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Originally Posted by terrier_love How long does it take for a yorkie's hair to grow long (to the ground)? My girl is 8 months old and the hair on her back is about 2 1/2 inches long (I adopted her at 6 months so I don't know if she was every cut).
Also, what are the different types of cuts that you can get for Yorkies - I'd like to know what to ask for when she goes to the groomers. Actually, I'd like to learn how to do it myself if anyone has any suggestions on how to learn.
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I think I can help you on both ends:
Whether your Yorkie’s coat will ever touch the ground depends on the type of hair she has and how you care for it. For most pet Yorkies, the coat NEVER touches the ground because it breaks off about half way down the leg. We had one wooly coated Yorkie growing up (he had dark, black hair and a course very thick coat that matted easily) grew to the ground with no help from us. His hair was exceptionally strong and grew fast. I had one cottony coated Yorkie growing up and one now. Both were kept short because the matting is beyond reason with this time of coat. Lastly, there’s my show girl who has a pure silk coat. Her coat DOES touch the ground (albeit for some breakage here and there) but please understand that she is in wraps 90% of the time and gets bathed and oiled WEEKLY. If I didn’t do that, her coat would break off just as my other silk coated Yorkies used to do.
My other “silk coated” yorkie (her name was Maggie) was a scrappy housepet who loved to play basketball, run around and get into stuff. But since her coat was so nice, we simply kept it in a Silky Cut. Sort of long, but all around – above her knee. So she looked very “Yorkie” but wasn’t always a mess. I don’t recommend a long, floor length coat for a pet Yorkie unless you are committed to the upkeep. In addition to everything else, your dog will, excuse me here, walk through her pee and get into the ends of her coat (esp true with a female who squats), step and trip on her coat and mat up. Doesn’t sound like much fun for you or her! If your Yorkie has a wooly or cottony coat, I’d suggest a terrier clip or teddy bear clip. There’s some great clipping photos on the YTCA website you can look at to get ideas.
I started learning about Yorkie grooming by watching videos and reading books. I got one from 3m, which although British, was pretty good. There was another one I got from a person on this message board, priavetly worked which wasn’t bad either. Recently, I bought another CD from
http://www.sweetyblue.com on top knots which was excellent. I hear they are coming out with a whole series of tapes soon. Lastly, but not least, I learned a lot by going to dog shows, asking questions of more experienced show handlers and by picking YT’s very own “Arlene” (president of Pure Paws shampoos and Yorkie breeder) brain a lot. Arlene has bathing and conditioning instructions for Yorkies on her website.
http://www.purepaws.net