Beardie Grooming

Hints on grooming your Beardie
By Sue Bird and Val Palmer

Firstly, get all your grooming equipment together (including a bag to put the hair in).

Don’t decide to groom your beardie when your tired or in a hurry because you’ll be more likely to pull and tug at any tangles or knots that you find.

Grooming your beardie should be a time to spend with your dog on a one to one basis. This is also a time to check your dog’s ears, feet and legs for grass seeds and burrs.

Try to start your grooming routine from day one – when your puppy comes home. Even if you are taking on an older dog try & get it used to being groomed & something that they enjoy.

A bit more patience may be needed with an adult dog, depending on the reason for re-homing. But be patient, lots of talking and kind words are necessary to reassure your dog & if need be have some treats that they like.

Get your dog used to be touched around the ears, face, feet and bottom etc, this will also come in handy when visiting the vets.

Try to get the dog to lie down on its side whilst being brushed. (This is demonstrated on our grooming video)

I usually start with the back end and work forward. Spray with a little grooming spray or something to slightly dampen the coat. (This helps to prevent stripping and tugging at the coat). Starting at the back feet brush all the hair up, working from the toes. Gradually bring down small amounts of hair down at a time- working your way up through the leg. This enables you to check every part of the body thoroughly.

Use a brush first, and then go through with a wide toothcomb. This way you can be sure there are no tangles. Repeat with the front legs, and then work along the tummy area and in the groin. Then work from the bottom area forward, again taking small sections, working in lines, with a brush and comb, towards the front and neck.

When doing the front leg lift it up to get under the armpit, this is a favourite place for tangles and they build up very quickly here. Another favourite place for tangles is behind the ears.

There is an excellent tool that I use which is shaped in a V about 1.5” wide with a shaped handle. It is very good for awkward places, as the double row of pins get right in to the tangles. This tool can be obtained from the club.

When you come across a matt hold it between your thumb and forefinger, using both hands. Relax the tangle so the hair is not pulling against the skin and by gently easing and pulling apart loosen the tangle starting at the part furthest away from the skin. When the tangle is sufficiently loosened hold the base (next to the skin) of the tangle with your thumb and forefinger and with your other hand, using the end of a comb, carefully tease out tangles, working gradually down the knot towards the skin, holding the base of the knot to minimise the discomfort or pain felt by your dog, thereby making grooming a more pleasant experience.

The breed standard states “coat must not be trimmed in any way”. Therefore the following must not be used on a dog that’s shown or likely to be shown.

It seems unfair to expect a dog that isn’t groomed regularly to accept the pain of established mats being teased out. The following method can be used to dramatically break up a matt with a far nicer cosmetic finish than just chopping at the hair with scissors. Select the matt and with good sharp (this is essential) curved ended scissors (hairdressing scissors with blades about 3”(7.6cms) make several cuts down the length of the matt, from the base to the end. Cutting in the direction that the hair grows. This will produce several smaller mats that are more manageable, gently tease these out with the end of a comb, as previously described. This will thin out the hair considerably but the groomed hair that remains will fall naturally without looking as if it has been chopped off.

If your beardie is very matted it may be better to have it clipped off and keep up with regular grooming as the hair grows.

However forewarned is forearmed and the warning here is that hair may grow back a lot thicker; so unless you keep up with regular grooming you may end up with a bigger problem.

Grooming is a good time to check ears to see if they need cleaning, and to remove the fine hair that collects in the ear canal. I usually put a small pinch of Thornit ear powder in the ear as this helps the hair come out easier. Just pluck out a few hairs at a time and using your thumb and finger only so as not to go in too deeply.

Clean the ears with a proprietary brand of ear cleaner. If you live in the country or exercise your dog in fields it is possible to pick up rabbit mites which can cause a great deal of discomfort eg hot inflamed and very sore ears, in which case you will need to go to the vets, but its easier to prevent than cure…

Another part of your grooming routine, especially in puppies should be to check the teeth & gums. I use a Childs tooth brush with doggy toothpaste or there are products on the market that fit your finger, like a teat & have raised bits down one side that the toothpaste goes on & you clean in same way. Make sure you get to the back, puppies will love this as when puppy teeth are coming out & big back teeth are coming through this will act as a massage on gums. By getting your beardie used to this it will hopefully save you alot of money and the dog having dental treatment later in life and as a bonus it will also keep breath fresh.

For the PET Beardie (NEVER on a puppy you are intending to show) you can trim the excess hair from the underside of feet, & on male dogs from around the sheath, bitch should be tidied around the vulva to stop any infection. This can help to stop a) that doggy smell, & also b) the matting that can sometimes occur in this area when brushing is not done on a regular basis.

I do all my grooming on a table, but you can use a kitchen table (can be bought from the free papers for just a few pounds) & save your back no end. This also means that your dog is off the ground (less likely to get down) & will lay happily for hours, make sure that you put something on table to stop any slipping, ie mat or blanket or towel.

Two clean car mats also work well.