Grooming Tips for Different Dog Breeds

The Long or Short of it! - Author: Chris Chamberlin

While basic grooming techniques are the same on all breeds of dogs, different procedures are unique to each breed.

Longhaired breeds have several different styles. Some are part coats, some are blended coats, and some are natural.

Shorthaired breeds require specialized grooming as well.

Some will have hard coats like the terriers and will require stripping of the excess coat. Others will only need minimum tidying, such as retrievers or Husky.

Smoothhaired breeds require even less, in so far as trimming is involved. Usually breeds such as pointers and hounds bound for the show ring will be spotlessly clean and have sleekly trimmed whiskers and feet, which always present a tidy but closely natural look. Very little, if any thing is removed from the back, underside, thighs, etc. Again, simply a tidy-up to perfect the outline.

The majority of my customers own crossbred dogs and often I will be requested to create a grooming miracle by transforming a multipoo into a terrier or a some other breed facsimile with the wrong coat texture for the job that makes it impossible. If the desired look comes from a hard-coated breed and you have a dog with a soft coat you may not like the results. You will find that shaping it into a design which can only be sported by a dog who possesses the correct type of coat, will result in a poor resemblance of the desire look. More often than not, crossbred dogs lack the abundance of coat required to emulate its purebred counterpart. Still, it can be close, but so must be the breed type.

Below you will find an alphabetical list of breeds divided into categories which have distinct coat types.

The Longhaired breeds

1. Afghan Hound 2. American Cocker Spaniel 3. American Water Spaniel 4. Bearded Collie 5. Bedlington Terrier 6. Belgian Sheepdog 7. Belgian Tervuren 8. Bernese Mountain Dog 9. Bichon Frise 10. Borzoi 11. Bouvier des Flanders 12. Briard 13. Brittany Spaniel 14. Chihuahua 15. Clumber Spaniel 16. Collie(rough) 17. Dachshund(longhaired) 18. English Cocker Spaniel 19. English Setter 20. English Springer Spaniel 21. Field Spaniel 22. Gordon Setter 23. Great Prynese 24. Irish Setter 25. Irish Water Spaniel 26. Irish Wolfhound 27. Japanese Chin 28. Keeshond 29. Kerry Blue Terrier 30. Komondor 31. Kuvasz 32. Lhasa Apso 33. Maltese 34. Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier 35. Newfoundland 36. Old English Sheep Dog 37. Otterhound 38. Papillon 39. Pekingese 40. Pomeranian 41. Poodle 42. Puli 43. Saint Bernard(longhaired) 44. Samoyed 45. Scottish Deerhound 46. Shetland Sheepdog 47. Shih Tzu 48. Silky Terrier 49. Skye Terrier 50. Sussex Spaniel 51. Tibetan Terrier 52. Welsh Springer Spaniel 53. Yorkshire Terrier

Shorthaired Breeds

1. Affenpinscher 2. Airedale Terrier 3. Akita 4. Alaskan Malamute 5. Australian Cattle Dog 6. Belgian Malinois 7. Border Terrier 8. Brussels Griffon 9. Carin Terrier 10. Chesapeake Bay Retriever 11. Curly-coated Retriever 12. Dachshund(wirehaired) 13. Dandie Dinmont Terrier 14. Flat-coated Retriever 15. Fox Terrier(wire) 16. German Shepherd 17. German Shorthaired Pointer 18. German Wirehaired Pointer 19. Giant Schnauzer 20. Golden Retriever 21. Irish Terrier 22. Labrador Retriever 23. Lakeland Terrier 24. Miniature Schnauzer 25. Norfolk Terrier 26. Scottish Terrier 27. Norwegian Elkhound 28. Norwich Terrier 29. Saint Bernard(shorthaired) 30. Saluki 31. Schipperke 32. Sealyham Terrier 33. Siberian Husky 34. Standard Schnauzer 35. Welsh Terrier 36. Welsh Corgi (Cardigan) 37. Welsh Corgi (Pembroke) 38. West Highland White Terrier 39. Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

Smoothaired Breeds

1. American Foxhound 2. American Staffordshire Terrier 3. Basenji 4. Basset Hound 5. Beagle 6. Black and tan Coonhound 7. Bloodhound 8. Boston Terrier 9. Boxer 10. Bulldog 11. Bull Terrier 12. Collie(smooth) 13. Dalamation 14. Dachshund(Smooth) 15. English Foxhound 16. Fox Terrier(Smooth) 17. French Bulldog 18. Great Dane 19. Greyhound 20. Harrier 21. Ibizan Hound 22. Manchester Terrier(toy) 23. Mastiff 24. Miniature Pinscher 25. Pointer 26. Pug 27. Rhodesian Ridgeback 28. Rottweiler 29. Staffordshire Bull Terrier 30. Vizsla 31. Weimaraner 32. Whippet

All of these wonderful breeds are distinct in their own and over the next few months I will go over grooming procedures for them. If you have a particular breed or a cross breed that you would like to know how to groom, please email me and I will do my best to assist you. Happy Grooming All!