Wirehaired Pointing Griffon Grooming

About the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon

A versatile Dutch gundog with the same coat proposition as the Spinone and the German Wirehaired Pointer: harsh, straight and wiry, lying flat, about an inch and a half to two inches long, with prominent eyebrows and a full beard.

There is a fine dense undercoat in winter that thins out in summer, which is worth knowing because it changes how much there is to rake.

The coat should look somewhat unkempt, and that is deliberate. It is a working jacket meant to shed thorns and cold water, not a groomed outline, and a Griff scissored into neatness looks wrong and loses texture.

Like every harsh coat here it is plucked rather than clipped. That is the whole decision, and this breed is one of the easier ones on which to make it.

Plucking, and leaving it rough

The jacket carries dead hair that stays in the follicle rather than dropping, and plucking pulls it out at the root. On this breed it is a light job: going over the dog by hand two or three times a year and taking whatever has loosened.

The test is the same everywhere. A dead hair comes away easily between finger and thumb; a live one resists and should be left.

Brush weekly with a slicker or stiff bristle brush and comb the furnishings and beard. Rake the undercoat in spring when the winter coat thins.

Do not clip. Cutting the harsh hair off leaves the root, the coat comes back softer and thinner, and it loses the thorn and water resistance the breed works in. On a straight harsh coat it also grows back unevenly.

Do not scissor it into an outline either. The correct look is somewhat rough and natural, and a groomer neatening it is doing the wrong job, exactly as on the Laekenois.

Trimming is functional: pads, sanitary area, and tidying the hair around the ear openings.

Bathe every ten weeks or so, since over-bathing softens a harsh coat.

The beard and eyebrows

The furnishings are softer than the jacket and are where the work is.

The beard goes into the water bowl at every drink and the food at every meal, and being soft it soaks and holds. Comb it daily, wipe and dry after meals, and wash it more often than the rest of the dog. A shallow wide bowl helps.

The eyebrows are prominent and tousled and are part of the breed's expression, so they are tidied rather than removed. Hair resting on the eye surface should be kept clear, since it irritates and eventually scars.

The leg furnishings and the hair on the chest are softer too and will mat if the dog works in cover and comes home wet. Comb them weekly and dry the legs after wet walks.

Keep the hair between the pads cleared, since a working gundog collects grit and forms mats there.

A beard that smells after washing, or skin under the chin that is red or losing hair, is a skin infection needing a veterinarian.

A working gundog, and the after walk check

Griffs are close working, biddable versatile hunting dogs that point, retrieve and work water, and many are genuinely used rather than kept as pets.

That makes the after walk check as much a part of the routine as the brushing.

Ears are moderately long drop ears, low set and covered in coat, on a dog that swims. Lift weekly, look and smell, keep the hair around the opening trimmed, and dry them after every swim and bath.

Feet want checking after cover, since a furnished foot collects grass seeds that burrow between the toes and abscess.

Check the skin over the whole dog for thorn scratches, ticks and burrs, which a harsh flat coat hides better than you would expect.

Nails every three to four weeks.

Deep chested, so bloat is a risk: no large meal around an appointment.

They are sensitive and biddable rather than hard, so calm handling works better than firmness, and a rushed first appointment costs cooperation later.

Telling the wirehaired gundogs apart

Several harsh coated pointing breeds look similar and are groomed nearly identically, which is worth saying plainly since the advice transfers.

The German Wirehaired Pointer is larger and racier, with a harsher, flatter jacket and a more clearly defined outline.

The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is somewhat smaller and shaggier, with a softer looking, more tousled appearance and heavier eyebrows.

The Spinone is bigger and heavier boned with an even larger beard and no undercoat at all.

All three are plucked rather than clipped, all three have a beard that needs daily attention, and all three should look rough rather than sculpted.

The practical difference is only how much undercoat there is to rake, which is most in the German Wirehaired Pointer and none in the Spinone.

If a groomer knows one of the three, they know enough for the others.

What to tell your groomer

Say the coat is harsh and plucked, never clipped, and that clipping softens it permanently.

Say it is meant to look rough and should not be scissored into an outline.

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

Ask for the eyebrows tidied but kept, and clear of the eye surface.

Ask for the ear openings clear and the ears dried and checked.

Ask them to check the feet and skin for grass seeds and thorn scratches, and say not to feed the dog around the appointment.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Wirehaired Pointing Griffon