How to Trim a Yorkie's Face

Co-authored by Lancy Woo

Last Updated: July 3, 2020 References

If you have a Yorkshire terrier, having its fur trimmed is a key part of caring for it properly. In particular, long fur on the face can be a nuisance to your dog if it’s not trimmed regularly. The good news is that it's relatively easy to trim your Yorkie’s face yourself. You just need some scissors, clippers, a comb, and a bit of time. With the proper technique and styling, your Yorkie will have beautifully trimmed fur that will show off its adorable face.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Positioning Your Yorkie and Combing it Out

1
Get your Yorkie in a calm mood. Spend some time with your dog before the trim so that you can get it ready for a bit of time sitting still. Play a game it loves or take it for a walk to tire it out a bit. Then get some treats that it loves and use them to get it to respond to your commands.
- Trimming a Yorkie is easiest when the dog is well trained. If your dog doesn’t respond to your commands, don’t attempt to cut the hair on its face so you don’t accidentally injure it.
2
Put your Yorkie on a non-slip surface at your waist or chest level. It is easiest to trim your Yorkie’s face when it is raised off of the floor. This will allow you to be eye-to-eye with is and to see the face clearly. Having the dog on a raised surface will also be easier on your body than trying to lean over during the whole cut.^{[1]
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The American Kennel Club (AKC) is a purebred dog pedigree registry in the United States. The AKC advocates for the responsible ownership of dogs and promotes purebred dog events, such as the Westminster Dog Show.
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- Put down a non-slip mat on the surface if it is slippery to keep your Yorkie to be safe while it's getting its cut. Bath mats work well for this because they are designed to be non-slip and then can be cleaned easily.
- Keep a hold of your dog while it is on a high surface so that it doesn't fall and injure itself. Never leave your dog unattended on a table since it could fall and get severely injured.
- If you don’t have a tall surface that you can stand in front of while you trim, put your Yorkie on a table and sit in front of it in a chair. This will put your dog at the right height.^{[2]
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3
Comb out the fur around your Yorkie’s face. This includes the fur on the neck and the top of the head if that is getting cut. Use a fine-tooth dog comb to gently work out all tangles and to remove any debris in your Yorkie’s coat. Start by combing out just the tips of the fur and getting out any big knots you see. Then work your way down to the base of the fur with the comb, making sure all knots are gone.^{[3]
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The American Kennel Club (AKC) is a purebred dog pedigree registry in the United States. The AKC advocates for the responsible ownership of dogs and promotes purebred dog events, such as the Westminster Dog Show.
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- A Yorkie with long fur will need to have the fur on the top of its head moved out of the way while you are combing and trimming. It's easiest to put it up in a ponytail on the top of the dog's head. Use a scrunchie or a coated hair band rather than an elastic band so you don’t damage its hair.
- As you work your way through your Yorkie’s coat, notice areas that are overly long or misshapen. Make a mental note of areas that you want to work on in order to make its cut look cute.
Tip: Be gentle when getting out tangles. You want to keep your Yorkie calm and happy during this preparation so that it will cooperate throughout the cut.
4
Hold your dog’s head still. When trimming your Yorkie’s fur you need to keep the dog still so that you don’t accidentally cut it. To effectively hold it you can get a helper, hold it on a leash, hold the fur under its chin so that it can’t move, or a combination of these approaches.^{[4]
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- Many professional groomers have the dog on a leash and hold the dog under the chin so that it can’t move its head at all. The other methods of holding it still don’t ensure that the head is still.
EXPERT TIP

Lancy Woo
Certified Pet Groomer
Lancy Woo is a Certified Pet Groomer and the Owner of VIP Grooming, a pet grooming salon based in San Francisco, California. VIP Grooming has served San Francisco for over 35 years. Lancy received her pet grooming certification from the WWPSA (Western Word Pet Supply Association). VIP Grooming has been voted "Best in the Bay" in 2007, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2018, and 2019 and won Bay Woof’s "Beast of Bay" in 2014. In 2018, Lancy's work contributed to VIP Grooming's acceptance onto San Francisco's Office of Economic and Workforce Development's Legacy Business Registry.

