How to Brush a Long-Haired Dog | Keep the Coat Knot-Free

For the full breakdown, see our best Dog Brush For Shedding Long Hair guide.

Long-haired dogs collect tangles fast, especially behind the ears and under the legs. The wrong technique — brushing only the surface, skipping sensitive spots, or pulling through mats — makes grooming a fight for both of you. Here is the exact method that keeps the coat healthy and the dog comfortable.

What You Need to Brush a Long-Haired Dog

Two tools cover almost every long-haired coat. A slicker brush — a flat or slightly curved pad covered in fine bent wires — lifts loose hair and separates light tangles from the skin outward. A steel comb with both wide and narrow teeth catches what the slicker misses, especially in feathering and behind the ears. Skip brushes with plastic-tipped wires for long coats; they cannot reach the underlayer where mats start.

For heavy-shedding double-coated breeds like Golden Retrievers, an undercoat rake is useful, but for true long-haired single coats — Shih Tzus, Yorkies, Maltese — the slicker-and-comb pair is the standard. If mats already exist, a dematting tool with curved blades is safer than scissors near the skin.

The Step-by-Step Technique

Short sessions work best, especially for a dog new to brushing. Follow this order every time.

• Start with your hands. Run your fingers through the coat before picking up a brush. This finds tangles and gets the dog used to the sensation. Start with the dog lying on your lap or a non-slip surface for control.
• Work from the feet up. Part the coat into small sections — about an inch wide. Brush each section from the root outward, holding the hair above the area you are brushing to reduce tugging on the skin. Use light to medium pressure; stop if the brush noise turns from a whisper to a scrape.
• Follow with the comb. After brushing a section with the slicker, run the comb through the same area. A comb that snags means a hidden tangle the slicker missed. Go back to that spot with fingers or a dematting tool before moving on.

For especially thick coats, line brushing works well: part the hair horizontally, brush the lower layer completely from skin to tip, then let the top layer fall and repeat. This prevents the classic mistake of brushing only the top coat while tangles tighten underneath.

Where Mats Hide and What to Do About Them

Trouble spots are predictable: behind the ears, under the front legs and armpits, the belly, the collar zone, the tail base, between the toes, and the groin or hygiene area. Check these spots every session before they tighten. For a small loose mat, work it apart with your fingers, then brush through. For a tighter mat, slide a comb between the mat and the skin and gently tease the tangle apart with the comb’s teeth — the comb acts as a shield in case a tool slips. If the mat is dense and the skin is red or stretched underneath, professional grooming is safer than force.

Frequency and Common Mistakes

Daily brushing is ideal for long-haired dogs. On busy weeks, three times per week at minimum prevents tangles from tightening into mats that require clipping. After brushing, a final pass with a soft brush or the comb going with the grain lays the coat down neatly.

The mistakes that cause the most problems: brushing only the surface and missing the underlayer, rushing through high-friction areas, using too much force on a tangle, and skipping the comb check afterward. A long coat that looks smooth can still have tight tangles buried at the skin — the comb finds them. Brush with the grain for comfort; brushing against the grain for routine grooming actually increases tangling.