I got kind of lucky with Duke, he loved being brushed from day 1, he's so laid back, the only thing he doesn't like is having his nails cut.
Lucie is the spunky trouble maker for me, she's just barely 6 months now and still so tiny 2.15 lbs, so I don't cut her hair yet. But she doesn't like anything that interrupts her playing
To brush her, I use a slicker brush (she hates it but after trying some others I realized that it works best for the knots and gets the job done the fastest) I posted in another thread about tangles, I found a detangler from John Paul "pets" that works really well so it cuts back on the time it takes to brush her out, and I take the hair away from her body to brush it, so the pins on the brush don't scratch her skin. And I usually try to wait until she's ready for a nap to brush her and I keep a treat with me that I give to her in pieces while I brush her.