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How to Groom a Scottish Terrier: Hand Plucking, Stripping, and Clipping for Show Condition

© Chris Chamberlin

A Scottish Terrier has one of the easiest coats to keep looking top-notch show quality at home. It can be done provided you are willing to establish good grooming practices from a puppy's early age.

The dog's coat is about two inches long, and the coarse, wiry topcoat has a soft, dense under-coat. Some variation between dogs should be taken into consideration. The time you invest in training your dog to remain still and to enjoy his grooming will be time saved later.

In a pinch, you can achieve a temporary show look with clippers using a #7 on his back and #10 on face and ears following the same patterns as described below.

Equipment to Groom a Scottish Terrier

• clipper and #81/2 blade
• thinning and straight scissors
• stripping knife
• grooming powder
• slicker Brush and/or palm brush
• nail trimmers

It is essential to thoroughly brush out the coat before beginning a successful grooming job.  Once you have removed any tangles and loosened the free hair with a vigorous brushing, you can add a grooming powder, starting at the withers, to aid in the plucking procedure to follow.

How to Hand Pluck the Scottish Terrier's Coat

Hand plucking is the best way to achieve the most natural and pleasing look to your Scottish Terrier. Stripping knives are used more often than not for a bare resemblance, in half the time, to the hand plucked version.

Using your index finger and thumb start pulling the dead or loosened hairs following the direction the hair grows.  Hold the skin above the area you are going to strip out so the skin has little give. Pull straight out and down. If you turn your hand, especially while using a knife, you will create a curly coat. If you keep the skin taut, the hair to be pulled will lift and it will be easier to spot the hairs to remove.

Add more powder as needed as you progress along the body.  Follow an imaginary line from the breast bone to the pelvic bone below the rectum, blending smoothly from the neck down the shoulders and to the tip of the tail and over to the sides, gradually blending with the longer coat of the ribs and legs. Once you have stripped below the tail where you will see the cowlick, you can precede to the sides. Clean up any straggly hairs around the rectum with scissors.