Airedales are fairly low-maintenance dogs, but I know that grooming them can be a little bit challenging. I created the following guide to teach you everything you need to know about grooming your Airedale.

So, how do you groom your Airedale? Grooming your Airedale terrier involves looking after their curly coat weekly, while trimming them at least four times a year.

When it comes to grooming, Airedales have a low-to-medium level of care required. Depending on how much you want to limit their shedding and how much you care about their coat, you should make sure to brush them around once a week. In terms of haircuts, there are a few main styles of grooming (that we’ll get into later); which one you chose for your ‘dale depends on personal preference and the climate that you live in.

Grooming Basics: General Upkeep

Before we get into the specifics of cutting your Airedale’s hair, let’s talk about the basic upkeep that needs to be done to them on a more frequent basis. There are three areas that you should look out for when it comes to grooming your Airedale:

• Brushing
• Nail trimming
• Baths

Brushing Your Airedale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmfDeb3TBf0

Brushing your Airedale helps to remove any dead hair from their thick coat, which keeps their shedding to an absolute minimum. It also helps keep them cool, so it can be a good way to help your Airedale thermoregulate if you live in a warmer client but want to keep their coat a little longer.

To brush your Airedale, you should use a steel-pin brush or a brush with slicker bristles, to help cut through the wiry coat and avoid irritating your Airedale’s skin. A two-sided brush, with metal bristles on one side and a softer, traditional bristle on the other, is ideal; this allows you to pull through the longer hair on your Airedale’s back and legs, while still using the softer side for their more sensitive areas (like their face and belly).

When brushing them, make sure you go with the grain of their hair (as seen in the video above), as this will do the least damage to their coat. You should also clean the brush frequently; the thick coat of your Airedale means that it will quickly become clogged up with loose hairs, which can make the brush less effective.

Because of how wiry they are, it may take several passes with a brush before you’re pulled up all of the loose or dead hair in one spot with your Airedale. A good way to judge if you’ve done enough is that, when you brush a certain spot, there should be little to no hair that gets pulled up by the bristles. Your Airedale should also look slightly ‘poofy’ from the brushing. Once you reach that state, you know that they’re nice and clean, and you’re done until next week!

Finally, Airedales are high-energy dogs who might not enjoy standing around for long periods of time so they can be brushed. Starting this tradition when the Airedale is a puppy can help acclimatize them and teach them the right behaviour that they need to exhibit so that you don’t have to do battle every time you want to give them a brush.

Nails

Because of how big and playful they are, it’s good to trim your Airedale’s claws once a month. This will prevent you or anyone else from getting scratched when you’re playing with your Airedale; it also keeps them more comfortable.

To check if your Airedale needs their claws trimmed, listen to them as they walk; if you can hear the click of claws on ground, they’re probably too long.

Similarly to the brushing, Airedales might resist this treatment if they aren’t trained from a young age. Cutting a dog’s nails while they’re squirming is painful and difficult, so make sure to teach your Airedale to be accustomed to this.

Bathing Your Airedale

Within the purist Airedale community, bathing is a hotly contested issue. Some people maintain a strict ‘no bathing’ policy, as they believe that it’s what’s best for the Airedale’s coat. Other owners see this as excessive, and they wash their Airedale regularly.

Personally, I would recommend doing whatever is best for your lifestyle and preferences. If you believe in bathing your Airedale, giving them one every 8 weeks or so is a fairly normal way to do so. If you decide to not bathe your Airedale, make sure that you brush them more frequently, to make up for it.

Like everything else listed above (and everything about this dog breed), bathing your Airedale can be a chore. If you want a bit of a laugh, look at this video of an Airedale in full-on stubborn mode refusing to get in the bathtub!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCOyO6Z_3Rw

If you don’t want to have to go through the hassle of actually dunking them in water, the ‘hose down and clean with a sponge’ method works just fine (this is what I do, and I find that my Airedale submits to it a lot easier than when we try to get him into a bathtub).

