How to Groom Your Spinone
Living with Spinoni brings special housekeeping challenges, but there are certain tricks of the trade that experienced owners have learned to make life easier.
Whether you have a hunting dog, show dog, or family companion, your Spinone should be groomed regularly.
A well-groomed dog is a healthy dog.
The hard-textured coat protects the dog while hunting in rough cover.
When correctly groomed, it requires minimal stripping, combing, and occasional bathing. But an unstripped or shaved coat gets thinner and softer over time which actually requires more grooming.
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Comb out all the dead hair you can.
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Wet the dog, work the shampoo into the coat starting at the head and working toward the tail. Rinse thoroughly at the skin level. Use waterless shampoo between baths to spot clean. And to treat skin abrasions, use one part water to one part Listerine.
Towel off the dog and allow to air dry.
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Start with a wide tooth comb, then again with a finer tooth comb, and finally with a fine flea comb.
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The Spinone coat is most easily stripped with special tools (see Tools below). When done properly, this does not hurt the dog.
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Do not be afraid to remove hair — it will grow back.
Shedding occurs when hairs in a dog’s coat stop growing, die and are pushed out by new hair growth. Some Spinone do not appear to shed. Some shed a little all the time. Others shed a lot once or twice a year. The vast majority of Spinoni shed.
Stripping removes dead hair and shapes the coat.
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First, strip out the dead hair.
Stretch the skin taut with one hand and grip only a few hairs between your thumb and stripping knife. Pull in a rapid and straight motion in the direction the hair grows and close to the dog’s body. Do NOT bend the wrist or twist at all, the motion should come from the elbow or shoulder. The dead hair will come out, while live coat does not.
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Then, shape the coat.
Place only a few hairs between your thumb and stripping knife, rotate your wrist, and pull at a 90-degree angle to the coat. A Spinone should have eyebrows, but the forehead should be flat. They should have a beard that balances the square muzzle. The trademark fan in front of their eyes should show the human-like eyes the breed is known for.
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Groom with a purpose.
For in-depth instruction and photos to demonstrate the techniques, Debby Forry has generously shared the presentation from her seminar The Detailed Eye.
Discover how to hand strip and finger pluck to highlight each Spinone’s features.
Avoid the Dreaded Spinone Slime
Some Spinoni are neat drinkers, but others dive into the bowl and then leave a trail of water behind them. A wet mouth can quickly turn into a slimy beard attracting dirt, food, and other debris that stains the hair and dries into “beard cement.”
Hanging a towel near the feeding station and teaching your Spinone to wait to have his beard dried will keep the house cleaner (and drier). Combing the beard with a fine tooth comb while it’s wet removes much of the dirt.
Owners have solutions they swear by: no-rinse dog shampoo, lemon juice mixed with a bit of diswashing soap, a mix of listerine and water, or a bar soap called Wash Bar.
If you notice a “I think something died in here” smell, it could be coming from your Spinone’s lip folds. Keeping the hair in the lip folds trimmed helps.
Check their ears weekly and clean as needed.
The Spinone has a long dropped ear that allows moisture to build up and can lead to yeast and bacterial infections.
A quick sniff usually verifies a problem as yeast infections are quite pungent.
Air Flow Means Dry Ears
Apply ear powder in the canal and pluck a few hairs at a time (or gently shave around the ear opening and inner flap). Once all the hair is removed, use a cotton ball with ear cleaner to remove the wax. An ear-drying cream can help prevent yeast infections.
Clean Inside the Ears
To flush the ear canal, put liquid ear cleaner in the ear, gently massage the base of the ears, and then let the dog shake his head. Wipe out excess cleaner and debris with a cotton ball.
When to Go to the Vet
If you notice your dog is shaking their head, scratching at their ears, have red or inflamed ears, or an offensive odor or discharge, consult your vet before the problem worsens.
Grooming a Pet Dog
If all of this seems daunting, use clippers or scissors to parts of a pet dog’s coat. Keep in mind that clipping causes the new coat to grow in softer and will mat more easily. Always hand strip a show dog.
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Every four months, take the coat down to 1.5 inches using an electric clipper (#10 or #15 blade with a 2 guard). Shave the top of the head from the back of the eyebrows to the back of the skull and the base of the ear with a #10 blade.
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Use thinning scissors to blend in and shorten the eyebrows, cheek area, beard, and neck.
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Shave the inside and outside of the ear leather and trim evenly around the ear leather leaving 1 inch of hair.
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Maintain pad hair according to weather to keep traction and reduce likelihood of embedded pests (burrs, foxtails, etc…).
Grooming for the Show Ring
The breed standard states the dog should be exhibited “in a natural state,” its appearance “may not be altered,” and it must “present the natural appearance of a functional field dog.” Exhibitors interpret “natural state” according to their preference.
“Natural state” can be interpreted as clean, but with no stripping or trimming done at all — the judge can assess a dog no matter the hair growth. Or “natural state” can be interpreted as stripped, anywhere from a bit on the head and face to the entire body so that judges can see head planes, skull shape, and other features.
There are two options for stripping:
Major Stripping
let the coat grow for several months and strip when shaggy looking
Roll the Coat
remove a small amount of hair on the dog every day so the dog always appears ring ready
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Take out the excess hair at the shoulders and hips balancing those areas with the rest of the dog. Remove feathering at the elbows, under the belly, and under the tail. Trim the end of the tail hair off.
Trim the hair from the bottom pads of the feet, but leave the hair around the foot natural.
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Strip the head close: from the top of the head from back of the eyebrows to the base of the skull. Blend into the neck coat. Strip out the throat area down to the breast bone.
Blend the eyebrows away from the eyes and clean the cheek area. Hand shape the ‘fan’ in front of the eyes (or use thinning scissors). Thin the beard to balance a square head.
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Strip the downy hair on the insides of the ear. Trim the hair around the ear leather to make it look natural. Take down the ridge of hair under the ears on the neck.
Grooming Tools
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Shampoo for Harsh Coats (also called Terrier or Protein)
Waterless/Self-Rinse Shampoo
Ear Drying Cream
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Pin brush and curry brush for overall body grooming
Coarse and fine combs (including a flea comb) works through the fur.
Mars Coat King removes the bulk of dead hair or a shedding blade pulls loose hair
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Thinning Scissors
Regular (blunt end) Scissors
Electric Clipper with #4F, #5F, #7F, #10 and 5/8 Blades
#2 Clip on Comb (2 Guard)
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Grooming powder makes hair come out easier: ear powder, white chalk powder or cornstarch baby powder.
Stripping knives should be dull. If it is sharp to the touch, rub sand paper across the tips to ‘dull’ it. Coarse (blue handle) is used for the majority of body stripping. Fine (red handle) is used for the small areas like head, ears and shaping.
A pumice stone can be used in a similar manner to a stripping knife.
Two rubber fingers from the office supply store can be used in place of the stripping knife.
