# questions on grooming a schnauzer



## peace36 (Jan 29, 2007)

Hi. I am not a professional groomer but I groom my own dogs and alot of my friends dogs. I do my best and think they come out pretty darn good but of course not as good as a pro can do it.

Anyway my friend has asked me to groom her schnauzer so I am gonna try it. Never groomed one before. I did some reading and youtubing and it says to use #10 blade against grain on head and around part of face, does that sound right? and should I use #10 on body as well (with grain) and do I go with or against grain on his ears?

any tips to help me make him look his best would be appreciated

thanks


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## Mheath0429 (Sep 4, 2011)

Are the ears floppy?


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## mom24doggies (Mar 25, 2011)

Here's what I do on the schnauzers that I do (I'm a dog groomer). I use a #7 with the grain on the back (gives it a more natural look, plus makes blending at the pattern line much much easier), #7 against the grain on the head/cheeks/throat. If the dog's skin can take it, I might use a 10 reverse on the throat and cheeks (not the top of the head, that will look funny), but to be safe I usually just use the #7 reverse. Never ever ever go against the grain on the ears, you can cut them. I've seen some pro's (as in they've been doing this for 30 yrs) go against the grain, but to be safe, I never will. If you want the ear to be shorter, use a shorter blade. Do you have a handle on the pattern lines? So many ppl have a hard time with schnauzer patterns, mainly because they don't realize the line is so low. Basically, you take the line down to the bottom of the shoulder muscle, almost to the elbow but not quite. Take that line across the ribcage, rise slightly into the flank, then drop the line on a diagonal into the thigh to about 2-3 fingers above the hock. And blend blend blend. The line should be invisible. On the chest, take the line down to a couple of fingers or so below the breast bone; you want the chest to look flat. On the head, set your eyebrows at the brow bone (eye socket rim, it's pretty easy to feel) and your beard line goes from the outer corner of the eye to inner corner of the lip, and across the chin to the other lip corner. Split the eyebrows, and then shape them into triangles...they shouldn't be any longer than half the muzzle; I take pet eyebrows much much shorter than that. For a picture, take a look at this lady's page, she does a really pretty schnauzer: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Posh...onal-Certified-Master-Groomer/202689113092162 HTH!


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## peace36 (Jan 29, 2007)

Thank you so much for taking the time to type so much helpful information  I really appreciate it!


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

the Britmore Schnauzer link seemed to be helpful,

http://britmorschnauzers.com/groom.html

I liked the grooming your standard schnauzer link on www.standardschnauzer.org/grooming.html has nice diagrams of where to clip... I suppose some folks will groom a mini different than a standard.


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