Grooming a Yorkshire Terrier - hairstyle options, scheme and technique for cutting a Yorkie

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?

Do Yorkies need to be cut?

The coat of Yorkshire Terriers is extremely beautiful, but to maintain its shine and silkiness, it requires brushing several times a day. Otherwise, tangles will form, creating discomfort for the Yorkie; they have to be untangled and cut out. An excellent way out of this situation is a haircut, which allows you not only to give the pet a charming look, but also to realize the owner’s fantasies. There is no vital need for the procedure, but it makes the dog’s life easier and makes it easier for the owner to care for it.

Why does a Yorkie need a hairstyle?

The Yorkshire Terrier is cut for two reasons - pre-show preparation or a matter of hygiene. Depending on the purpose of the procedure, its methods will also differ. For a show Yorkie, there are certain standards designed to show the beauty of the animal in all its decoration, while the hairstyle should simply emphasize the advantages of the animal. If your pet is getting a haircut for the sake of ease of maintenance, then the best solution is a hygienic short haircut for the Yorkie. The animal's face will be free of food debris, less wax will accumulate in the ears, and the dog will not get dirty during walks.

The terrier is usually cut once every 1-2 months, but the face can be trimmed more often - once every 2-3 weeks. Since your pet’s entire life will be connected with the clipper and scissors, it is worth accustoming him to these tools from an early age. The shorter the hairline, the easier it is to care for it and the less effort you will have to expend to make your pet look neat.

Which haircut option to choose - in a salon or at home?

Both options have the right to exist, their pros and cons. The owner of a Yorkshire Terrier must decide for himself which one is right for him. A professional groomer works with the dog in the salon; the necessary conditions have been created and equipment is available. You can call a specialist to your home, but the service is not cheap, and it must be carried out regularly. The budget option includes cutting your hair yourself. Having a little hairdressing skills and familiarizing yourself with the instructions on how to cut a haircut correctly, the task is not difficult to cope with. It will take tools and time for Erik to get used to and calmly take hygiene procedures.

Required Tools

As noted earlier, special tools are required to groom your pet. These include:

1. Scissors of various types (with an elongated straight blade, with rounded ends and curved).
2. Electric dog clipper with different attachments. They can be made from any materials, but in no case from plastic.
3. Trimmer. It is required to remove hair from the heel and muzzle.
4. Combs (from standard form in one row to furminator).
5. Colt cutter (if necessary).
6. Claw cutter.
7. Anti-slip mat.

How to prepare a dog for a haircut?

From puppyhood, Yorkies are taught to bathe, comb, and clean their eyes, ears, and teeth. If this is not done, then the grooming procedure will seem like a mockery to the pet or even a punishment for wrongdoing. First, the fur is slightly trimmed and the claws are cut off. It is recommended to do your hair once every two months. To begin with, they simply correct the growth of hairs - they are shortened on the limbs, on the “skirt” and ears. The entire procedure takes no more than a quarter of an hour, while a Yorkshire terrier will be served in a grooming salon for at least 45 minutes. At first, home hygienic haircuts should not be combined with washing the dog, so that it is in a stressful situation as little as possible.

Step-by-step analysis of the process

Grooming a pet is performed according to the following scheme:

1. Trimming always starts from the bottom, namely from the paws. Each limb is taken in turn and the hair between the toes is removed using a machine. This must be done carefully, as the animal may be injured.
2. Ear treatment. You need to remove one third of the hair from the outside. To do this, use a comb to separate the hair from the ears from the rest of the hairs. The edge of the ear is placed on the palm, and the hairs are shaved off (according to the growth of the fur) with a machine with a millimeter nozzle. The line should be as straight as possible. Hairs in the ears are removed with a trimmer or tweezers.
3. Trimming the fur on the bridge of the nose and around the eyes. For this purpose, use scissors with rounded ends. You also need to shorten the hairs on your cheeks and chin to get a beautiful contour. Yorkie girls can be left with a “top note” (tail on top of the head). This is done like this: the hairs located in the corners of the eyes are picked up to the beginning of the ear and collected in a ponytail.
4. Treatment of the groin area and butt. The dog is placed in an even position and the hair is carefully shaved off. This should be done with a machine with a 3 mm nozzle. In this area, the hairs grow in different directions, so you should constantly turn the tool and make sure that the blades move against the hair growth. To thoroughly clean the genital area, lift the tail and paws.
5. Trimming the body. Movements are performed from the tail to the neck, against the hair growth. First, the back and sides are shaved. After this, if desired, you can expose the stomach, neck and paws to the middle. The hairs remaining on the paws are shortened with scissors, forming “pants.” Ready!

