First Things First: Repetition is boring but helps you keep your sanity!

Choose a location in your house where it is easy for you to groom.  Use this same location EVERY time!  This creates a habit for your dog, and he/she will know when they are there, it is not play or snuggle time, it is grooming time.
 

For smaller dogs placing a non-skid mat atop a washer or dryer is good.  It is normally a good height for you to work on your pet.

Larger dogs do well in a setting where there are few distractions.  Your garage, basement, or laundry room may serve you well.  You can also attach a hook to the wall for hooking up ol' Fido so he/she cannot escape.

Avoid trying to do any type of grooming on your dog while they are on your lap. (Unless you just happen to have one of the rare ones that hold still no matter what!) Most dogs associate being on your lap as snuggle time. 

Brushing and Combing: Most of us need a nap after such a task!

Brushing and/or combing are very important essentials to maintaining a healthy coat. 

Breeds with long, non-shedding hair such as Cocker Spaniels, Shih-Tzus, Lhasas, Yorkies, Schnauzers, Poodles, and Bichons just to name a few, require daily brushing to avoid matting (or tangles).  Matting is what brings groomers to the un-popular decision of having to shave your pet down to "nakedness" when you were hoping for a West Minster look on your breed.

Larger breeds with shedding hair and undercoats such as Huskies, Samoyeds, and Malamutes require daily brushing to control the shedding.

Shedding breeds should be brushed before, during, and after a bath.  Yes, even during their bath.  This can be done once the animal has been lathered up.  Before you begin the rinse cycle, using the proper comb you can remove a lot of undercoat and shedding hair without having it flying around uncontrolably through the air!  A great grooming trick I learned early on!

The best brushing techniques for long haired critters go like this: Always start at the back of the dog to get them used to the feel by the time you get to their head and face.  We will use a Bichon as our model.  Start with the long flowing tail.  Don't just brush here and there.  Gather the hair in your non-brushing, or holding hand starting at the base of the tail.  Using a slicker brush, gently begin to "pull" the hair out from your hand using consistant strokes.  If you hear a "scratching" sound as you brush, that means there are mats or snarls.  Gather the hair once again, and "pull" out the same hair from your hand using your slicker bruch until there is a smooth no scratch sound.  Then, run a comb through the tail hair to check one last time for tangles.  From there, keep repeating until all of the hair on the tail has been removed from your holding hand.  This technique is used not just on the tail, but also the legs, body, and ears of breed with curly and/or non-shedding long hair.

Shedding dogs require a different brushing technique and sometimes different tools.  A tool called a pet rake will help you keep that undercoat under control.  Because of the design of the tool, it goes below the surface coat hair and finds the undercoat.  It will remove the loose undercoat hair much easier than a brush.  Using the holding hand technique described above for long hair non-shedding breeds can be done to get to the undercoat, but it is time consuming and usually strenuous on both you and the dog.  Always brush and comb-out before the bath to loosen dirt and grime, while also removing the majority of loose hair.  Once in the tub and lathered up - use a good metal comb or your pet rake to continue the "de-shedding" process.  You need to be careful you don't over work the skin using the pet rake or comb while the animal is wet.  Their skin is much more exposed when wet and scratching the skin can happen if you are not careful.

A tool called a matt-splitter can be used to help separate the matts so that they may be brushed out with ease.  There are times however, even a matt splitter cannot do the job safely and your dog will have to be shaved down.  It is best to take your dog, regardless of the breed, to your professional groomer once a month if you can.  If not, 6 weeks is the max you should ever go if you have a dog which requires grooming.