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Most owners have their hands on their dog every day and still never actually look at the skin. The coat covers it, and unless something is obviously wrong there is no reason to part the hair and check.
Which is a shame, because brushing already puts you in exactly the right position. You are working in sections, close up, with good light, on a dog that is standing still. That is a skin check whether you intended one or not.
This covers what healthy skin looks like, what is worth noticing, and where to look first. It stops there on purpose. Noticing something is useful, working out what it is belongs to your vet.
Why is grooming the best time to check my dog's skin?
Grooming is the only routine that already involves parting the coat and touching every part of the dog. Everything else you do with your dog happens over the top of the hair.
Groomers often see dogs more regularly than vets do, which puts them in a useful position to notice change: a new lump, a smell that was not there last time, a patch the dog will not let them touch. The same applies at home, and more so, because you are the one most likely to notice that something is different rather than simply present.
Brushing has a second benefit. Working through a coat properly removes tangles, dirt and dead hair and moves the natural oils across the skin, so the check and the maintenance are the same job.
What does healthy dog skin look like?
Healthy skin is smooth, unbroken and an even colour, with no flaking, no smell, and no area the dog objects to being touched. Colour itself varies a lot between dogs and breeds, so what you are looking for is consistency across the one dog rather than a particular shade.
Coat sits differently on healthy skin too. It comes away cleanly when brushed, it lies the way it is supposed to for that coat type, and there is no damp patch or clumping at the base. If you push your fingers in and the hair moves freely against the skin, that is the baseline you want to know by feel.
Learn what normal looks like on your own dog first. You cannot spot a change if you have no idea what the starting point was.
What should I be looking for?
Look for anything new, anything asymmetrical, and anything the dog reacts to. Those three tests catch most of what an owner can usefully notice.
| What you notice | What to do |
|---|---|
| A new lump or bump under the skin | Note where it is and book the vet. Do not wait to see if it grows |
| A red, moist, hairless patch | Vet. Keep the dog from licking it in the meantime |
| Broken skin, a scab or a graze | Do not brush or bathe over it. Vet if it is more than superficial |
| Flaking or dandruff through the coat | Often a moisture issue. Review the wash routine first |
| Black grit at the tail base | Check for fleas. Flea saliva causes intense itching in most dogs |
| A smell from a fold, ear or paw | Clean gently and watch. Persistent smell means vet |
| The dog flinches on one spot | Stop, look properly. Pain is information |
The last row is the one people talk themselves out of. A dog that has always been fine about having its back brushed and is suddenly not fine about one section of it is telling you something specific.
Where do problems show up first?
Problems start where the coat is thin, where skin touches skin, and where moisture gets trapped. Those are also the places brushing tends to skip, which is why they get missed.
- Under and behind the ears, and inside the ear leather
- Armpits, and the crease where the front leg meets the chest
- Groin and the sanitary area
- Between the toes and the pads
- Tail base and the back of the hind legs
- Under the collar and any harness contact point
- Facial folds and wrinkles on flat-faced breeds
- The belly, which is thinly coated and easy to see
Matting makes all of this worse. A mat sitting flat against skin keeps the area warm and damp, cuts off air, and pulls with every step, so the skin underneath is often the first place a problem appears. That is also why brushing and checking cannot be separated: the thing you are doing to prevent the problem is the thing that reveals it.
How do I check without upsetting the dog?
Work in short sections with the right tool for the coat, and stop before the dog does. A check that turns into a wrestle teaches the dog to avoid the next one.
Use the weight of the tool rather than pressure. Start near the head and work towards the tail, brushing in the direction the coat grows, with gentle strokes. If your dog shows discomfort during brushing, that is worth checking on rather than pushing through, and if there is any skin infection or irritation already present, ask a vet before working a tool over it.
Refuresh Gentle Deshedding Brush for Long Hair
A vertical blade structure with rounded teeth that lifts the undercoat without cutting the top coat or the skin, plus an ejector button that clears the collected hair in one push. Suited to long coated breeds such as the Border Collie, Golden Retriever, Malamute, Corgi and Cavalier King Charles.
Refuresh Gentle Deshedding Brush for Short/Medium Hair
The same rounded-tooth design sized for coats up to about 5cm long. Removing loose undercoat lets air circulate at skin level, which is one of the practical reasons deshedding matters beyond the hair on your floor. More options in deshedding and detangling.
Plush Puppy Ultimate Soft Slicker Brush
Nickel plated pins set on a flexible natural rubber cushion at an angle chosen so they pass through the coat without excessive pulling or scratching the skin. That angle is the reason it suits a section-by-section check: you can part and lift the coat without dragging at what is underneath. More in brushes.
ProGroom STYLE Grooming Comb Medium
A 192 x 45mm metal comb, ergonomically shaped so it stays comfortable through a long session. A comb is what confirms a section is genuinely clear to the skin: a brush will glide over a mat and leave it sitting there, a comb stops dead. Coarse pins for the body, fine pins for ears, eyes and legs.
What can I see while drying that I cannot see otherwise?