Each owner decides independently who and where will groom their favorite Yorkie. At first, while the subtleties of grooming are not clear, you can go to the studio. Next, you can carry out a hygienic haircut using a photo yourself, there is nothing complicated about it.

Types of Yorkie haircuts

How to cut a Yorkshire Terrier's hair needs to be thought out in advance. You should take into account the gender of the pet, its temperament and character, participation in exhibitions and competitions. At events, the dog should look presentable; a haircut will help highlight its advantages and hide any shortcomings, if any. Among the most common types of hairstyles: model, cosmetic and hygienic.

Hygienic

This variety is the most common; it allows you to quickly tidy up the fur and appearance of your pet. It is necessary to trim the hair on the paws, legs, ears, anus and groin. The frequency of haircuts is once a month, performed at home or in a salon.

Before starting the procedure, the hair is combed and tangles are untangled. To trim a Yorkie, the tools must be sharp, so that the fur does not wrinkle, but is cut off. You need to act carefully, without causing damage to your pet or causing discomfort.

Cosmetic

The type of haircut is regulated by the exhibition rules. Without it, the Yorkie is not allowed to participate in competitions. The coat is washed, combed, and long hair in the groin, ears, armpits and between the toes is removed. It is left as is on the body to preserve the natural appearance of the dog.

Model

Model grooming of the Yorkshire Terrier is not used before participating in exhibitions. This creative option does not involve any prohibitions or restrictions. You can realize any fantasies and ideas - cut it like a chinchilla, Chinese crested, miniature schnauzer, in Korean or Asian style. But when implementing the most incredible ideas, one should not forget about the convenience of the Yorkie.

Preparing for grooming

Before cutting Yorkie dogs, be sure to watch videos, photographs, and become familiar with the tools. Inexperienced owners are better off consulting a groomer.

Before using scissors and clippers, wash your pet with shampoo and conditioner to make the hair smoother and less tangled. Before washing, only comb the head, without touching the mustache and beard, and remove tangles.

The coat is washed with shampoo twice, the first time to wash away dust and major impurities, and the second time it is washed with care shampoo. After shampoo, apply balm or conditioner; you can add a few drops of broccoli oil, which has a laminating effect. This entire mixture is lightly rubbed into the skin and kept for at least five minutes. After washing, the hair should be slightly slippery. Dry the wet dog with a terry towel and clean the ears, removing any remaining moisture from them.

Dry the dog with a powerful hairdryer that has temperature control. Drying is carried out with a strong air flow until it is slightly damp, after which combing begins. You can spray the animal with antistatic agent. Brush the dog with a massage brush from the tips to the roots; if there are tangled places, they are sorted out using a regular comb with rotating teeth.

When everything is combed, take the hairdryer again and dry it with a warm and cold stream of air alternately. At the same time, the strands are pulled back so that there is no wave. Do not dry against the grain. Gradually switch to only the cold flow of the hairdryer.

The pet must be well dried before cutting, otherwise the hair will become tangled. When everything is ready, you can proceed to the most important thing.

Short or long haircut?

In order to choose the length of your Yorkshire Terrier's haircut, you need to consider several factors:

• Is there time for daily brushing?
• how long the pet is outside;
• what length of fur does the owner like best?

The short style is suitable for those who have little free time to care for the dog and if they are often outdoors. During play, the Yorkie's long coat can become dirty and tangled. You will still need to comb it daily and wash it often, but short hair will take much less time.

Yorkshire Terriers with long hair and a beautiful hairstyle look impressive and stylish. It demonstrates the excellent condition of the coat and the responsible attitude of the owner towards his pet.

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.

Yorkshire Terrier Hairstyles

The cost of a stylish haircut from a groomer is quite high. If the owner can regularly visit the salon with his pet, he has the right to choose any of the hairstyles:

• square;
• under the schnauzer;
• under the Chinese Crested;
• Korean and others, more creative.

