DIY Grooming an Irish Terrier

Irish terriers are known on the dog show circuit for their distinctive, wiry coats. An Irish terrier's coat actually consists of two layers: a dense undercoat and a more wiry outer coat. Whether or not your terrier is a show dog, regular grooming of its coat is necessary from about five months of age to ensure healthy fur and general quality of appearance. The standard method of grooming Irish terriers is called "stripping" and involves plucking out the dead hairs of the outer coat to maintain its vibrant color.

Things You'll Need

  • Stripping knife
  • Scissors
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Instructions

    • 1

      Use your thumb and forefinger to carefully pull out the wiry hairs of your dog's topcoat. Start just behind the animal's shoulders and strip its back, ribcage, belly and hindquarters first. If you are new to stripping, learn to do it with your hands first before using a stripping knife.

    • 2

      Pull only a few hairs at a time; if you pull too many at once, it will hurt the dog. When you start using a stripping knife, hold it either perpendicular or at a 45 degree angle to the dog's skin and pull gently in the direction of hair growth. Be careful using this method so you do not end up slicing the hair: Trimming or cutting Irish terrier hair takes away its desirable red color.

    • 3

      Pull up the hairs on the front legs and gently strip the longest ones to give the legs a more symmetrical look. Ideally, your dog's leg and body hairs should be no more than an inch and a half in length.

    • 4

      Push back the fur on your dog's head and carefully strip away excess hair around the eyes and mouth. Hair on the head of an Irish terrier is generally kept to about a quarter of an inch in length.

    • 5

      Trim the dog's tail and sides and back of the neck. Do this by way of stripping, or carefully trimming with scissors. You should avoid using scissors on show dogs as scissors will trim away the red tips of the hairs and result in loss of color in your dog. Finish by trimming the back of the tail and the dog's butt. Always pull hair in the direction of growth to minimize your dog's discomfort.