When shampooing your Airedale, be sure to use a brand that’s designed for dog skin. Airedales are susceptible to allergic reactions, so using a gentler shampoo can help to prevent this. Some people like to follow up with a conditioner, although this isn’t mandatory.

If your dog gets dirty in-between their regular bath schedule, it’s completely fine to just give them a quick rinse to take care of a specific area that might be worse for wear. We constantly have to sponge Theo’s feet or his stomach after the dog park. Beards are another area that can pick up dirt and grime, so feel free to rinse that out on a more regular basis.

Haircuts

Even with a proper grooming and brushing schedule going, you should expect to have to trim your Airedale about four times a year. This prevents them from getting overgrown, which can cause your dog to overheat and get dirty. It also makes your brushing routine easier.

If you live in a warmer climate, consider giving your Airedale more frequent haircuts (say, 6-8 times per year). These dogs aren’t traditionally used to hot weather, and they can start to overheat very easily. Similarly, if you live in a colder climate, you can leave your Airedale’s hair longer during the winter months. If they do start to get overgrown, consider trimming them down less than you normally would, so they retain some insulation.

Although you can technically cut your Airedale however you want, there are four main styles that people tend to use for this breed:

Traditional Cut

A traditional Airedale haircut leaves their legs long while taking more off of their back and neck. For their face, the eyebrows and forehead are cut short, but the face and beard are often left longer.

Most Airedale owners follow this type of trim because, frankly, the dogs look a little ridiculous without it. More than once, we’ve got our Airedale back from a groomer who didn’t know what they were doing with an Airedale, and they look pretty funny. If their legs get taken too short it can give them a rat-like appearance, and if their beard gone short, they lose some of their good looks.

If you want to groom your Airedale in this style, check out the following guide on YouTube (I describe the steps in detail below, but I find that watching a video is much easier!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBYSZAQ5Sbw

To groom your Airedale in the traditional style, use the following steps:

1. Consider giving them a bath or a quick once-over with a brush beforehand. Bathing and brushing your Airedale beforehand can soften up their cut and remove any matts, which makes it easier to trim them. If you do so, make sure that their coat is completely dry before you start cutting it.
2. Use a #7 blade on your Airedales torso to achieve the ‘normal’ length (use a longer blade if it’s in the wintertime). Make sure to go with the grain of the hair, starting from just below their skull and working your way towards their tail.
3.  Using a #10 blade, trim the neck and muzzle of the Airedale, again moving backwards so that you blend the coat smoothly with the rest of their torso. Make sure to also trim from the Airedales chin down to their chest.
4. Comb your Airedale’s eyebrows so that they stand up straight. Then, using a pair of scissors, cut them to your preferred length (anywhere from 1-2 inches is considered normal).
5. Comb the beard straight down and repeat the process. 4-5 inches is normal for an Airedale’s beard; if you want to be fancy, trim the sides of the bear a little more to achieve a tapered look.
6. Using a #5 blade, trim the Airedale’s upper leg (down to the knee), blending it again with the torso. Use a shorter blade to trim the inside of the leg.
7. Comb through the lower legs of the Airedale to fluff it up, and then trim with scissors. Carefully trim around their feet and paws.

There you go! Your Airedale should be well groomed. Feel free to adjust the specific lengths listed depending on the time of year and your own personal preference.

Show Cut

A show cut is what you see in Airedales who are taken to competitions in which they’re judged on their appearance. It’s fairly similar to the standard cut listed above, with a few differences:

• The upper face is groomed more, while the beard and sides of the face are left longer
• The chin is trimmed shorter to accentuate the beard.
• The legs are left longer and fluffed up more
• The eyebrows are often left longer.

Whether or not you want to trim your Airedale this way is a matter of preference. Personally, I like this haircut less, although I know other owners who think it makes their Airedale look better.

The one issue with the show cut is that it takes for maintenance in terms of brushing, and it becomes a little more difficult to manage when your Airedale’s coat starts to grow out.

