DIY grooming FAQ

Start touching, brushing, and pulling on everything right away to help get your puppy used to being groomed! Start clipping toenails and running the trimmers around them even if you are not actually trimming them! This regular exposure will help tremendously when it comes time for that first groom! We give them their first puppy cut before going home, so please wait until they are fully vaccinated before taking them to a professional groomer.

We like to bathe only when necessary, usually before we trim our dogs, in order to maintain the dog's natural protective oils. When we do bathe them, we use baby shampoo. Because we trim our dogs more frequently than most people, I try to skip the bath when possible, but just beware that dirt can dull your trimmers quickly.

Brushing is a great way to keep a dog used to the process of trimming so brush away! A slicker brush (along with a blow dry after a bath) is the best way to achieve the poofy look on the legs and/or undercarriage.

The answer is really different for each dog. Typically the thicker, curlier coats seem to grow out faster than the more wiry coats.  It also depends on how short you prefer to keep your dog. We like to keep ours pretty short, so we typically are grooming around every 3 weeks, but I would say average is 4-5 weeks or more.

Brushing them daily would be the goal, but anything is better than nothing!

-A high quality set of trimmers (we have used Andis for 15+ years with a size 10 blade, these are around $150) 

-A spray coolant/lubricant for trimmers to help keep the blade cool. I recommend also having an extra blade at all times to swap out when one gets hot.

-A grooming arm/noose is not necessary, but sometimes extremely helpful when trimming without an assistant.

-A less expensive, smaller set of 2mm trimmers with smaller teeth for face and ears ( I have used multiple brands, usually around $20 on Amazon, replace when dull)

-A good pair of scissors

-Toenail clippers or grinders

-Brushes, combs

-A hair dresser smock is a lifesaver to keep those tiny, itchy hairs off of your clothing!

-Wipes are handy to have nearby as sometimes you may inadvertently express anal glands while trimming

This is a loaded question that hopefully I can add a video tutorial for one day, but I will focus on the differences in the way I typically keep our dogs trimmed vs. some of the standard schnauzer cuts you may receive at a professional groomers. I like to trim my dogs against the grain to achieve a very short trim. I typically do not leave a skirt on my grown dogs due to how active they are outside on our farm. I use my smaller trimmers for around the genitalia area, stomach, face, eyes, and ears. For most, the ears are usually the most intimidating areas to trim with good reason as they are the easiest place to nick. I suggest, for beginners, do not go against the grain until you are practiced and very familiar with the anatomy of your dog's ears as sometimes they have unique skin tags, etc. I do go against the grain on the ears and even the edge of the ears to achieve a very sharp, uniformly short cut. I prefer to not let the beard begin at the outer edge of the eye like the typical schnauzer cut, but rather I trim the lower eye area and inner eye area to allow better cleaning of the eye.  I trim beards and legs with scissors.  I trim each dog's beard slightly differently just according to what I like best on that particular dog, so be patient with yourself and your dog as you take this DIY grooming journey and don't be afraid to play around and try something different each time!

Honestly, my answer to this question has changed over the years. It used to be a yes, pull as much as possible. However, I now prefer to trim the inner ear hair as short as possible and use an ear cleaner purchased from my vet's office when needed. The only time I ever seemed to have ear irritation and problems is after pulling the hair. You will find mixed opinions on this, but this is just my opinion formed from my experience over the years.

Genetics play a huge roll in the way a puppy's ears will lay when they mature and typically our puppys' ears lay down just like their parents'. However sometimes when a puppy begins cutting his/her molars, they will begin to hold their ears up or back. This often corrects without any intervention after those teeth come in, however as that cartilage hardens, the changes in the ear fold position can be permanently altered. There is an option of gluing the ear(s) to train them to fold properly during the developmental phase of the cartilage hardening. This may take a few weeks and may also require being re-glued 1-2 x, but it is usually successful. There are videos on YouTube specifically with miniature schnauzers, that are wonderful guides on this process, but I would not recommend this DIY fix if you are brand new to grooming. Of course, you always have the option to simply embrace the uniqueness of your puppy's quirky ear(s)!