The simple at-home step that will make your dog's visit to the groomers more successful

Whether your dog just needs a trim or wants the latest in pooch coat fashion from a groomer, there's more to ensuring you get the look you're after than simply dropping them off for their appointment.

Jo Marsden, a multi-award winning master groomer, says brushing your dog's hair regularly at home using the correct technique makes a huge difference to a canine's salon visit.

If the coat isn't in a good condition when the dog arrives at the groomers, they are limited to what sort of look they can do.

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"Go in with your dog in a in a good condition. It's actually not really our job to be brushing a dog's mats out for hours and hours and hours. It's the equivalent of us going into the hairdresser with dreadlocks and asking the hairdresser to brush it out," she tells 9honey Pets.

"We need a certain amount of time to make the dogs look beautiful and some of the appointments can take anything from one to two hours. If we add in a coat that's very knotted up and matted, it can take three or four hours."

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Dog coats should be brushed at home twice a week and before a dog is bathed as well as after once the hair is dry.

Marsden, who has curated the grooming competition at The Pet Show in Brisbane, says that while a comb is a good tool to check for knots, it's not ideal for removing knots with.

"We don't encourage people to use combs to remove knots, because this can make dogs dislike being groomed. So we encourage them to use a brush, and then just check with the comb," she said.

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When it comes to the breeds she prefers grooming, Marsden doesn't have a favourite. She believes that all breeds are good to work with if they've been socialised with grooming from an early age as this helps them to enjoy the grooming process.

However, she did mention that she has noticed a misunderstanding with owners of dogs from the oodle breed group.

"A lot of people misunderstand the coat and the amount of maintenance that is required and they will often approach groomers wanting us to to do a fancy style, but with their coat we're not capable of doing that. Then we have to explain to them we'll need to go short and people don't always understand that," she said.

And if you're short of inspiration for a new look for your pooch next time you visit the groomers, consider one of the three latest style trends – depending on the breed, of course.

"We've had a really big trend called 'Asian fusion' style. It's very cute or kawaii faces with a shorter body and a flared leg," Marsden says.

"It came about in Japan originally because people wanted their dogs to look nice, but it's very cold, so they would cut the body short so it wouldn't get matted and then keep a jumper on them, and they developed their own quirky little styles."

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Another trend is hand stripping terriers and gun dogs instead of using clippers.

"This is the correct grooming method [for these breeds]. I think for many years people have sort of taken shortcuts and used clippers on them."

And the current trend for poodles is a "historically correct and quirky styles", which are "modified versions of those styles that were were more used in the 1930s and '40s."

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