Jack Russell’s Grooming – FAQs Answered With Tips
If you are a Jack Russell owner, I might consider yourself lucky to have such a breed because they are willing to protect their family and love them more. Grooming is a crucial factor when you have your own Jack Russell.
When you groom your Jack Russell, you should have a clear idea of their coat types and grooming categories. I hope this post might help you in that case.
What are the factors you should consider when grooming a Jack Russell Terrier? Fur care, bathing, nail clipping, ear cleaning, and tooth cleaning are included in grooming. Mainly Jack Russells have smooth and rough types of coats. Jack Russells do not need regular bathing, but regular brushing is necessary to reduce their shedding. JRTs need a trim after growing their hair long. You should carefully treat Jack’s coats because of the sensitivity. However, rough coats need more attention than soft coats.
After reading this article, you can get a clear idea about Jack Russell’s grooming. I think it will help to keep your Terriers healthy and happy. Let’s get started!
Coat types of Jack Russell Terrier
Jack Russell Terriers mainly have smooth, rough, or broken coats. The rough-coated Jacks have longer hair when compared to the smooth-coated Jacks. Rough-coated Jacks need more grooming because they have extra trace hair on their body, leg, face, and head.
Compared to the smooth-coated Jack Russell, they need to brush once a week. It will require more during the spring season because they shed their hair.
Smooth-coated Jack Russell does not need regular haircuts. Rough-coated Terriers can have haircuts using clippers according to the necessity.
Are Jack Russell’s shedders?
Yes, Jacks are shedders. Though the Jack Russells coat is short or long is not a problem because they generally have short hair. It is easy to groom Jack Russells with short hair.
When they have quite short hair, it leads to having a lot of shedding, which will increase during the spring and autumn seasons.
There is a solution for shedding. For reducing the shedding, you can have regular brushing for Jack Russell. When you brush through Terriers’ hair, you apply skin oil on their skin which helps to stay fur and reduce shedding.
How to do Jack Russell’s grooming?
As I mentioned earlier, Jack Russell’s grooming will continue mainly under five categories.
1. Fur care
Jack Russells have different coat types, and their fur-care grooming should be changed accordingly.
- Smooth-coated Jack Russell
The smooth-coated Jacks have short and smooth fur that lies close to their body. Smooth-coated Jacks need more brushing during the spring season, and generally, it is essential to have brushed once a week.
A self-cleaning slicker brush is applicable for both coat types. It is easy to remove dirt and unwanted fur from the skin. Professionals recommend using hand stripping to keep the hair in a better way.
- Rough coated and broken coated Jack Russell
It is necessary to hand-strip the rough-coated Jack Russells twice a year because it clears all dead hair and reduces shedding. The stripping process is mainly done using a stripping knife.
You should strip the fur before bathing because its soft and slippery nature does not let you remove them properly.
Stripping brings a nice look for Jacks. Especially if your Terrier is a rough-coated one, you must take him to a groomer 2-3 times a year.
Your dog may not have patience till you finish the complete body hand stripping. Therefore, I recommend you to give this task to a professional. Taking Jack to a groomer will be helpful for you to provide an excellent and healthy look to a Terrier.
2. Bathing
You can bathe Jack after stripping. It is compulsory to use dog shampoo for Terriers because they have a different PH rate for the skin. Do not use human products because it will cause dry and itchy skin. Always use mildly warm water.
Soak Terrier bodily, apply a small amount of shampoo and gently massage it all over the body. Do not use any conditioner for Jack Russell Terriers because fur should stay hard correctly. After that, rinse your dog thoroughly.
Please do not use a hairdryer for your dog because it curls the hair and raises it from the body. Use a dry towel to wrap your dog. You can decide how often Jacks want to bathe. It depends on how he gets dirty (E.g.: – especially after a walk).
3. Nail Clipping
In nail clipping, you should clipped his nails continuously. Doing a small clip at a time is sufficient. But, it would help if you stopped clipping when you see a red dot in his nails.
It is a sign of blood supply to the nails. If your puppy has white nails, you can identify the blood supply. But, if you cut the blood supply by mistake, you should use styptic powder or cornstarch to stop bleeding. Nail files and sharp scissors can be used for grooming.
4. Ear Cleaning
Using a cotton ball or gauze to clean the outer ear of a Jack Russell Terrier is a better solution. But, do not put anything inside the ear of a dog.
You can use a pet MD ear cleaner to remove the excessive hair of the ear canal.
5. Teeth Cleaning
Always use dog toothpaste and toothbrush for teeth cleaning because it is easy to clean their teeth.
In the beginning, you should try to clean their teeth one by one. After that, you can finish it by brushing all the teeth in one session.
Dental hygiene is a crucial condition in Jack Russell’s grooming. If your puppy has already grown up, you should begin to brush his teeth, ensuring his dental hygiene.
Tips for grooming a JRT
- Before stripping Jacks, I recommend the below-mentioned tools to ease your work.
- Wide-tooth comb
- Wire brush
- Comb
- Short serrated stripping knife (dull blade)
- Short serrated stripping knife (share blade)
- During the fur stripping process, you should choose a time for doing it without any disturbance.
- Before grooming, you can take your Terrier for a walk or run because it causes you to stay calm during this process.
- Arrange a place where you can easily clean up their removed fur and hair. Make sure to strip them from backbone to neck.
- When removing fur, you should strip Jack’s chest, back, legs, tail, sides, and neck areas of the body.
- Once you finish the stripping process, better do another stripping round after 4-7 days because you may have missed long hair at the 1st round.
- For quick grooming, I recommend using FURminator. It will help to remove long hair and ease off the stripping process.
- Shaving is another best solution for stripping. But, I wouldn’t like shaving because it will not shed fur to the best level causing you to do an additional cleanup.
- Getting knowledge from a professional will be helpful to Jack Russell’s grooming. If you do not have any prior experience in grooming, you can take your Jack to a professional.
Final thoughts about Jack Russell’s grooming
Jack Russell’s grooming is a significant part of having a happy and healthy puppy. Jacks have mainly two types of coats such as smooth and rough.
Rough-coated ones have longer hair than smooth ones. Both coat types need careful attention.
Fur care, bathing, nail clipping, ear cleaning, and tooth cleaning are the main categories you should consider in grooming.
The proper guidance from professionals using appropriate tools and methods will make a happy and healthy life for your Jack Russell.
Thank you for reading this post. Stay tuned with Jack Russell Owner for more interesting posts. Cheers from Shaggy and Lenny!