Miniature Schnauzer Grooming Styles

Miniature schnauzer owners are free to groom their dog in any style they desire, but only one true grooming style is recognized by the breed society. Miniature schnauzers have a double-layered coat, the top coat being wiry and the undercoat being soft. Groomers trim these coats by following a procedure unique to the breed to produce the the squared-off head and beard and fluffed-out legs.

  1. The Head

    • The miniature schnauzer's head should to be groomed to appear rectangular in shape. Starting with the eyebrows, the groomer combs them forward, wetting them to keep them in place if necessary, then cuts them in a V toward the center. The groomer then cuts a V shape between the eyebrows in the center of the face. It is not correct to shave down the nose, although some groomers do so, and no hair should be trimmed below the eyes. The sides of the beard should be cut parallel to the head to square it off.

    The Legs

    • The miniature schnauzer's leg hair is combed down and trimmed across in a circle around the foot. It is then layered and trimmed with scissors to make the leg hair fluff out evenly around all four legs, about an inch in length. The belly hair is combed downward and trimmed short with scissors. The legs are fluffed out to the line where they meet the body clip, which is just above the elbow in the front and where the clip dips down in an arc toward the hocks on the back legs. The hair is removed from the paw pads with scissors or clippers.

    The Body

    • The miniature schnauzer's body coat is clipped against the grain from the base of the skull, down the neck and across the entire back and sides of the dog. The body clip should end two fingers above the elbow and follow a straight line across the length of each side. The short hair is then carefully blended into the slightly longer belly hair by clipping with the grain to dull the line where they meet. The coat is clipped short to 1 inch above the hocks on the back legs, where it is curved toward the hocks and blended with the longer leg hairs. The hair at the rear end and tail is clipped to form an inverted V above the hocks.

    Other Areas

    • The throat and underside of the head and the belly are clipped with the grain of the coat, and the short hair along the lower side of the body is blended with the longer hair on the legs and underside of the belly in the same way. The tail must be clipped short. The ears are trimmed and ear hair is tweezed out. Nails are kept short.