Terrier care - grooming and diet

Posted by admin | August 26, 2010 .

Terriers are fun dogs, full of energy and generally very hardy. Two common care topics are grooming the long-haired types and looking after the terrier’s diet.

Terrier Grooming

The variety of long-haired terriers can be broadly categorized into two types for grooming purposes. This is because they require different grooming techniques, which can be outlined as:

The long soft coat of the Yorkshire Terrier or Skye Terrier needs regular brushing, and for non-show dogs, clipping the length of fur that hangs down its sides is necessary to prevent it dragging on the ground. Show dogs are usually stripped with a stripping knife, moving in the direction of the fur growth to remove dead hairs, then older hair plucked with one hand while holding the skin down with the other.
Airedale Terriers and the wire-haired types are clipped, again in the direction of growth, around the terrier’s head moving down its back towards the tail. Then the chest and outside of the legs and thighs can be clipped, and the inside of the thighs after that on relevant breeds such as the Miniature Schnauzer. Finally, the ears and muzzle can be trimmed before tidying up eyebrows, etc, with small scissors. Thinning shears and wire-toothed combs, used with care to undo matted and tangled fur, help speed up the process.

Terrier Diet

A recommended general approach to dog diets is explained here click here.

Individual terriers will have their own idiosyncrasies and there are a wide range of terrier breeds, but for terriers, the staple meat ingredient of chicken, beef or lamb is most relevant, with dry kibble to complement it. However, raw foods are usually less of an option with terriers as they are prone to no digesting food especially well, which leads in some cases to stomach problems which in turn can be serious in the smaller breeds. Again, though its a generalisation, terriers can be less amenable or suited by vegetables than most breeds.