Puppy Cut

The ‘puppy cut’, although being a bit of a contentious issue within the dog grooming world, is a fairly standard trim that many people prefer. Essentially, the puppy cut is a cut in which all of the hair on your dog is trimmed to the same length.

A standard length for this cut is 1-2 inches. Because of its simplicity, many people will simply request a puppy cut when they go to the groomers.

Now, as I’ve mentioned before, I personally don’t like this dog groom for an Airedale, because it makes their legs look too skinny. However, if you decide that this is the way you want to go with your Airedale, it’s definitely something you can do (plus, it will keep them cool in warm months).

One tip before you go to your groomer and request a puppy cut: make sure to discuss with them first before you hand over your dog. Like I said, there are several different interpretations of this cut, so it’s impossible to know what your groomer is thinking until you have a conversation. If you say puppy cut, they might give you a traditional Airedale cut; similarly, if you tell them ‘puppy cut’ but you want a traditional cut, you might find your dog completely trimmed down.

‘Shaggy Boy’ Cut

Finally, if you live in a colder area or you just want to let your Airedale grow out, you can avoid trimming them down excessively.

Under this type of cut, which I refer to as the ‘shaggy boy’, you essentially cut your Airedale more frequently but at a lower blade number, which leaves more length in their coat. This keeps the Airedale’s wiry look, which some people tend to prefer.

If you go with this cut on your Airedale, I would recommend more regular brushing to prevent matting in their fur. You may also need to do more maintenance in terms of washing and shampooing, and be prepared for there to be a little more shedding from your Airedale.

If you want keep your Airedale’s hair longer, I would say you should trim them once every two months so that they don’t get too bushy. I would also say that this cut is maybe not the best to use if you live in a warmer climate, because it can lead to your dog overheated.

A good way to walk to line is to go with a shaggy boy cut throughout the cold months, and then to shave your Airedale down sometime during spring. They’ll maybe need one more trim throughout the summer, but by the time fall rolls around it’ll be cold, and you can go back to keeping their hair longer.

Are Airedales difficult to groom?

I’ve alluded a couple of times during this article that Airedales aren’t the easiest dog to groom. Because of their playfulness, they might not take kindly to being forced to stand still for half an hour or more while they get trimmed. Because of their stubbornness, when they decide they don’t want to do something, it’s almost impossible to get them to cooperate.

When trying to groom my Airedale Theo, I’ve had to put up with him growling, sulking, running away, or sometimes straight up just lying down and refusing to move because he doesn’t want to cooperate. This isn’t just frustrating for you; it can also be dangerous for the dog if they’re squirming around when you’re using scissors.

So, yes, Airedales can be difficult to groom. If you train them to behave well from a young age, they probably won’t give you as much trouble (although, as evidenced by my own personal experiences, this isn’t always as easy as it sounds).

Because of this, it’s sometimes easier and safer to pay someone else to groom your Airedale. Expert groomers will likely have more experience dealing with unruly dogs, and they’ll know how to do so in a manner that’s safe. Plus, they’ll likely do a better job, and it’s not super expensive; grooming an Airedale usually only costs $80 per session.

If you decide to go this route, make sure that you speak with the groomer beforehand so that everyone’s on the same page in terms of what type of cut you want your dog to get. Not everyone knows what looks best on an Airedale, and not everyone has the same idea of what a ‘puppy cut’ is.

How Long Does It Take to Groom an Airedale?

If you decide to groom your Airedale, it can be helpful to know how long it will take beforehand. I’ve broken down some common times below, although specific values will vary based on how cooperative your dog is and how experienced you are:

• Cutting your Airedales hair will take 2-4 hours, especially once you consider the pre-bath and cleanup afterwards.
• Brushing your Airedale should only take about 10 minutes if you do it frequently. If you do it irregularly or your dog is less well-behaved, expect to spend closer to half an hour.
• Bathing your Airedale can take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on how dirty they are and how much you need to fight with them.
• Cutting your Airedales claws will take about 5 minutes; if your Airedale squirms a lot, expect to have to spend significantly longer (think 20+ minutes).