How to Deshed a Dog | Finally, A Coat That Stops Shedding

For the full breakdown, see our best Dog Deshedder guide.

Shedding season hits hard, and the fur on your floors, couch, and clothes can feel like a losing battle. The fix for how to deshed a dog isn’t one magic tool — it’s a sequence. Brush first, bathe, dry, and brush again. When you follow this order, you pull out the loose undercoat before it ever lands on your furniture. Here’s the exact process that gets the most hair off your dog and out of your house.

Choose the Right Brush for Your Dog’s Coat

The right tool depends on your dog’s coat type, and using the wrong one either does nothing or irritates the skin. Start with a slicker brush to remove tangles and surface hair, then switch to an undercoat rake or deshedding tool to pull the loose undercoat from deep in the coat. Finish with a comb to check that no mats or heavy shedding spots remain.

Double-coated and heavy-shedding breeds need the full lineup: slicker, rake, and deshedding tool. Short-haired dogs often shed less undercoat and do better with a rubber curry brush or a bristle brush. If you’re unsure which deshedder fits your dog, a tested roundup of the best dog deshedders can help you match the tool to the coat.

Brush in Sections, With the Hair Growth

Always brush in the direction the hair grows, using gentle, consistent strokes. Brushing against the grain or yanking at tangles causes brush burn and skin irritation — and a dog that hates brushing won’t sit still for the next session.

Work in manageable sections from the head and neck toward the tail, then do the legs and belly. This system makes sure no area gets missed and you never overwork one spot. The most common matting and shedding accumulation zones are behind the ears, under the armpits, around the collar, and at the base of the tail — give these extra attention.

If your dog has heavy mats, stop and work them out with your fingers or carefully with shears rather than forcing the brush through.

Bathe With Deshedding Products, Then Dry Completely

Bathing loosens the undercoat, so the final dry and brush-out can remove far more hair. Use a dog-safe deshedding shampoo and massage it into the coat. Many guides also recommend a conditioner or cream rinse to keep the skin healthy. Rinse thoroughly — leftover residue irritates the skin and causes itching.

Dry the coat completely with towels and, ideally, a high-velocity dryer or pet-safe blow dryer. Blow-drying releases loose coat that brushing alone can’t reach. This step matters: if you skip it or rush it, the final brush-out won’t pull nearly as much hair.

After drying, brush again to remove the loosened undercoat, then comb through to verify no tangles or heavy shedding remain. This second pass is where the real payoff happens — after a bath and full dry, the undercoat practically falls out.

How Often Should You Brush and Bathe?

Frequency depends on your dog’s coat and the season. One vet-style guide recommends brushing once or twice weekly, increasing to daily during peak shedding seasons. Another grooming guide gets more specific: 1–2 times weekly for short coats, 2–3 times weekly for medium coats, and 3–4 times weekly for heavy shedders, with daily sessions during shedding season.

Baths with deshedding shampoo happen less often — generally every 4–8 weeks, or when your dog gets visibly dirty. The shampoo should stay in contact with the coat for several minutes before rinsing. Follow the timing on your product’s label.

Watch for common mistakes that undermine the whole process: brushing too hard, brushing too long in one spot, using deshedding tools on a dry coat, skipping conditioner, and failing to dry fully before the final brush-out. If you’re short on time between baths, a thorough dry-brush session still helps — just won’t remove as much undercoat as the full bath routine.