There are five basic types of coats. They are the smooth coat, the medium coat, the long coat, the wirehaired/broken coat, and the wavy or curly coat. Grooming each coat type differs from one coat to the next. Although you have some choices and options to make about the style of grooming, certain parts are the same and non negotiable in order to keep our dogs healthy and happy.

The Wirehaired or broken coat has a very unique texture; it is coarse, hard, and wiry. Wirehaired breeds have coats that have unique tousled and somewhat messy look that many people find very appealing.

Wirehaired dogs are mostly groomed to wear jolly beards just like what you may see on a Scottish Terrier, a Miniature Schnauzer, or a Brussels Griffon. Several breeds of Terriers have a wire coat, as well as some hounds and sporting dogs. Wire coats have an amazingly weather resistant function. They resist burrs from sticking to them. Wire coats also have the ability to offer great protection for dogs whose role usually consist of plummeting through harsh bracken, into burrows, and through fields in ruthless type of weather to go after vermin such as badgers, deer, or rats.

The distinct feature of a wirehaired/broken coat should never be shaved down if you want to properly maintain it’s crispness and harshness. The coat needs to be plucked or stripped. This is a process in which dead hairs are pulled out either by hand or by using a stripping knife. This process is particularly used by wire haired show dogs, where owners and/or groomers patiently and tenderly hand strips their show dogs. By using this procedure, you can be sure that your dog’s wire haired coat maintains its’ natural texture. Shaving down a wire coat can result in a change of the breed’s characteristic texture.

Dog owners who go for wirehaired breed usually enjoy the monotonous but fulfilling task of hand stripping. This can either be done in its entirety several times a year or a little at a time but more frequently, all year long.

Broken/Wirehaired coated breeds include the Irish Terrier, the Otterhound, the German Wirehaired Pointer, the Dandie Dinmont Terrier, the Irish Wolfhound, the Scottish Deerhound, and the Norfolk Terrier, the Welsh Terrier, the Affenpinscher, the Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, and the wirehaired Dachshund.