Grooming The Smooth Fox Terrier (1)

As soon as I got sucked into the world of smooth fox terriers, I got sucked into grooming. The coat on these dogs lies tight and flat to their bodies. Nothing shows off a fit, muscular smooth fox terrier like a clean, well groomed coat. I showed in conformation for a while and learned how to groom them up to their eyeballs. A careful show groom on a smooth fox might take as many as 8 hours spread over two or three days and requires an entire box of tools and equipment. You'd think a dog with such a short, smooth coat is a "brush and go" sort of affair. Oh, my, no. Grooming a smooth fox requires shaping and trimming every hair on their bodies. Every single hair.

Fox terriers are double coated, with a coarse, tight outer coat and a much finer under coat. Stripping pulls out the loose guard hairs and thins the under coat, giving them a clean look and greatly reducing shedding. I used to strip with a fancy German stripping knife but I'm all for using the Furminator these days. You can cut the dog's skin and damage their coat just as easily with either tool so stripping knives are not for the total novice. However, the Furminator is very easy to use.

Even as a dog sport competitor, having my dogs show up to a trial looking trim and clean is always important. Because they are not that common of a breed, I wanted my dogs to always look their best every time they went to a tournament or trial. I always groomed my pack before a trial, even the dogs that were just along for the ride!

Grooming your dog yourself gives you a chance to examine the dog closely on a regular basis, allowing you to run your hands over their entire body. Any irregularity shows up quickly. And some aspects of grooming help keep the dog healthy, such as clearing their coat of loose hair.

Once I stopped messing about in the conformation ring, I devolved my grooming routine into something much more simple. Every week I clean their ears, trim their nails, and clean their teeth. Every month or two I strip their coat and trim fuzzy butts and flaggy tails. (I don't worry anymore about the lizard feathers on their necks, even though the neck gets a lot of attention in a show groom.) They get bathed every couple of months unless they are particularly dusty or smell doggy.

Here is the first of two videos on simple grooming of the smooth fox terrier. This one features Mimi. And yes, isn't that a lovely purple smock I'm wearing? If you ever once got itty bitty sharp-tipped fox terrier clippings into a sensitive place, such as, oh, under your sports bra, you too would own this particular fashion accessory.