The first step to grooming, is to begin with a "Clean" peke, this can be accomplised by either "bathing" or "dry cleaning" your peke. If they are dirty, of course they should be bathed with a good "dog shampoo", never use "people shampoo" as it is not chemically balanced for dogs.

After thoroughly rinsing out all the shampoo, fill one sink with water and a little conditioner, mix, then set your Peke in this water, and work all through the coat. Drain sink and towel dry him, taking off excess water. Then using a blow dryer, set on warm, dry your peke thoroughly.

Or you may want to "dry clean " him. You can do this by standing him on a table and lightly spray all of his coat with a spray bottle of rain water, then sprinkle baby powder through out his coat. (if you have allergies to baby powder you may substitute with corn starch). With your fingers work powder through the coat, then set him outside to shake. Return him to the table and begin your grooming.

There are 3 factors that contribute to a good peke coat, one is "genetic", hopefully the parents of your dog passed on their genes that make up a good coat.

The second factor is "condition", you have all heard the old saying "you are what you eat" you must feed your dog the highest quality food to maintain a healthy coat. The quality of your coat begins with fresh air, sunshine, and adequate exercise , and impeccable grooming.

The third factor is "climate and grooming", where you live and the weather, play a very important role in the condition of your dogs coat.

So the 3 main factors of a good coat can be summed up like this "you breed for it, you feed for it, and you take care of it!!"

When grooming your peke remember you are brushing to "separate" the hairs, not destroy them. Frequent brushing keeps the coat clean and the tangles out of the beautiful furnishings.

NEVER brush a dry coat. Each layer should be misted lightly with water. Dampening the coat increases the elasticity of the hair and prevents breakage.

1.Brush coat up from sides to emphasize appearance of wide, heavy front.

2. Comb hair from underneath ears forward toward face.

3. Brush hair on top-skull back, giving flat, square look and avoiding domeed look or roundness of skull. Comb ear fringes forward to give feathery effect.

4. With brush, part hair of tail in middle, letting feathering fall to either side of body to emphasize shortness of back.

5. Use comb freely on feathering, ear fringes, tail, etc.

6. Use brush on body and undercoat.

FACE & EARS

With your peke sitting on the table, facing you, begin with his face. The face and eyes need daily attention. The stop and wrinkle can be wiped dry with a cotton ball or tissue, or washed with a cotton ball moistened with plain water.

The large eyes tend to collect debris and must be cleaned with a damp cotton ball, wipe the corners of the eyes to remove any debris.

Next check the ears, they should be clean at all times. If they appear a little dirty, moisten a cotton ball with Oti-clense (or other ear cleanser product), and wipe out the ear. Dry with a clean dry cotton ball.

And don't forget to check their teeth, if tarter has built up, it will cause your peke to have bad breath. Once a week, wrap a piece of gauze around your finger, spread a little "dog tooth paste" on the gauze and rub your dogs teeth. This will clean his teeth and keep his breath fresh. If there is a large deposit of tarter on the teeth get your vet to scrape it away with a tooth scaler.

FEET

Next you will lay your peke down on his side to groom his feet. First check the toenails, and if they need clipping, snip off the tips of the nails, (making sure not to cut the quick.) Long nails can be painful and cause your Peke to limp. Scissor all the hair away from between the pads of his feet. The hair between the toes will tend to matt and this can also be painful. Check the toe fringe, and using your comb, gently comb it out.

UNDERSIDE

If the hair on the belly of your male is dirty and smelly, use a damp wash cloth to wipe all the dirt away, sprinkle a little baby powder on the damp hair and brush till dry. You can also scissor the hair on your males in a V shape, from the end of the sheath up to his belly button. this helps to keep them cleaner and cuts down on the risk of sheath infection.

BODY COAT

Now mist the coat lightly with water, and starting with your dog laying on his back, brush the bib under the chin, work from ear to ear brushing layer by layer, towards his face. Work down to the last rib this way, brushing the coat forward. Holding his leg up, brush the leg fringes in layers from elbow to ankle, brushing down towards the body. Mist each layer as you brush.

Brush the skirts straight out in layers starting under the tail and layer brushing to the hock.

Brush the short cheek hair towards the face. While the dog is lying on his side Brush the underside of the ear first, across the head or neck. The ear fringe is softer, silkier texture than the body coat and therefore mats easily. Ear fringe should be brushed every day.Treat those long ear fringes with TLC or you won't have any left.

Now with your peke laying on his belly, brush the coat from the back of the skull to the last rib, up and forward, layer by layer, working from one side to the other across the dog. Be sure to brush right down to the skin, not just the tips of the hair. From the last rib back , the hair should be brushed down with a slight part where the tail lays over the back.

Brush the underside of the tail first, then part the tail over the dogs back and brush in long sweeping, straight, strokes.

You will end up with a dog that looks and smells great.

Your Pekingese goes through 3 different coat changes, and the grooming will be harder or easier with each kind.

1. Puppy Coat - from birth up to 6-10 months. This coat is very fuzzy and fluffy, and can be very thick, and sometimes soft. This is probably the hardest coat to groom, because it can be so dense, fuzzy and tends to "Tat" very easily.

