Tibetan Spaniel Grooming

About the Tibetan Spaniel

The Tibetan monastery breeds make the same point the Belgians do, from the opposite direction: one place, one purpose, four completely different coats.

The Lhasa Apso carries a long heavy floor length coat. The Tibetan Mastiff carries an enormous double coat that blows once a year. The Tibetan Terrier carries a long double coat over snowshoe feet.

The Tibetan Spaniel carries the lightest of the four: a silky, flat lying double coat of moderate length, with a pronounced mane around the neck and shoulders, feathering on the ears, the backs of the legs and the tail, and a short smooth face.

It needs brushing every few days and no haircut at all, which makes it one of the easier coated small dogs here.

A lot less work than it looks

The coat is silky and lies flat rather than standing off, and it is only moderate in length, so a Tibetan Spaniel looks like considerably more grooming than it is.

Brush every two or three days with a pin brush and comb the feathering through. Twenty minutes a week keeps it.

The mane is the heaviest part, more pronounced on males, and it is where a collar sits, so check underneath weekly.

The other failure points are behind and under the ears, the armpits, the britches and the feathering on the backs of the legs.

There is an undercoat, so it does mat if neglected, but the outer coat is not long enough to felt the way a Lhasa or a Tibetan Terrier does.

Bathe every eight weeks or so and brush while drying so the coat dries flat.

There is no haircut. A Tibetan Spaniel is shown and kept in a natural coat, and trimming is limited to the hair between the pads and the sanitary area, plus tidying the feet.

The face, and the eyes

The face is short and smooth with a slightly undershot jaw, and the muzzle is short without being flat: a Tibetan Spaniel is mildly brachycephalic rather than severely so.

That means the cautions apply in a lighter form than for a Pug or a Pekingese. Keep sessions cool and unhurried, avoid a cage dryer, and stop if the breathing becomes noisy or effortful.

The eyes are dark, oval and moderately prominent, set in a face with little bone in front of them, so nothing is sprayed toward the face and the eyes are wiped outward with a damp cloth.

The breed has inherited eye conditions including a retinal degeneration, and a dog hesitating in dim light needs an eye examination rather than a wipe.

Keep the hair around the eyes clear of the surface.

Ears are drop ears with feathering, so lift them weekly, look and smell, and keep the hair around the opening trimmed.

The ear feathering mats where it meets the head and pulls on the ear when it does.

The four Tibetans, side by side

Worth setting out, because they are related, they came from the same monasteries, and the grooming has almost nothing in common.

Lhasa Apso: a long, heavy, hard floor length coat over an undercoat. Daily line brushing in full coat, or a puppy trim, and it is one of the highest maintenance small dogs here.

Tibetan Terrier: a long profuse double coat with a brutal coat change at a year, plus flat snowshoe feet that must not be shaved between the toes.

Tibetan Mastiff: an enormous double coat that blows its entire undercoat once a year rather than twice, and sheds very little in between.

Tibetan Spaniel: a moderate silky double coat with a mane, brushed every few days, never cut.

Four breeds from one place, and the only useful question about any of them is what the coat is doing. That is the argument this whole site rests on.

Shedding, and a small independent dog

Tibetan Spaniels shed moderately year round with a heavier seasonal change, when the undercoat lifts over a few weeks. Brush daily through it.

Females often drop a noticeable amount of coat after a season, which regrows, and it alarms owners who have not seen it.

Do not clip the body coat. There is an undercoat, so a clipped coat can come back softer and denser, and there is no reason to on a coat this manageable.

Teeth matter as they do on every small breed, and this one has a slightly undershot jaw with crowding, so brush daily.

Luxating patellas turn up, so a dog that skips a step and carries on needs assessing.

Nails every three to four weeks.

Temperament is more cat-like than spaniel-like: independent, watchful, and inclined to sit somewhere high and observe. They were monastery watchdogs rather than gundogs, and the name is misleading in the same way the Tibetan Terrier's is.

Handling is easy if started young and is resisted if introduced late.

What to tell your groomer

Say there is no haircut: a natural coat, brushed and tidied only.

Ask for pads cleared, feet tidied and the sanitary area trimmed, and nothing else cut.

Point out the mane, under the collar, and behind the ears as where it mats.

Say the dog is mildly brachycephalic, so no cage dryer and cool unhurried sessions.

Ask for the hair around the eyes kept clear and nothing sprayed at the face.

Ask for the ears checked and the ear feathering combed where it meets the head.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Tibetan Spaniel