SUSSEX GROOMING: Lots of people ask me how often I groom my Sussex, and I am not going to lie - it's a LOT! A fully coated Sussex requires constant maintenance. My fully coated Pekingese is less work. The good news is that it can take years for that coat to grow out, so enjoy the youngsters while you can. If I had to put a guesstimate on it, I'd say it takes about 2-2.5 hours per adult dog to bathe, brush and blow out a Sussex coat. The feather hair is very fine and will tangle and knot if left to it's own devices. It needs to be combed out quite often. My 8 month old puppy took about 90 minutes to bathe, blow out, brush and Dremel nails this last time. Oh, and we do NOT use snoods...ever.
I brush weekly, sometimes several times a week. I bathe every 3 weeks, sometimes weekly depending on how much rain we get and how dirty they get. Sussex are low to the ground and seem to bring everything outside, inside - so I would classify this breed as medium to high on the grooming scale.