When purchasing a Yorkshire Terrier for a home, the future owner must be aware that the long, well-groomed coat requires complex, regular care. Finding a groomer who will tidy up your pet's guard hair is not difficult, but regular care for a Yorkshire Terrier requires regular visits to the salon, which cost a lot of money.
It is necessary to accustom a Yorkie to grooming manipulations and constant care from puppyhood - in the future, it will be much easier to cope with an adult dog if the dog knows and is not afraid of the procedures.
Usually a puppy appears in a new home at about 1.5 - 2 months. By this age, the breeder must show the puppy what washing and combing its fur means. After the baby arrives in a new place, he needs to be given time to get used to it - you can’t even carry out hygienic care right away. At least 2-3 weeks after the dog appears in the family, you can accustom the puppy to hygiene procedures - trimming nails, combing hair, cleaning ears and face. A small dog quickly gets accustomed to new things and easily tolerates procedures.
Read further: Dog grooming - what is it?
Why cut your Yorkie's head?
Due to the structure of the coat (thick, without undercoat), the Yorkshire Terrier does not tolerate temperature changes well. Among other things, the long hair of dogs of this breed gets into sloppy tangles and dirt, dust and secretions stick to it, and overgrown hair on the face interferes with visibility, irritating the mucous membrane of the eyes, and causes discomfort when playing and eating .
Haircuts of various lengths and shapes can ensure the hygiene and aesthetic appeal of your pet.
Removing split ends
You can experiment a lot with the Yorkshire Terrier's coat. First, we always remove split ends - this procedure looks like this:
- comb your pet with a mat cutter to remove any matted fur;
- separate the fur with a long-toothed comb;
- take a small curl, twist it and cut off everything that sticks out;
- do this wherever you do not plan to trim the dog.
Remember that damaged ends slow down hair growth, so their removal is necessary.
How to properly trim a Yorkie's head
A Yorkie's first haircut is done at about 3-4 months of age . For a puppy's haircut, it is preferable to choose a classic or hygienic one, since its main purpose is to ensure the cleanliness and comfort of the animal.
Haircuts for adults are very diverse. There are many options for fashion haircuts, but for show dogs it is preferable to trim and contour with thinning scissors to get rid of split ends.
Yorkshire terriers need a hygienic head trim every two weeks, during which the hair is shortened:
- on the back of the nose;
- under the lower jaw and along the line of the mouth;
- in the area around the eyes;
- in the upper third of the ears (in puppies up to the middle of the length of the ear), giving a V-shape;
- remove with a trimmer or tweezers from the inside of the ear;
- and also create the contour of the head.
About washing before cutting
Before grooming, your Yorkie should be washed in a bathtub or sink with a rubber mat placed on the bottom to prevent the dog from slipping. When washing, use water at room temperature and a special shampoo and conditioner to make subsequent combing easier. You need to soap the dog from the neck to the tail, and lastly the head, but the foam is washed off starting from the head. After washing, lightly wring out the dog's fur, wrap it in a towel and dry it with a hairdryer. After washing and drying, the dog needs to be combed.
If you use the machine on an unwashed dog, the machine will clog and stop working.
How to trim a Yorkie's face at home
Owners of Yorkshire terriers will have to trim their pet's coat several times a month. Hiring the services of a professional groomer is expensive every time.
Some dog breeders prefer to cut their pet's hair at home themselves . This procedure is more economical and does not cause discomfort or stress for the animal.
To trim a Yorkie's face, you will need a standard set of tools:
- thinning and sharp scissors of different lengths to create the outline of the head;
- scissors with rounded blade ends for cutting hair on the ears and around the eyes;
- trimmer for removing hair from the inside of the ear;
- dog clipper with attachments of various lengths
- metal combs.
The haircut is carried out on pre-moistened wool.
The animal must be secured with a collar and leash. The length of the leash should provide the dog with a comfortable sitting position on the table during the procedure, without making breathing difficult.