Drying opens the coat right down to the skin, which is the clearest view you will ever get. Air moving through the hair separates it in a way that no brush can, and on a dense or double coat it is the only realistic way to see the skin at all.
The method on a heavy coat is to dry against the direction of growth until the coat is about half dry, lifting the dead hair out, then finish with the growth to settle it back down. Working against the growth first is what gives you the look at the skin, and it is a good moment to go over the dog properly for anything unexpected.
Drying thoroughly matters for its own sake as well. Moisture trapped under a dense undercoat does not evaporate the way it does on a short coat: it sits, and damp skin under matted hair is where problems start. Dry down to the skin, not just until the outside feels dry.
What should I do if I find something?
Note where it is, do not touch it further, and call the vet. Owners and groomers can notice and flag, but neither should be working out what a lump is.
Anything new is worth a phone call: a lump or bump that was not there before, a red moist patch, broken skin, a persistent smell, or an area the dog defends. Take a photo with something for scale, note the date, and describe what you saw rather than what you think it might be. If the dog is already under care for a skin condition, tell your groomer before the appointment rather than after.
What not to do is equally clear. Do not bathe or brush over broken skin. Do not apply a human cream. Do not squeeze anything. And do not use the internet to decide it is nothing, because the point of noticing early is that you get to act early.
What if it is just dry, flaky skin?
Flaking through the coat is usually a moisture problem before it is anything else, and the wash routine is the first thing to look at. Over-washing, a shampoo that is too strong for the dog, or residue left in from an incomplete rinse will all show up as flakes and scratching.
Switching to a formula built for pets that scratch, and adding a conditioner rather than skipping it, resolves a fair proportion of the mild cases. If it does not settle within a few washes, or the dog is scratching hard enough to break skin, that is a vet question rather than a shampoo question. There is more in sensitive and soothing.
Built for delicate skin and for dogs that scratch after a normal shampoo. It carries natural humectants that hold moisture in the skin, on a hypoallergenic base chosen to carry the least risk of a reaction. The one to move to when you want the wash itself ruled out as a cause.
ProGroom Dermal Care Conditioner
A rich emollient conditioner for itchy dogs and sensitive pets, adding hydration to dry skin and dry coat while it detangles. Conditioner is the step people drop first and it is the one doing the moisturising, so on a flaking coat it is the one to add back.
A hypoallergenic, sulphate-free, low foaming, no tear and fragrance-free face shampoo built on Native Australian Blue Cypress extracts, Panthenol and SugaNate. Blue Cypress is included for its soothing and anti-inflammatory properties, which is why it suits flat-faced breeds where wrinkles get sore. It can also be used in and around the ears.
Notes for professional groomers
You will see things owners have missed, and how you raise it decides whether they come back. Describe, do not diagnose: say where it is, what it looks like, how long you spent near it, and that it is worth a vet checking. Writing it on the card gives the owner something to take with them and gives you a record for next visit. Build the check into the process rather than adding it: the half-dry pass against the coat growth is your best view of the skin on any dense coat, and a comb behind the brush confirms you have reached skin level on the rest. Senior dogs need the same check with different handling, since older dogs commonly develop lumps, bumps and warts and are often sore before anyone notices. Ask owners at drop-off whether anything is new, because a dog that has developed a tender spot since the last visit is safer if you know before you lift the leg. Where you find matting against skin, treat the area underneath as unknown until you can see it.
Common questions
How often should I check my dog's skin?
Every brush, which for most coats means at least weekly and for curly or woolly coats means most days. It adds no time, because you are already parting the coat in sections. A separate monthly nose-to-tail check is worth doing as well, going over the friction areas and the belly deliberately rather than in passing.
Should I be worried about every lump I find?
Have any new lump looked at, but do not assume the worst before it is examined. Dogs get a range of lumps and many are harmless, but the only way to know which is which is a vet examining it, and the ones that matter are far easier to deal with early. Note the date and location so you can describe any change accurately.
My dog only itches in one spot. Does that matter?
Yes, a single focused itch is worth investigating rather than ignoring. Localised scratching or licking usually means something specific is happening in that one place, and repeated licking or chewing can break the skin and make it considerably worse. Look at the area properly under good light and get it checked if the skin is red, damp or hairless.
Can brushing cause skin irritation?
It can if the tool is wrong, the pressure is too high, or the coat is dry. Brushing a dry coat drags at the skin, which is often what a dog objecting to being brushed is actually objecting to, so mist each section first. Let the weight of the tool do the work and choose one sized for the coat you have rather than pressing harder with the wrong one.
Is dandruff in my dog's coat normal?
A small amount is common, a lot is worth acting on. Persistent flaking usually points back to moisture: washing too often, a shampoo that is stripping the coat, or product not fully rinsed out. Review the wash routine and add a conditioner first. If it continues, or comes with scratching, redness or hair loss, see a vet.
What to do this week
Next time you brush, do one extra thing: part the coat at the shoulder, the armpit and the tail base and actually look at the skin. That is your baseline. From then on you are not checking for problems, you are just noticing when something is different, which is a much easier job and a far more useful one.