2. Teenagers Coat- 10 months to 2 years old, around the ten months age your puppy will start to "blow" (shed) his fuzzy puppy coat, it varies, some will blow almost all it's coat in a very short time or it will blow slowly, as soon as your peke starts to blow coat, do not bath him till the blow is finished, otherwise he could matt up like a sheep. Once you can no longer get any coat out with your brush, it is now safe to bath him. The coat that is left after a blow is now going to be adult hair and will be much easier to groom and keep. The thick fuzzy coat will have gone, some pekes look just about bald after a blow but as time goes by, the undercoat will start coming in and your peke will look a lot better.

3.Adult Coat- Around 2 years of age his coat will have nice fringes and this coat will be the coat he will always have, the under coat of course will come out during the seasonal blows which will be in the spring, (when he sheds his winter coat, usually just the soft undercoat) and his fall blow, when he starts to grow his thick winter coat.

A female blows her undercoat every time she comes into heat.

There is usually very little shedding in between the seasonal blows, if you have faithfully groomed regularly and have your Peke on a well balanced diet, and providing plenty of free time out in the sun and fresh air.

How often have you been asked to enlighten someone as to the exactcoloring or shading of your peke? Have you ever been somewhat at a loss trying to determine what the mature coloring of a young puppy will be? It can be tricky and oftentimes downright deceiving, especially for the novice breeder.

Often a young puppy which for the first 6-8 weeks of life appears to be almost black or very dark in color, will mature into a light fawn or red.

Any color is allowable, but the least undesirable is the chocolate or liver colored, because this is usually accompanied by the undesireable light eyes and liver-colored nose, leather and lips.

While blacks are not the showiest of Pekes in the ring, because an oriental expression is not easily seen when looking at a solid black Peke, most breeders will agree that blacks are quite necessary in the kennel for producing the much desired black points, black masks and ear tips.

A dudley nose, which is liver, flesh colored or sometimes spotted and usually accompanied by light eyes should also be avoided. Pink or liver-colored noses seen in very young puppies usually change to the desired black in a month or so.

WHITE- Pure and unmistakable with no traces of creaminess. Must have jet black nose leather and lips. Black rimmed eye lids are most desireable.

CREAM- A lot of so-called "whites" really fall into this classification. A cream shaded overlay on the back would make this a cream-colored dog, NOT white. Ivory or biscuit would also fall under this category.

FAWN- This includes all shades of blond, pale tans, golden through deep reddish tan.

RED- Ranges from light to bright and through to dark mahogany or chestnut.

GRAY- From silver to deep smoke. Sometimes mixed with more or less black hair, or white,or with black saddle.

BLUE- Blue is a mutation. The pigment can NOT be black. If you have what you think is a "blue" with BLACK pigment, then you have a "SILVER" not a BLUE. A blue has slate or blue pigment. And the coat has a "pinkish" cast to it especially when viewed in the sunlight. A tricky color, sometimes disappointing. Considered by most breeders as an experimental color.

SILVER- If you have what you think is a "blue" with BLACK pigment, then you have a "SILVER" .

BLACK- Basic black all over right down to the blue-black skin. If a Peke is basically black but has white on his chest and feet, he should be classified as a "black with white markings".

BLACK & TAN- Here again, the Peke would be basically black, but with tan shadings on chest, feet and face.

SABLE- Is a "lacing" of black hairs over a lighter ground color. For instance a fawn sable, or red-sable. Usually the darker black hairs are on the back of the dog and run down through the top of the tail. Easiest way to tell is to pull out one hair, it should have 3 colors on it.

BRINDLE- Is a fine, even mixture of black hairs with hairs of a lighter color, usually red, fawn or grey.

PARTI-COLORED- Is varigated in larger patches of two or more colors all over. A solid colored dog with white chest and feet is NOT a parti-color. A true parti-color usually carries a "blaze" which is white or light colored streak that runs up the centre of the head between the eyes. A blaze that widens, spreading out as it reaches the top-skull becomes a "flare". A spot of color appearing in the centre of the flare is a "beauty spot".

POINTS- This refers to black on the face, penciling around the eyes,spectacles, and black tippings on ear fringes, these all help in creating the oriental expression.

SPECTACLES- Are delicate penciled lines slanting slightly upward from the outer corner of each eye to the lower corner of the ear and are very much desired.

MASK- Is the black shadings on the foreface, which extend to the outer edge of the jaws, below the chin line and up to the forehead. A "black muzzel" is a limited black mask, in that it covers only the cheeky area directly below the wrinkles on the upper lips. This would "NOT" constitute a true complete "black mask".

SHADED MASK- Is a grey or light brown shading around the muzzel.

UNMASKED- Or self masked, or clear faced, this is no shadings or darker colors on the face at all.

All pekingese shed. The males shed once a year just about the time they have their birthday. Fortunately the boys don't shed as drastically as the girls do. With proper grooming and conditioning one can keep the boys looking decent at all times. Most males retain the "guard" hairs and shed only the undercoat. The most drastic shed seems to be "at one year " of age for males.

The females are quite another story. Their heat cycles play an important part in the condition of the coat. Some females have a 6 month cycle, others come in every 9 months and some only once a year. They will usually shed about 2 months after they have a season. No matter what you do, how often you brush, or what you feed, she is going to take it all off when she sheds.

This page designed and COPYRIGHT PROTECTED by Diane Stepple.

PALACEOUTLAW PEKINGESE

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