The option depends on the type of Yorkie coat. Smooth, soft and shiny are more capricious and require maximum care. It is difficult to come up with many interesting hairstyles from a coarse hairstyle; it is cut to medium length or short. The gender of the pet also affects the type of haircut.

For girls

The goal of the owners of Yorkie girls is to emphasize their beauty not only with a haircut, but also with fashionable accessories - ribbons, hairpins, bows. A beautifully designed appearance makes the dog look well-groomed. Erik girls look better with long hair, although they are charming with short hair. One of the most attractive hairstyles is the “skirt”, for which the back is cut and long hair is left on the sides and belly. Female Yorkshire terriers with bangs and straight strands of hair on the sides of the head look advantageous.

For boys

Although grooming Yorkies does not involve dividing haircuts into those intended for boys and girls, many select them according to gender. They try to create a classic look for Yorkshire dogs - short hair and no bows or ribbons. A trimmed mini terrier looks great with puppy, lion, mustache, and schnauzer hairstyles.

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.

Haircuts for puppies

They begin to care for the puppy on the fifth day of life. His claws are treated, then his ears, then his eyes. At one and a half months, the hairs in the anus are removed, and in the fourth month the first hygienic grooming is carried out. From six months you can experiment with hairstyles, choosing the most suitable one.

The current opinion that Yorkie puppies cannot be cut until they are one year old is a wrong belief. This does not deteriorate the wool, but only improves it - tangles do not form, and care becomes easier.

Yorkshire Terrier haircut pattern

When doing a haircut at home, you should remember that you always need to move from dangerous areas of the body to less safe ones (from the anus to the thighs, from the armpits to the abdomen). When grooming your Yorkie, stick to the following plan:

1. A third of the ear is cut into a triangle, the edges are trimmed, and the hairs inside are removed.
2. The back is shaved with a clipper with a 1 cm attachment, without going beyond the line of the ears.
3. The hair on the neck is trimmed without touching the ears and head, leaving a length of at least 3 mm.
4. The chest is passed through with a 7 mm nozzle using short, jerky movements.
5. If there is a “skirt”, trim it.
6. On the head, the hair is gathered into a ponytail on the top of the head, the lower edge is made oval, and the hair is aligned under the chin.
7. Hair is removed from the armpits and under the tail.
8. The Yorkshire's tail is cut based on the owner's preferences.

Before you begin the first procedure, you should familiarize yourself in detail with the haircutting technique of a master in a salon or by watching a video on the Internet.

How to cut your Yorkie's hair yourself - step-by-step instructions

The owner needs to prepare (disinfect) the instruments and put on a robe. It’s good if the dog takes all the procedures calmly, doesn’t get nervous, and doesn’t break out. Sometimes an assistant may be needed - preferably, it should be a person familiar to the dog, that is, a member of your family.

1. First of all, the body is decorated. To do this, make an even parting along the spine and comb the hair on both sides. From below, the strands are trimmed to the same length. The chest and neck are cut quite short to the lower jaw.

2. If a dog is being groomed, then you need to start from the tail. Do not shave beyond the ear line. Hair is removed from the front paws above the elbows. From the rear – up from about the middle of the thigh. The front neck is shaved from the shoulders to the throat, and the transition is shaped with scissors. With the summer hygienic option, only the paws remain slightly combed.

3. From the neck they move to the muzzle and shape the head. The most tangled areas - the groin, armpits, paws and fingers - are trimmed very short with a clipper, no longer than 5 mm. In fact, hair grows back quickly. When clipping your armpits, be very careful not to snag the thin skin.

4. Use rounded scissors to remove excess under the tail, around the anus. It is preferable to pluck the hairs in the ears or, as a last resort, remove them with a trimmer.

5. Long hair on the body is either trimmed only from the bottom (“pants”), or, in addition to this, the upper ⅔ of the length (“flares”) is removed.

6. Lastly, the paws are trimmed. The foot must be firmly fixed, otherwise your model may jerk it and get hurt. First, the claws are processed with a special nail clipper, and the sharp tips are filed with a file. It is convenient to trim the nails after washing, when they are softened, easier to cut and do not peel off.

7. When the claws are processed, use small rounded scissors to cut off the excess from the bottom of the paw and between the pads so that nothing gets tangled or interferes with walking. The top of the foot is given a neat rounded shape without protruding tufts.

