Beauceron Grooming

About the Beauceron

The Briard page carries one of the site's better could-not-guess facts: two dewclaws on each hind leg, required by the standard, never touching the ground, and growing into the leg if nobody trims them because they are hidden under a long coat.

The Beauceron is the other French herding breed with exactly the same requirement, and it makes a useful pair, because the coat could not be more different.

Where a Briard carries a long goat textured coat that mats badly and hides everything, a Beauceron carries a short, dense, close lying coat about half an inch long that needs a curry mitt once a week and nothing cut.

Same anatomical fact, opposite coat. On this dog you can see the dewclaws, which means the only excuse for missing them is not knowing they are there.

The double dewclaws

Every Beauceron carries two dewclaws on each hind leg, low down near the foot. They are required by the breed standard, a Beauceron without them cannot be shown, and they are not removed.

They matter because hind dewclaws never contact the ground and therefore never wear down. Left untrimmed they keep growing in a curve until the tip grows into the skin of the leg, which is painful and becomes infected.

Check all four every time you do the nails, every three to four weeks. On this coat you can see them, which is the whole advantage over the Briard.

The second dewclaw on each leg is often loosely attached and moves, which makes it easy to catch on undergrowth, bedding or a crate door. A torn dewclaw bleeds a great deal and needs a veterinarian.

Say it at the first appointment. Plenty of groomers have never met a breed with double hind dewclaws and will trim four nails per foot and stop.

It is worth telling a vet too, since a nail trim under sedation can miss them just as easily.

A ten minute coat with a real shed

The body coat is short, dense and coarse, lying close, about half an inch long, with slightly longer fringing on the underside of the tail and the backs of the thighs. Underneath is a short downy undercoat that thickens in winter.

Go over the dog once a week with a rubber curry mitt or a hound glove, working against the lie and then with it. That lifts the dead hair and spreads the skin oils.

Twice a year the undercoat blows over several weeks, and the volume from a dog this size surprises people who chose a short coated breed to avoid hair. Rake daily through it, and a bath with a high velocity blow out at the start makes a real difference.

Bathe every ten weeks or so otherwise. There is nothing between the shampoo and the skin on a coat this short, so use something plain.

Matting is genuinely a low risk and nothing is ever cut.

Do not clip. It is a double coat with the usual consequences, and there is no reason to on a coat this short.

A powerful working dog on a table

Beaucerons are large, powerful, intelligent herding dogs bred to move cattle, and they are slow to mature, taking up to three years. Adolescents are big, strong and opinionated.

They are also naturally reserved with strangers and protective, which is the temperament the breed was selected for rather than a fault.

That combination means handling has to be established in puppyhood. Groom at home constantly so standing, feet held, ears looked at and clippers running are entirely ordinary, and get the dog used to being handled by other people too.

Choose a groomer who has worked with large working breeds, ask them to meet the dog first, and be honest about temperament at booking.

Ask for a non slip surface and breaks. This is a heavy breed with real rates of hip and elbow dysplasia.

Deep chested, so bloat is a risk: no large meal around an appointment, and unproductive retching with a swollen abdomen is an emergency.

Nails are a two person job at this size, and there are eight more of them than usual on the back legs.

The weekly check, and what a short coat gives you

With a coat that needs ten minutes and nothing cut, the weekly session is really an examination, and a short coat is an advantage: it hides nothing.

Run your hands over the whole dog, down each limb, over the ribs and spine, around the shoulders and hips.

Check the elbows and hocks for calluses, since a heavy dog on hard floors develops them and they crack and get infected. Soft bedding is the fix.

Feel for ribs to judge weight rather than looking, because weight is hard on large joints and a muscular dog carries condition deceptively.

Ears may be cropped or natural depending on country, and cropping is now banned or restricted in much of the world. A natural Beauceron ear is a drop ear needing the ordinary weekly lift, look and smell.

Check the feet and between the toes after work, since this is an outdoor breed.

And check the dewclaws, which is the point of the page.

What to tell your groomer

Say there are two dewclaws on each back leg and ask for all of them trimmed, because plenty of groomers have never seen a breed with them.

Ask for a bath, a curry, nails, ears and a skin check. There is no haircut on this breed.

Ask for a deshedding groom during the two seasonal blows, with a rake and a high velocity dry.

Say the coat is never clipped.

Say how the dog is with strangers, and ask for a meeting first and a quiet slot if needed.

Ask for a non slip surface and breaks, and say not to feed the dog around the appointment.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Beauceron