For the love of a Spanish Water Dog
For the love of a Spanish Water Dog
" For the love of a Spanish Water Dog"
Dedicated to Millie & Maisie
Spanish Water Dog
GROOMING & MAINTENANCE
I often see the questions regarding grooming on the Spanish water dogs groups on social media, owners post things like
“can anyone recommend a groomer that specialises in Spanish water dogs”
"Looking for a grooming for a SWD, willing to travel:
These questions quite honestly amaze me as they are probably the easiest and most straightforward dog to clip and a groomers delight, as they are cut at the same length all over, no fluffy bits, no long hair left on their heads, ears or tails, just same length all over, really very simple for any professional groomer. One thing that is a very important, Spanish Water Dogs have unique wooly coats that should never be brushed combed or a hairdryer used on them..
I have an amazing groomer that comes to my house that I have been using for many years, my girls (however much not keen on getting hair cuts) they adore Kelly an she efficiently and professionally gets the job done without causing stress to the dogs.
After their coats are trimmed, Millie sulks for a few days, which is a common behavior among Spanish Water Dogs.
As my girls are very active and we spend a lot of time days outdoors, whether it's at the beach swimming, in the woods, or on muddy walks, I prefer to keep their coats relatively short, this makes it much easier to clean and dry them after their activities.
As much as we prefer my girls to have their long as they look just gorgeous with their curls, we tend to have them groomed around 3-4 times per year, but during the winter months, we can go a bit longer between grooms. However, come springtime, it's time for their coats to come off and for a fresh start.
Everyone will have a different idea on how long they want their coats to grow, and how often they are cut but this is just how we work it.
Breed Standards Grooming from:
Spanish Water dog Kennel Club
Unlike many other curly coated breeds, we never put a brush to an SWD’s coat. It will break and damage the natural structure of the cords, which will in turn lose the dog its rustic appeal that you originally fell in love with. If a brush were to be used it would make the coat all frizzy and you would probably end with something more resembling a Bichon Frisé rather than a Spanish Water Dog. Should this happen the best thing to do is to bathe or shower the dog in cool water and allow it to dry naturally. This will help return curls back to the coat.
As the coat grows out the individual fibres of the curls will start to intertwine with each other, which form the basis of the cords. As these get longer, they are more liable to matt together. In order to maintain the cord structure, the cords need to be split from each other down to the skin of the dog. The best way to do this is to find the separation of two wispy ends and carefully pull them apart from each. Gradually over time they will form a thicker base to the cord, tapering towards the outer tip. Puppies tend to be more difficult to cord as their coats are much softer and finer and much more prone to matting. A coat can become ‘blown’ when the matting becomes too heavy and is incapable of being separated. It is advisable to try and clip the coat before this happens as a blown coat is much more difficult to clip. Particular areas that become prone to matting are behind the ears and the rear legs due to dogs sitting, laying down on the coat.
When it is time to take the coat off it is clipped to the same length all over, usually on a number 5 blade(6.3mm) or 7 blade(3.2mm), but in bad cases it may need to be taken off even closer to the skin. There is no aesthetic cutting or shaping of the coat. This also applies whilst the coat is growing out. As the cords get longer, they should not be cut, trimmed, or shaped as this would cause them to have blunt ends, which deviates from the breed standard of how the coat should appear natural.
Meet ups - Events - Shows
If you have any upcoming events, meetups, or shows that you would like to advertise or promote, please feel free to contact me via email. I would be more than happy to include them on our events page.
