Irish Wolfhound Grooming

About the Irish Wolfhound

The tallest dog breed there is, and one of the more straightforward coats there is, which is not the same as saying it is an easy dog to groom.

The coat is rough and harsh: wiry, dry, medium length, longer and more wiry over the eyes and under the jaw where it forms the eyebrows and beard the breed is known for. There is a soft undercoat underneath but it is nothing like a Husky's.

The rule is the one every harsh coat follows. It is raked and hand stripped, not clipped. Clipping a wiry coat cuts the dead hair off rather than removing it at the root, and the coat comes back softer, paler and less weatherproof each time.

The real work with this breed is not the coat. It is that everything is happening thirty five inches off the ground on a dog that may weigh more than the person handling it.

Raking, stripping and leaving it alone

Weekly is enough for most of the year. Go through the coat with a slicker or a pin brush and then a wide toothed comb, and use a rake to pull the dead undercoat when it is shedding.

Matting is a moderate risk rather than a severe one. The coat is not long enough or dense enough to pelt the way a Briard does, and where it does tangle is predictable: behind and under the ears, the beard, the armpits, the britches and the feathering on the tail.

Twice a year or so the dead outer coat needs stripping out, either by hand or with a stripping knife used as a grip. On a dog this size that is a long session, and plenty of owners learn to do it themselves in stages across a fortnight rather than paying for it in one go.

A stripped Wolfhound looks distinctly tidier and the harsh texture stays. An unstripped one carries dead hair that dulls the coat and eventually mats.

Do not clip. Beyond softening the coat permanently, a clipped Wolfhound loses the weatherproofing that a rough coated sighthound with very little body fat genuinely relies on.

Trimming for function is fine: the pads, the sanitary area, and tidying the feathering where it drags.

The eyebrows, the beard and the eyes

The furnishings over the eyes and under the jaw are characteristic and they are also the parts that cause trouble.

The eyebrows grow long and can fall onto the eye surface. The breed sees through them and there is no need to remove them, but hair actually resting on the cornea irritates it, so ask for them kept clear of the eye rather than cut off.

The beard is a beard like any other: it goes into the water bowl at every drink and the food at every meal, and on a harsh dry coat it holds what it collects. Comb it daily, wipe and dry it after meals, and wash it more often than the rest of the dog. A shallow wide bowl helps.

Wolfhounds are prone to a few eye conditions and their eyes sit fairly deep, so any squinting, discharge or rubbing is worth a veterinary look rather than more wiping.

Ears are small rose ears carried folded back, which is a better shape than a full drop ear, but still worth a weekly lift, look and smell.

Nails need doing every three to four weeks. This is a heavy dog and overgrown nails change how it stands, which matters more on a giant frame than on a small one.

Handling a dog this tall

Most of the difficulty in grooming an Irish Wolfhound is logistics rather than coat.

A standing Wolfhound's back is at the chest height of many adults, and a grooming table designed for a Labrador is unusable. Many groomers work on the floor with these dogs, or use a low platform, and mobile groomers with a suitable van are often the practical answer. Ask before booking.

They are famously gentle and they are also perfectly capable of leaning their entire weight on somebody without meaning anything by it, so handling has to be trained rather than negotiated. Teach a Wolfhound puppy to stand, to have its feet held, to be brushed on its side, and to accept a nail clipper, because a hundred and sixty pound dog that objects at three years old is not going to be persuaded.

Joints matter. Standing on a hard surface for a long appointment is tiring, and this breed is prone to hip and elbow trouble as well as bone cancer. Ask for a non slip mat, breaks, and as much work as possible done with the dog lying down.

Wolfhounds are also prone to bloat, which is a life threatening twisting of the stomach. Do not feed a large meal immediately before or after an appointment, and know that a dog trying unsuccessfully to vomit with a swollen abdomen is an emergency.

The short life, and what grooming is really for

An Irish Wolfhound lives six to eight years, which is very short even for a giant breed, and it changes what the weekly routine is worth.

A dog with a short life and a high rate of bone cancer and heart disease benefits enormously from being handled all over every week by somebody who would notice a change. The brushing session is a physical examination that happens to remove hair.

Feel down each leg, over the ribs and along the spine. Bone cancer in this breed most often appears in a limb, and a new firm swelling on a leg, or a sudden lameness that does not resolve, needs a veterinarian quickly rather than rest and a wait.

Watch the weight, which is hard to judge under a rough coat, so feel for ribs rather than looking.

Older Wolfhounds tire fast and are often unsteady on smooth floors, so appointments should get shorter and gentler with age rather than staying the same.

None of this is grim. It is the honest reason the weekly ten minutes is worth more on this breed than on almost any other here.

What to tell your groomer

Confirm before booking that they can physically handle a dog this tall, and ask whether they work on the floor or on a low platform.

Say the coat is raked and hand stripped, never clipped.

Ask for the eyebrows kept clear of the eye surface rather than removed, and the beard washed and dried.

Ask for a non slip surface, breaks and as much done lying down as possible, and mention any joint trouble.

Say not to feed the dog around the appointment, because of bloat risk.

Ask them to tell you about any new lump or swelling on a limb, since that is what matters most in this breed.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Irish Wolfhound