National Purebred Dog Day is proud to have among its readers the people who make our dogs beautiful – professional groomers. Most fanciers groom their own dogs for the show ring and are experts on their breed, but the professional groomer must be able to groom many breeds. We salute you!

Groomed eyebrows seem to have most visual impact in the terrier and schnauzer breeds. To our knowledge (and we defer to our grooming experts), there are three basic categories:

In the “long split,”  eyebrows extend down the length of the nose but are trimmed to separate between the eyes. The dog sees by trimming the outside corner shorter, and the best example of this is seen on the Scottish Terrier and the three Schnauzer sizes;

“Short split” eyebrows are as the name suggests – eyebrows trimmed short. In some breeds, short hair on the bridge of the nose is left alone to slightly define the area to show two definite eyebrows that are styled short to follow the natural curve of the brow. In some other breeds, separating the brows is accomplished by removing hair between them. Most (but not all) long legged terriers, such as the Wire Fox Terrier, are groomed to have “short split” eyebrows;

And then there’s the “center fall” where the eyebrow isn’t separated between the eyes,and is allowed to extends well down the face toward the nose. The dog sees by trimming the side of the eyebrow a bit shorter.  Soft Coated Wheatens and Kerry Blue Terriers typically have a “center fall.”

Image: Scottish Terrier by Finalshopeu/Dreamstime