Part 6

BACK, NECK, AND SIDES

Now blend the hair using the rolling technique from the thighs up onto the back to just a couple of inches in front of the tail. Lift up a section of coat between left thumb and forefinger and pluck out the long or loose strands. Use this sectioning method for the entire coat. Often the hair on the dog's back just in front of the tail will be thicker than elsewhere on the body and needs to be pulled more heavily to keep the topline level. When you have finished with the thighs and the back section in front of the tail, move to the top of the neck and groom back towards the tail. In order to have the pretty sloping neck, keep the hair at the top of the neck a little shorter, graduating to longer hair at the base of the neck so that the tips of the longest hair just reach past the withers. This gives a smooth and unbroken line to the neck and improves the look of shoulder layback. Pull more coat on the back of the dog than on the sides, blending the coat down to the side furnishings going from shoulder to loin where you meet the area already groomed. Then go back to the neck and pull the front and sides of it to blend in with the rest of the dog. If you pull slightly more hair on the front of the neck just under the jaw to about one-third or one-half of the way down the chest in a "V" shape, you will add the illusion of length to the neck. Whatever you do, do not pull so much that your dog looks like a Westie. Coat lengths should be a minimum of 2 inches overall on the neck, back, and sides.

TAIL

The tail should be rolled along with the rest of the coat to continue building it. It should look like an inverted carrot, not a stovepipe. Usually hair is kept longer on the front side of the tail, especially if it has a slight curve, and a bit shorter on the back. Feathering is not acceptable. The tail should have a broad base and should gradually narrow to the pointed tip. Hand plucking or using a stripping knife will give the best finish. Some groomers use thinning shears on the very tip if they do not have the skill with the stripping knife that is required to do the job.

HEAD

A Cairn's head is the most difficult area to groom. Of course, it is also one of the most important since the Cairn Terrier expression is so important to breed type. The first thing to do is to picture the shape of the head as a rough circle when faced head-on. Brush the hair upward and forward, then stand back to see what hair falls outside of your imaginary circle. Pull this hair out. This will mainly consist of the hair on the very top of the head between the ears and down the back side of the head behind the jaw and then on the underside of the jaw. Many people will leave too much hair clumped just behind the hinge of the jaw or the mandibular joint. Make sure this area is cleaned out of enough hair to keep the head looking round when viewed from the front. Sometimes it helps to blow gently into your dog's ears to get him/her to shake his head. There is no better way to see how his/her head coat will look in the ring where he/she is sure to shake out your careful combing the minute the judge looks his way.

Next, comb the hair on top of the head down over the eyes and picture a visor protecting them from the sun. This visor should extend almost to the nose in the center. Pull out any hair extending beyond the edge of the imaginary visor from ear to ear. Now brush everything up and forward again and pretend you are shaping a pom-pom with the hair from the visor to the top of the head. In order to increase the perception of more stop, even if there is plenty there, pull a small amount of coat very short between the eyes at the stop. It will grow out shorter than the visor hair, giving the look of an excellent stop underneath shaggy brows.

If you have not done so already, shorten the hair under the lower jaw to match the circle you have already formed around the head. Then brush the hair on the muzzle forward and circle the jaw with your left hand (if you are right handed). Brush the hair straight out so that it stands at a 90-degree angle from tits roots and again picture the inevitable circle around the muzzle and pull out any hair sticking out of those boundaries. Comb the hair down and view the jaw line from the side. You want to see the bottom line of the jaw fairly level almost all the way to the beginning of the neck. Pull out any hair hanging down too far.

To finish off the top of the muzzle, firmly holding the hair on the bottom of the muzzle, comb the hair on the top in a " snowplow" direction back toward the eyes. There will be a part down the center of the muzzle to the nose and some hair will probably cover the eyes as you comb it back. Pull out that eye covering hair. This will give your dog the bright-eyed look you want without taking too much hair off the top of the muzzle.

Brush the head forward and upward again, pulling out any hair on the cheeks or elsewhere that does not look as if it fits in with the picture. It takes time to develop an eye for this.

If it is possible, have someone who really knows how to groom do one side while you observe, then you do the other to match.

EARS

Keep the top one-third of the ears pulled down to velvet or undercoat and graduate the length of the rest of the ear hair to correspond with the circle you have groomed around the head. It is preferred to hand strip the ears instead of using scissors, although this is one place that you can sharpen the outline with the scissors if necessary.

Always keep in mind that you are grooming a Cairn, not a Westie. Never use scissors or thinning shears on the head, neck, body, or legs of your dog. The only exceptions are the tip of the ears, tip of the tail, around the foot pads, and around the anus. The underline should be kept up with a stripping knife if it is touched at all.

The end result of all of this work is a Cairn Terrier who looks properly scruffy but tidy, who has a minimum of three layers to his/her coat, and who will be able to compete with any other dog in the ring as far as correct grooming is concerned. Resist the urge to take shortcuts such as scissoring. The scissor marks are obvious to an experienced eye and will eventually destroy the hard texture of the coat as the healthy ends are cut off. If you work on your dog a minimum of once every week, you will spend only 20 minutes to an hour each time and will have a coated terrier you will be proud to take into any show ring.

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