How to Groom Your Welsh Terrier

!±8± How to Groom Your Welsh Terrier

In order to groom your Welsh Terrier, you will be needing a few tools:

1. Comb - Steel is preferable with rounded teeth set wide apart.

2. Brush - with stiff bristles

3. Stripping Knife (Dresser) - for removal of dead hairs and trimming new ones

4. Rounded-End Scissors - for straightening lines of legs, belly, ears, feet and toes

Here are specific steps for Trimming Your Welsh Terrier to the Standard:

The Welsh terrier will be trimmed very similarly to many of the other terrier dog breeds.

1. The neck should be trimmed evenly going into the back.

2. The back should be trimmed levelly, but not as short as the neck.

3. Front and sides of neck should be trimmed closely, with hair getting gradually, but slightly longer descending toward the front legs junction to the body.

4. Front of the front shoulders should be trimmed evenly, but closely.

5. Since you are trying to achieve straight lines, the front legs should be trimmed to look straight. Therefore, you may need to take some hair off the back of the front legs. Also, the sides of the front legs should be even with the upper body, again creating a straight line. The front of the front legs to the tips of the toes should be as straight as possible lining up with the Welshie's chest. Trim between the toes, and around the feet to create a roundness of the feet.

6. Ribs should be shaped to follow the contours of the body Trim closely closer to the back, and gradually get thicker as trimming toward the underbelly, which should follow the belly contour as well. Keep underbelly as thick as possible without allowing shagginess.

7. Keep the loins as clean and short as possible, without trimming all hair off, but allow to fade into the belly hair gradually. Emphasize the fact that the loins are trimmed, by creating an up-trim in that area.

* Tip: This keeps the loin area clean, especially if the dog is male, when going to the bathroom.

8. For the back thighs, trim gradually increasing thickness of hair from closely trimmed back to heavily coated back leg. From hock (ankle bone) up to the knee, trim shaggy hairs from the sides, but keep lines clean and straight up through the thigh.

9. The hock, or from the back ankle bone down, should be trimmed in a straight line. Again, trim between toes, and round feet.

10. While looking from the rear, ensure the line from the inside loin down to the hock is trimmed cleanly all the way down, and straight (as viewed from the rear).

11. Trim the tail evenly, not too closely, to a blunt tip. Make sure to trim fine hair by the rear where the tail joins to keep area clean when your Welshie goes outside.

12. As you work your way down from where under tail attaches, gradually increase thickness of hair, to try to create yet another straight line towards the hind legs.

13. The top of the skull should be trimmed very closely, leaving eyebrows quite heavy and lengthy over the inside corner of the dog's eyes, gradually reducing thickness towards outside corner of eyes, where you will leave little hair.

14. Cheeks should be trimmed closely starting from the outside corner of the dog's eyes toward the corners of their mouth.

15. Slightly trim from in front of the eye, again toward the corners of the mouth.

16. The top of the muzzle should trimmed from just in between the eyebrows straight to the nose, trying to achieve a straight line from the top of the skull to the tip of the nose.

17. LEAVE chin whiskers, but clean up from under the jaw from the corner of the mouth and back towards the neck.

18. Ears should be cleanly and closely trimmed, inside and out, with straightened edges, using the round-edged scissors.

by Kimberly Edwards