I think I recall reading somewhere someone saying they get their black dog groomed a few days before any show to allow the natural oils and thus shine to return to their coat. Can anyone advise what sort of timeframe you'd be looking at? Thinking of booking my boy in for a little spruce up but he has a show next Saturday so might as well have it a few days before that so he looks his best.

I was told that too when I got my tricolour girl, must admit I just do it the morning before a show, that way she can still have her morning walk and not miss out just because I don't want her to get dirty. I was advised to bath 2 days before but I wouldn't want her to miss her walks. :-)

Depends what breed really.I have friends with short coat blacks , labs and dobes and have prepared  flatcoats for the ring. Sometimes too much grooming on the day raises a white scurf on my friends dobermann. I use a chamois leather , and a velvet cloth on the day of the show on the flatcoat.My rough collie (tri) I groom all the time if he's in the ring , using groom sprays , so he shines anyway . I only wash white feet , or bibs.

My breed needs very little trimming but certain colours,reds and creams, show a lighter colour in the coat not exposed to the light so their paws will show any trimming for several days before they blend back in with the rest of the coat.

I was also told not to bath right before a show, I did a dummy run before our first show and the coat took 5 or 6 days to calm down and not hide his conformation with bushy tail and fluffy feathers.

Inka,)    

With shorthaired dogs, you can bathe a few days before the show and the coat will then get the gleam back.

If it's one of your Greyhounds, then a rubber glove/ rubber hound glove and a Velvet Glove afterwards will do wonders for the coat and make it really gleam ;)   The rubber glove is also good for removing splashes of dried mud ;)   When moulting the rubber glove can be dampened and will help get the dead coat out leaving a lovely shiny new one :-D

When showing the Burmese, I made my own Velvet Mitten with a scrap of cotton velvet I had, it worked really well :-D

I think the OP's breed is a very smooth hound (reading from another thread), who definately won't come to any harm at the groomers.  Years ago I when I was a groomer I had lady book a boxer in for a 'show' groom.  I had no idea what on earth that was, no internet in those days.  I spent days trying to find out from friends who showed poodles (couldn't have been more opposite), who asked other friends.  Anyway the lady came in and all she wanted was a bath, and the twirls of hair on the dogs butt thinned with thinning scissors to blend in, and whiskers off!!  No idea if that offical show trim of a boxer but she was happy.

standard for a boxer but usually the owners do it themselves !

Lucy if you bath a couple of days before the show,a nd she then gets a little dirty you can just wipe the legs and underside using unscented baby wipes. I find they shift any recent dirt (like going through a muddy showground) really well on an already clean dog.

Oh and my favourite colour is Tri, any links to piccies.

Henry was always an expert at getting filthy again almost instantly, in fact he usually looked pretty grungy again by the end of the day of the show! Ellie's not quite as bad, but I find she looks nice and shiny if done a morning before the show. :-)

I tend to bathe my black dogs the day before a show, I have one long coated and one short coated and i've not noticed anything adverse to their coats by doing it this late in the day. I use a chamois on their coats to bring up the natural shine.

I bath and groom morning of the show, but have a fairly high-maintenance coat and a stripped jacket which is *never* bathed as it can ruin the texture. If I ever have to bath a wire jacket I have to brush constantly for a week to get the oils back up.