Lancy Woo
Certified Pet Groomer

Expert Trick: If your Yorkie is being difficult, take a towel and wrap it around its body as if you were swaddling a baby. Then, hold the towel closed under the dog's chin so it can't move around.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Trimming Around the Eyes and the Ears

1
Use your straight or thinning dog-grooming scissors to cut the fur between the eyes. This is a very delicate part of the cut, as you need to be very careful not to poke your dog with the scissors. Use the very tip of the scissors to cut the fur on both sides of the bridge of the nose. The fur in that area needs to be short so that it doesn’t interfere with your dog’s eyes.^{[5]
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- Dog-grooming scissors typically have rounded points to keep the dog safe. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, including straight shears, curved shears, and thinning shears, which have a blade that looks like a comb.^{[6]
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- While you can use dog-grooming clippers in this area, it tends to make dogs very nervous to have the noise and vibration of the clippers so close to the eyes.
- Start at the back of the nose and work your way to the center point of the eyes.
Tip: If the area has hard lines from the scissors after cutting it, go back in with your thinning sheers to feather it out. Run your thinning shears along the ridge of fur. Keep the blades parallel to the coat and hold them at your desired depth into the fur.^{[7]
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2
Comb the fur above the eyes forward and trim it. Pull the fur forward with your comb and then grab the line of fur with your fingers. Use your thinning shears to cut across the forehead at the line you’ve made with your fingers.^{[8]
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- Check as you go that you are cutting off enough to clear your Yorkie’s eyes. Pull the fur down in front of its eyes after you cut to make sure the fur is no longer blocking them.
- In some cases you will not be cutting the fur at the top of the head. If you like your Yorkie to have a ponytail on the top of the head, pull that fur up into a ponytail to keep it out of the way.
3
Expose the point of each ear by clipping the surrounding fur very short. Use a #10 guard on your clippers for this step. Clear an area that is about ¹⁄₂ inch (1.3 cm) wide going down each side from the point and onto the front and back of the ear. This will make the point of the ear very visible.^{[9]
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- Making this point visible will help you establish a line to groom along down the ears.
- It’s best to start with a #10 guard. If this keeps the fur too long, you can always go back in with a shorter guard.^{[10]
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4
Create a cutting line by gently folding each ear in half. Use your less-dominant hand to fold over the dog's ear so that the sides of it line up with each other. You will bring the top of the ear down until the top line of it lines up with the lower line and the point of the ear is folded in half. This creates a line that starts at the point of the ear and flows down along the chin line.^{[11]
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- Hold the ear like this with one hand so that you can cut with the other.
- This will not be painful for your dog. You are simply bending the very flexible parts of its ears.
5
Cut the fur along the folded edge of the sides of the ear. Be very careful not to cut the ears. When you let go of the ear, you will have perfect lines on the top and side of the ear.^{[12]
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- Use thinning shears to feather this line and make is soft. Hold the thinning shears parallel to the fur and at the depth into the fur that you want. Then make repeated cuts along the line to get rid of excess fur that is making a ridge on the coat.
- When you start cutting the second ear, make sure to keep looking back at the first one so that the curves match as much as possible.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Trimming Under the Chin and Cleaning Up Your Work

1
Follow the line of the ears down as you cut under the chin. Work your way down the line you created on the ears using your thinning shears and your comb to keep a smooth line. You will start at the top point of the ear, follow down the folded edges of the ear, and then cut along the jawline down to the chin. The goal is to get one continuous visual line that starts at the tip of the ear and to the chin.^{[13]
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- As you are trimming the second side of the dog’s head, be sure to look back at the first line you made to ensure that they match.
2
Trim the fur on the sides and bottom of the nose. Use your thinning shears to take off extra length in this area. Run them through the long areas making multiple cuts to get rid of excess fur. Then go in with your clippers. Gently reduce the fur length from the area between the eyes to the longer length on the sides of the nose. Start the clippers close to the skin at the top of the nose and then as you move the clippers over the muzzle move the clippers further from the skin.^{[14]
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- Also use the clippers to trim the fur below the nose.
- The fur on the sides of the nose is typically left at that same length as the fur on the chin. However, the fur directly underneath the nose is cut shorter to keep it out of the dog’s mouth.
- It’s important to take off enough fur under the nose so that it doesn’t get in your Yorkie’s mouth. Having long fur in this area can be annoying to the dog and can create a mess on the coat when the dog eats.
3
Brush your Yorkie to check your work and get rid of excess fur. Brush the whole head to ensure that every part of the cut blends well together. Look at all of the angles where the fur on the face, ears, chin, and neck of the dog come together to ensure that you like the cut.
- If you see a problem area, go back and fix it while you still have your Yorkie in the right position.
Tip: Use a pin, bristle, or slicker brush to comb out your dog’s coat. A pin brush has metal bristles that have a lot of space between them and a rounded surface. A bristle brush has a flat surface with tightly packed bristles. A slicker brush has metal bristles and a flat surface. Whatever you use normally to brush it will work fine at this stage.^{[15]
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