too thick and hard, especially if you are a professional groomer and spend the entire day grooming several pets. A dog grooming brush with a comfortable grip will prevent your hand from straining no matter how many hours you spend brushing the dogs.

● Complete package:

You should consider choosing a dog grooming brush that comes along with an instruction guide and a free travel pouch. In this way, you will be able to save tons of your time if you need some guidance about the usage and maintenance of your dog grooming brush.

● Easy to clean:

You should consider choosing a dog grooming brush that has a self-cleaning system. After you have finished brushing your dog, you can simply press a button and the bristles will instantly retract back into the brush, you can then remove all the fur and debris from the brush easily. You don’t have to do any time-consuming and tiresome manual cleaning. Make sure that the structure of the dog grooming brush makes it easy for you to disinfect and sanitize it. Otherwise, the harmful things stuck inside it like fleas, their eggs, mites, ticks, lice, scabies, bacteria, yeast, and viruses will spread from one animal to the other. You must consider choosing a dog grooming brush that is made up of ABS, stainless steel, and rubber as you can clean these materials within a couple of minutes.

● Rotatable:

You should consider choosing a dog grooming brush whose handle is rotatable so that you can brush easily on the underbelly while your dog is standing. It will help you in brushing from every angle possible. Even if your dog moves a step or two, you will not lose the grasp of its fur.

● Retractable bristles:

You must consider choosing a dog grooming brush whose bristles are fully retractable, as it offers space-saving storage. Such a  dog grooming brush is also travel-friendly because it will not get tangled with other things inside your bag.

● Length:

The ideal brush pin length is 0.4 inches and the handle length is 3.7 inches. And the ideal weight is 2.88 ounces.

● The number of teeth:

You must consider choosing a dog grooming brush with a twenty-two teeth side for stubborn tangles, dander, dirt, debris, and mats. And eighty-seven teeth side for thinning and de-shedding which will help you achieve quicker, neater, smarter, prettier, and more professional de-matting and grooming results.

● Rust-resistant:

If you store your dog grooming brush in a moist and humid place, make sure that it is made up of rust-resistant material, to ensure its durability.

● Safe and skin-friendly:

You should consider choosing a dog grooming brush that has no-scratch rounded outside teeth to gently massage your dog’s skin. Meanwhile, its inner side should be sharp enough to smoothly cut through the toughest mats, tangles, and knots.

Types of Dog Grooming Brush

There are many different types of brooming brushes:

● Bristle brush:

You must consider choosing a bristle dog grooming brush if your dog has a long coat. It is used to bring out the natural shine and luster.

● Combination Bristle/Pin Brush or a Double-Sided Brush:

This dog grooming brush serves two different purposes. The bristle side is used for brushing the areas of the coat where the hair is short while the other side with pins is used to brush the areas of the coat that has long length hair.

● Curry Brush or Rubber Curry Brush:

This dog groom brush is great for shampooing because it has rubber pins and no handle. Its rubber nubs work like a magnet to remove your dog’s loose hair. These rubber nubs are good for a massage which promotes healthy blood flow and encourages the even distribution of natural body oils. You must buy a rubber curry brush if your dog has short hair and he sheds a lot such as a German Shepherd. The movement of this brush is called curry. When you rub or curry this brush along with your dog’s coat you will remove a lot of dust, dirt, debris, dander, and detritus. A rubber curry brush is also ideal for untangling the knots on the ears, tail, and paws of your dog.

● Undercoat Rake:

This dog groom brush is ideal for a Siberian Husky, Newfoundland, Samoyed, and Pomeranian. These dog breeds shed in clumps that stick badly to your furniture, carpets, and curtains. If you have one of these dogs you should consider buying a rake because it will help you penetrate deep into the undercoat and remove any dead hair with minimum effort. It looks like a shaving razor with numerous tightly-spaced teeth. It is useful to prevent any matting in your double-coated dog.

● Slicker Brush:

It has fine wire bristles fixed to a flat or a curved surface. Some of them have slightly angled bristles and they are always covered with protective nubs to prevent any harm to the skin of your dog.

● Shedding Blade or Sweat Scraper:

It has dull and short teeth which are good for the removal of dead fur. It is also used to remove the matted fur.

● Stripping Knife or Comb:

It will help you maintain a proper coat in many terriers and schnauzers. It is used to pull out the long hair by the roots.

● Mat Breaker Comb or a De-Matter:

It is used to cut the matted fur or knotted fur from your dog’s coat without creating a bald place. It is the best alternative to cutting out the fur as it will help you preserve the length of your dog’s fur. Due to the sharp blades, you must be very careful not to hurt your dog’s skin. It is safer to avoid using a de matter on a smooth-coated dog.

● Deshedder or Furminator:

The design of this dog grooming brush serves to remove dead undercoat hairs before they get a chance to fall off or shed in your car or house.

● Molting Comb:

It has 2 pin lengths.

● Flea Comb:

It is a natural flea treatment method that helps you get rid of fleas, flea dirt, and their eggs. Its teeth are extremely close to each other so that fleas and debris are easily pulled out of the fur. It is ideal for use on smooth, silky, and wiry dogs.

● Wire Pin Brush:

It is an oval-shaped dog groom brush with metal bristles fixed in a flexible rubber base. It is used for untangling a wiry and wavy coat. It has polished or coated pins to keep your dog’s skin safe. You must replace these pins when you see that the coating or the polish has come off.

What type of brush works best for my dog?

When choosing a brush that works for your dog it is important to look at the type and length of your dog’s coat. Use the following table to find the recommended bristle size and type, and the recommended direction of brushing:

Type and length of your dog’s coat	Suitable Bristle Size and Type	Recommended  Direction of brushing
Short-haired breeds with smooth coats such as Retrievers, Hounds, and Chihuahuas.	Soft to medium bristle brush with small and closely distanced bristles	Along with the coat’s grain
Short-haired breeds with wiry coats such as Terriers.	Firm bristle brush with small, closely distanced bristles; or a good-quality slicker brush	Along with the coat’s grain
Medium-haired to long-haired breeds with flowing coats such as a Golden Retriever, Spaniel, Setter, or a Lhasa Apso.	Soft to medium-soft bristle brush with long sized, medium to wide-distanced bristles or a wire-pin brush or a slicker brush for the removal of mats and tangles	Along with the coat’s grain
Harsh, outer coats with soft, woolly undercoat breeds such as Sheepdogs, Collies, Shepherds, Chows, and Pomeranians.	Firm bristle brush with long, wide-spaced bristles; a wire-pin brush; or a slicker brush for the removal of tangles and mats	Along with the grain for the outer coat; and against the grain for the undercoat
Breeds with a thin, delicate coat such as Yorkies or a Maltese.	Wire-pin brush or a soft slicker brush for the removal of tangles and mats	Along with and against the coat’s grain

Final Remarks

To sum up, this entire blog post, I would say that a dog grooming brush will really simplify your task of grooming your beloved dog, by saving tons of your time and effort, so you must consider investing in one at once.