8. At the end of the haircut, all shaved areas are once again passed over with a clipper.

By following these instructions, you will understand how to trim your Yorkie yourself, and you will see that there is nothing complicated or impossible in a hygienic hairstyle.

How often does a dog need to be trimmed?

The frequency of cutting a Yorkie depends on its individual characteristics. Different dogs have different hair growth rates. On average, the procedure is carried out once every one and a half to two months. If a Yorkie wears long hair, the ends are only occasionally trimmed and hygienically treated. For short hairstyles, the shape is updated more often.

Sometimes owners use seasonal haircuts for their Yorkshire dogs - short in summer to keep it cool, long in winter to keep warm. In this case, the groomer is visited only a few times a year.

How to cut a Yorkshire Terrier at home?

If the owner of a Yorkshire Terrier intends to cut the pet's hair on his own, you need to purchase accessories and tools:

1. Rubber mat - to prevent the Yorkie from sliding on the table surface.
2. A clipper with a set of attachments - preferably metal, so that the hair does not become electrified and tangle.
3. Trimmer – for treating ears, anus, muzzle.
4. Steel combs.
5. Scissors – straight and with rounded tips.
6. Tangle cutter - for untangling matted wool.
7. Nippers are a device for trimming nails.

Trimming nails

Trimming the nails is also a mandatory procedure - since the nails, if not shortened, begin to crack and bleed, which causes your pet great suffering.

Just like human nails, your Yorkie's nails should be trimmed regularly.

If you hear your dog clicking while walking on the parquet floor, it means it’s time to trim his nails. Before trimming your Yorkie puppy's nails to cope with this procedure, stock up on the following:

• nail clipper;
• cotton buds;
• nail scissors
• nailfile;
• dry potassium permanganate.

After cutting, the dog’s nails should be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Below are step-by-step recommendations on how to cut your Yorkie’s nails:

• place your pet on your lap and secure it tightly;
• move the hair from the finger you plan to process and lightly press it - the claw will extend and it will be more convenient to trim it;
• at an angle of 45 degrees, trying not to touch the claw bed, trim the claw;
• do not forget about the fifth fingers that are not visible;
• if you accidentally hit the claw bed and blood comes out, treat the area with a cotton swab, dipping it in dry potassium permanganate;
• a trimmed claw is too sharp - your pet can injure himself or someone else with it. Therefore, process it with a file;
• Next, remove all the hair from the base of the paw - dried dirt accumulates there. Dogs love this procedure much more than the nail trimming that precedes it.

And finally, one more piece of advice - it is best to trim the nails after bathing, when they are as soft as possible and well processed. If you don’t have a nail clipper, it’s okay, you can easily do it with ordinary nail scissors.

Groom your Yorkshire Terrier yourself or from a groomer

You can get your Yorkie's hair done in a salon or at home. The owner can be sure that a dog groomed by a professional will look presentable; most often the specialist will find an approach to the animal and it will behave calmly. The groomer has high-quality tools, supplies and extensive experience.

After gaining basic knowledge and some skills, the owner can cut the Yorkie's hair on his own at home. Both options are quite acceptable if the necessary rules are followed.

At what age can a Yorkie be cut?

A perfect example of a haircut
First, you should find out when you can cut your Yorkie for the first time. Experts believe that a puppy should first visit an expert at the age of 6-8 months. But there are several features here.

On the one hand, the sooner your Yorkie starts going to the hairdresser, the easier it will get used to the difficult procedure, which means the likelihood of conflict will decrease.
On the other hand, not every puppy will be able to withstand an hour or two, standing almost motionless, and that is how long the haircut lasts. Therefore, it is quite difficult to say unequivocally at what age a Yorkie’s first haircut can be performed - this largely depends on the character and temperament of the dog. On a note! Yorkies have fluffy, coarse and silky fur. The optimal choice of haircut depends on this.

How to braid a Yorkshire Terrier?

If your Yorkie has a long coat, you can braid the hair. Use different options:

1. Tail - collected at the back of the head and decorated with an elastic band with a bow; from medium-length wool, a “palm tree” is obtained, giving the Yorkie additional playfulness.
2. Braids - they are woven along the back, on the head or along the spine.
3. Onion - gather hair in a ponytail, form a bun and secure with a bow.

Jewelry and crab clips can be placed all over the body. The weaving should be done so that it is not tight and does not cause discomfort to the dog.