Black Russian Terrier Grooming

About the Black Russian Terrier

Not really a terrier either, despite the name: the Black Russian Terrier was created by the Soviet military in the mid twentieth century from around seventeen breeds, with the Giant Schnauzer, Airedale, Rottweiler and Newfoundland doing most of the work, and it was built as a large military and guard dog.

The coat shows its ancestry. It is a double coat with a coarse, dense, slightly wavy and tousled outer layer over a soft undercoat, roughly two to four inches long, with a full beard and prominent eyebrows.

The nearest comparison is the Bouvier des Flandres, and the routine is much the same: line brushing every couple of days, a beard treated as a daily job of its own, and a trim every six to eight weeks.

The difference is size. This is a dog that can weigh a hundred and thirty pounds, and everything takes longer.

Brushing a coat this size

The outer coat is coarse and tousled and the undercoat is soft and dense, which is the combination that felts, and there is a great deal of it.

Line brush every two or three days: part the coat in a horizontal line, brush the hair below the parting down to the skin with a slicker, move the parting up an inch and repeat. Then rake the undercoat and prove the whole dog with a metal comb.

The comb is the only honest test. A tousled coat looks brushed within moments while remaining solid underneath, which is why Black Russians turn up at salons pelted with owners who genuinely believed they were keeping up.

Where it fails: the beard first, then behind and under the ears, the armpits, the chest between the front legs, the britches, around the tail and under any collar or harness.

Expect a proper session to take an hour on a full coat.

Comb out completely before any bath. Water tightens felt, so a matted dog that is bathed cannot then be saved with a brush and has to be clipped.

Trimming, clipping and the show outline

Black Russians are trimmed rather than left natural. The show trim shapes the coat to emphasize the outline, keeping the beard and eyebrows full, the body coat at a couple of inches, and the legs looking columnar.

Most of it is scissoring and thinning rather than clipper work, which keeps the coarse texture.

Clipping the body coat short is what many pet owners choose, and it is a reasonable trade at this size. The cost is the usual one: with an undercoat present, the coat comes back softer and denser, and a soft coat mats more readily than the coarse one it replaced. On a black coated dog it also goes duller and can take on a brownish cast.

What is not a good outcome is a coat that is neither trimmed nor maintained. At this size a pelted coat is a two hour shave down and a very uncomfortable dog.

Book on a fixed six to eight week cycle and treat it as non negotiable, because almost every serious coat problem in this breed starts with an interval that quietly stretched over a winter.

Give a groomer a length in numbers and say whether you want the beard and eyebrows kept full.

The beard, and a very large mouth

The beard on a dog this size holds a remarkable amount, and it is a daily job rather than a groom day one.

It goes into the water bowl at every drink and the food at every meal, and because the hair around the mouth is softer than the jacket, it soaks and holds. Left alone it sours, smells, stains and the skin under the chin becomes red and sore.

Comb it through daily, wipe and dry it after meals and drinks, and wash it far more often than you bathe the dog. Many owners rinse it daily.

A shallow wide bowl helps considerably; a deep narrow one submerges the whole beard at every drink.

Trimming the hair immediately around the mouth shorter reduces the problem a lot without changing the look, since the beard shape comes from the sides and the chin.

Black Russians also drool somewhat, particularly around food, which adds to it.

A beard that still smells after washing, or skin under the chin that is red or losing hair, is a skin infection and needs a veterinarian rather than more shampoo.

A guarding breed on a table

This dog was built to guard, it is naturally suspicious of strangers, and it is powerful enough that an adult which decides it has finished is finished.

That combination makes early handling more important here than almost anywhere. Groom at home constantly from puppyhood so standing, having feet held and hearing clippers are entirely ordinary, and get the dog used to being handled by other people too.

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

Ask for a quiet slot. A protective dog in a busy salon with other dogs moving around is being asked a lot.

Expect three hours or more for a full groom and premium pricing, and expect to book well ahead, since salons that can handle a hundred and thirty pound dog are fewer.

Nails are a two person job. Joints matter too: this is a heavy breed prone to hip and elbow problems, so ask for a non slip surface and breaks.

What to tell your groomer

Give a body length in numbers and say whether the beard and eyebrows stay full.

Ask for line brushing and an undercoat rake with a comb check, not a surface brush.

Say the dog must be combed out fully before the bath and never bathed while matted.

Ask for the beard washed and dried and the hair right around the mouth kept short.

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

Ask for a non slip surface and breaks, and expect nails to need two people.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Black Russian Terrier