Pomeranian Grooming
A northern double coat on a five pound dog, and the breed shave downs ruin most often
About the Pomeranian
A Pomeranian is a spitz: a northern breed shrunk down to five pounds, carrying the same architecture as a Samoyed or a Husky. A dense woolly undercoat, a long harsh guard coat standing away from the body, an enormous ruff and a plumed tail carried over the back.
It looks like a fluffy toy dog and it is a working northern coat, and confusing those two things is how Pomeranians get ruined. This is the breed most associated with post clipping alopecia, where the guard coat never returns properly after a shave down and the dog is left patchy and woolly for the rest of its life.
Nothing about maintaining one is difficult. The single most important thing an owner can know is what not to ask for.
The Pomeranian has a double coat that regulates its own temperature. Shaving it does not keep the animal cooler, removes the protection against sun and insects, and the top coat often grows back patchy or never returns correctly. A thorough deshed takes out the undercoat and does the job the owner was actually asking for.
Never shave a Pomeranian, and this is why
The reasoning behind a summer shave down is easy to follow and wrong at every step, and on this breed the consequences are the most severe of any.
A clipper cannot tell the two layers apart. It removes the long guard hairs completely while leaving most of the dense undercoat sitting against the skin, so the insulation stays and the sun protection goes. The dog is not cooler; it is less protected.
Then the part specific to spitz breeds. The guard hairs grow from a different follicle cycle to the undercoat, and on Pomeranians they very often do not come back on schedule after a close clip. The faster growing undercoat fills the space first, and what you are left with is patchy, woolly, a different color, and prone to matting in a way the original coat never was. Groomers and veterinarians call it post clipping alopecia or alopecia X, and there is no reliable way to reverse it.
It happens often enough in this breed that many groomers simply will not shave a Pomeranian, and will tell you so. That is not obstruction; it is a refusal worth being grateful for.
A medical clip for surgery or a coat matted past saving is a different decision made for a different reason, and a good groomer will tell you which one you are making.
What to ask for instead
There is a real answer and it gets you almost everything a shave down promised.
Ask for a bath, a full deshed and a blow out. On a coat this dense, removing the dead undercoat takes out a genuinely surprising amount of bulk and warmth, and the coat that comes back is thinner, cooler and lying flat.
Then the tidying, which is where a Pomeranian trim actually lives. The classic pet trim is a light all over tidy that follows the outline of the coat and rounds it, sometimes called a teddy bear or a fox trim, taking a little length off the guard coat without going near the skin. Done properly it never gets close to the undercoat and carries none of the shave down risk.
Feet and pads cleared, which improves grip and is worth doing. Sanitary trim. Tidy the fringe on the ears and even the plume on the tail.
Ask specifically for the coat not to be taken below the guard hairs, and any groomer who knows the breed will already be working that way.
The coat problems a Pomeranian actually gets
Matting, and it is all undercoat and all hidden. The coat stands away from the body so the surface looks immaculate while the layer against the skin felts. Behind and under the ears first, then the ruff at the chest, then the armpits, then the trousers and the base of the tail.
Check by pushing the coat backward against the lie and looking at the skin, not by running a brush over the top. A slicker glides over a felted undercoat effortlessly.
The puppy uglies are the second thing and they are normal. Somewhere between four and ten months a Pomeranian loses much of its puppy coat before the adult guard coat arrives, and for a few months the dog looks thin, patchy and frankly scruffy. It is a developmental stage, not a health problem or a grooming failure, and it resolves on its own.
Then the seasonal blow, twice a year, which on a coat this dense produces a remarkable volume for a dog this size.
And the teeth, which is not a coat issue but belongs on any Pomeranian page: dental disease is very common in the breed and a groomer will often notice it before an owner does.
What moves the price
Not the size. A Pomeranian is quick to bathe and slow to finish, like everything else in the toy group.
Drying is the surprise: a dense standing double coat on a small dog still takes real time to blow out properly, and it has to be blown out or the coat will not sit right and the undercoat will not come free.
Coat condition second. Felted undercoat has to be worked out carefully, and on a five pound dog with thin skin that is slow, careful work rather than something to be rushed.
Then the tidying, which is scissor work.
Handling is the last one and it is real: toy breeds carry patellar luxation and collapsing trachea, and a groomer working correctly around both takes longer than one who is not.
What to tell your groomer
Say you do not want the coat taken below the guard hairs, in those words. It is the one instruction that matters most on this breed and it tells a groomer immediately that you know what you have.
If the dog is struggling in the heat, say that rather than asking for a shave, and let them solve it with a deshed and a belly trim.
Ask for a light tidy and a deshed rather than naming a style, or bring a photograph. Fox trim, teddy bear and lion cut all mean different things in different salons, and one of them means shaving the body.
Mention any luxating patella or history of a honking cough, because both change how the dog is handled and lifted.
And use a harness. Collapsing trachea is common in the breed and pressure at the throat aggravates it.
Keeping the coat between grooms
Comb to the skin, do not brush the surface
A slicker glides over a standing coat while the undercoat felts underneath. Behind the ears, the ruff, the armpits and the trousers.
Every two or three days
Never ask for a shave down
This is the breed where the guard coat most often fails to return. Ask for a deshed and a light tidy instead.
Always
Lift, and use a harness
Patellar luxation and collapsing trachea are both common. No jumping off furniture, and no pressure at the throat.
Every time
Look at the teeth
Dental disease is very common in the breed and it is often a groomer who spots it first.
Monthly
Common Questions About the Pomeranian
Can I shave my Pomeranian in summer?
No, and this is the breed where it goes wrong most often. Clipping removes the guard hairs that block heat and sun while leaving the insulating undercoat, so the dog is hotter and less protected. Worse, the guard coat frequently does not grow back properly on spitz breeds, leaving a patchy woolly coat permanently. Many groomers refuse outright. Ask for a bath, a full deshed and a blow out instead, which removes far more warmth.
My Pomeranian puppy looks thin and patchy. Is something wrong?
Almost certainly not. Between about four and ten months Pomeranians drop much of their puppy coat before the adult guard coat comes in, and for a few months they look scrawny and uneven. Groomers call it the puppy uglies. It is a developmental stage and it resolves on its own. Keep brushing normally through it, and if the coat is also flaky, itchy or bald in defined patches, have it checked.
How do I stop my Pomeranian matting behind the ears?
Comb rather than brush, and go to the skin. The coat stands away from the body so a slicker glides over the top while the undercoat felts underneath, and behind the ears is always where it starts because the hair is finer and the ear moves constantly. A metal comb through that area two or three times a week takes a minute and prevents nearly all of it. Check the chest ruff and armpits at the same time.
Similar breeds
Same coat, same schedule, or the breeds this one is crossed from.
Golden Retriever
A coat that needs deshedding rather than cutting, and must never be shaved
Golden Retriever
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