Grooming a Yorkie's head is a fascinating and not too difficult task, but before you start creating your pet's hairstyle yourself, you should watch several training videos and master classes on the Internet.
How to train a dog to stand still while being groomed
The puppy usually gets his first brushing and washing experiences while still with the breeder. When the baby finds himself in a new home, he must get used to the owners a little and get used to it. At this time, that is, in the first couple of weeks, it is not recommended to carry out hygiene procedures. After the puppy has begun to feel confident in the new place, you can begin to gradually accustom him to the process of grooming.
You can’t right off the bat scare your pet with a buzzing clipper or enthusiastically comb out tangles, if any. At first, the dog is taught to just stand on the table. To do this, the dog is placed on the surface first for a minute, and then the time is gradually increased. When the puppy gets used to it and feels calm on the table, you can teach it to be brushed.
First, the baby is stroked with a brush using massage movements. Be careful not to get the brush stuck in tangled areas or tug at your skin. After brushing, praise and treat your dog to build a positive attitude towards the procedure. Under no circumstances should you hurt your dog. If your Yorkshire Terrier is nervous, talk to him in a gentle and calm voice, show him and let him smell the instrument.
Yorkie nose trim
When processing the head in the area of the bridge of the nose, first cut a triangle from the eyes along the back of the nose towards the tip, leaving 5 to 10 mm of hair length.
Grooming on the nose is performed using scissors with rounded blades to avoid injury to the animal.
There is no need to cut the nose area short to the bridge of the nose. The coat is carefully combed in the direction of growth and the length is aligned along the line of the mouth.
And finally
Decide for yourself whether to pay a professional to bring your pet to perfection or delve into the secrets of grooming and trim your Yorkie's face for the first time. The choice of hairstyles is huge, but to comply with hygiene standards, it is enough to master just one you like. After carrying out a procedure that your pet is unlikely to be delighted with, let him chew on a tasty bone so that he will forget about the unpleasant moments. We hope this article helped you figure out how to cut your Yorkie's hair at home and not overpay.
How to cut a Yorkie's head beautifully
There are two main types of Yorkshire Terrier head haircuts: standard (classic, hygienic) and model .
Dogs participating in exhibitions must undergo a classic head trim according to a standard scheme, since the condition and type of coat is one of the evaluation factors.
And model haircuts for Yorkies allow you to emphasize the character and individuality of your pet. Their variety tends to infinity and depends solely on the imagination of the master.
Model haircuts are divided into several popular types:
- short and puppy haircuts;
- imitating other breeds (Chinese Crested, Poodle, Schnauzer, etc.);
- haircuts for boys
- haircuts for girls
Grooming a puppy
Caring for a Yorkie, as a rule, often needs to begin almost immediately after its birth, that is, from a minimum age. A five-day-old puppy needs to have its claws trimmed, and when it is 3 weeks old, its claws and ears need to be trimmed; at 1.5 months, the hair in the groin area needs to be trimmed. Starting from 4 months, a Yorkshire Terrier puppy needs to start getting its first hygienic haircut, and from 6 to 7 months, a model one.
The information that Yorkie swifts slow down wool growth for up to a year and spoil its quality is a myth. Quite the contrary, after cutting off the puppy’s soft coat, a new, harder, more elastic and silky coat grows.
Short Yorkie Head Cut
The choice of haircut length depends on two main factors:
- employment of the owner of the Yorkshire Terrier;
- pet activity.
If the owner does not have enough time to comb the dog’s fur, or the pet prefers playing outdoors and long walks, you should opt for short haircuts.
The most popular among them is “puppy style,” in which the hair on the Yorkie’s head is trimmed as follows:
- hair must be combed thoroughly;
- perform a hygienic ear trim;
- divide all other hair on the head into strands and trim, leaving up to 5 cm in length;
- comb into a natural parting;
- align the contour, giving it a rounded shape.
