Airedale Terrier Grooming

An easy way to create a perfect head shape on an Airedale Terrier.

The difference between Airedale Terrier clipping and hand-stripping is that not only is hand-stripping done by hand, but it removes coat from the root (not just the top layer) so a new coat is able to grow in. Each time you clip an Airedale’s coat instead of hand stripping, you are just taking off the top layer of dead fur rather than removing it from the roots – as a result, the coat may become duller in texture and color with each clipping.

Airedale Terrier Grooming

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: all

Like many terriers, the breed has a ‘broken’ coat, which is hard and wiry. It is meant to be kept not so long as to appear ragged, and lies straight and close, covering body and legs. The outer coat is hard, wiry and stiff, the undercoat softer. The hardest coats are crinkly or just slightly waved. Curly soft coats are highly undesirable.

The coat is hypoallergenic, tending not to generate allergic reactions in people.

Airedales bearing undercoats are generally groomed by hand stripping where a small serrated edged knife is used to pull out loose hair from the dog’s coat.^[3] Most Airedales require frequent (2 to 3 times a year) clipping or stripping as they do not shed.

The AKC breed standard states that the correct coat color is either a black saddle, with a tan head, ears and legs; or a dark grizzle saddle (black mixed with gray and white). Grizzle that is a mix of red hair in the black, often on the area of back before the tail are often the best and harshest coats. There are, however, examples of non-standard black-coated and “red” (tan) coated Airedales, (the solid colored Airedales are NOT able to be AKC registered, since they are deviations from breed standard and have yet to be proven ‘purebred’ Airedale Terriers.) There are also the short coated “Redline” type Airedales, they appear to be genetic throwbacks in looks to the Airedale’s early days when the breed’s coats were much shorter than today’s Airedale. Even with their shorter coat they still have the same hard wiry outer coat with a soft under coat and fall well within the criteria of the breed standard and therefore can be AKC registered and most are registered.

Airedale Terrier Grooming