Unfortunately, the “bear cub” haircut, which is popular for small dogs, cannot be done on a Yorkie, since the breed does not have an undercoat to form the required volume.
In rare cases, if the pet is particularly intolerant of the heat (which is common among Yorkies), the dog will be completely clippered, including the hair on the head. Considering the rate of fouling, by the end of summer the Yorkie's coat grows to a length of 4-5 cm.
Where to perform the procedure
To get your Yorkie in order you can:
- invite a specialist home;
- get your pet's hair cut at home by a hairdresser;
- go to the salon;
- cut your own hair.
The safest, but most expensive option is procedures in a grooming salon. However, for a fee you will receive comfortable waiting conditions, treatment with professional sterile instruments, specialist services, and a guarantee in case of errors. The owner has nothing to worry about. If the animal is purebred, it is better to entrust the pre-show preparation to a professional groomer.
Calling a groomer to your home is the most convenient, but expensive option. If you take your dog home to a specialist, you will have to leave it with a stranger during the procedure, and the waiting conditions are unlikely to be comfortable.
In any case, you must be confident in the qualifications of the master and the quality of the tools he uses.
To cut your pet's hair yourself, you will have to buy tools, acquire certain skills, and periodically waste your time and nerves. But you will not depend on groomers.
How to trim a girl's Yorkie's face
When cutting the head of a female Yorkie, as a rule, a strand of hair is not cut off on the forehead. A bow is tied on it or braided into a braid. In another option, in addition to the strands on the forehead, the long hair on the cheekbones is also retained, and only the area under the lower jaw is trimmed with a clipper.
In both options, split ends must be removed from hairstyle curls. To do this, the strand is twisted into a tight strand and all protruding hairs are carefully trimmed.
What determines the quality of the coat?
What kind of fur your pet will have depends on many factors. And if we have no control over natural data, then it is quite possible to correct other data in order to improve the quality of the pet’s hair.
Much depends on heredity. There is nothing you can do about genetics, so you must initially choose a puppy by looking at its parents. Luxurious fur from your closest relatives is the key to the beauty of your puppy in the future.
Environmental factors - direct sunlight, sea water, dry air - all this negatively affects the quality of the animal's hair. You should not bathe your dog in the sea or let him sleep near the radiator in winter.
Various physiological conditions and general health also directly affect the appearance of the coat: hair growth slows down during pregnancy, lactation, changing teeth, even with a common cold or stress. Along with this, poor nutrition can cause skin allergies, alopecia (baldness), and loss of pigmentation.
A lack or excess of vitamins can lead to various skin reactions, dandruff, inflammation of the sebaceous glands - even baldness. Therefore, it is important to monitor the terrier’s diet and ask the veterinarian for the exact prescription of all dietary supplements.
Required Tools
Many owners wonder how to trim their Yorkie themselves using scissors alone. Unfortunately, scissors will not be enough - you will need other equipment to make the procedure pleasant and quick, and most importantly, correct. So, a basic set of tools:
- Table and rubber mat, ideally this should be a grooming table with a rubberized surface.
- Scissors, and not alone. At a minimum, you need straight, rounded, thinning scissors and small scissors with rounded tips (like manicure scissors).
- A machine with different types of attachments. It’s good if it’s battery-powered, without connecting to the network - then there will be no surprises if the light suddenly goes out. Such a machine is mobile: for example, in a private house you can get a haircut in the yard. The attachments, like the body itself, should be metal - they do not accumulate static electricity, metal is easier to clean, and it is less clogged with hairs.
- Trimmer for treating hard-to-reach places - ears, muzzle, anus.
- Several combs with different distances between teeth. Combs should also be metal.
- Massage brush.
- A mat cutter, since mats fall off even on the most well-groomed dogs, sometimes at record speed – within a day.
- Nail clipper and medium hard nail file.
This is the equipment you will need directly when cutting your hair. In addition to this, you will need shampoo, conditioner, hair dryer, mousses, sprays and care oils.
