Kerry Blue Terrier grooming in Gloucester, MA

The breed standard is emphatic: the correct coat is soft, dense and wavy, and a harsh, wire or bristle coat is to be severely penalized. That sets the Kerry apart from the wire-coated terriers it is often grouped with, and it changes the grooming. The AKC says Kerries do not shed, so the coat must be thoroughly brushed and combed once a week to avoid matting. Hair another breed would drop on the floor stays caught in the waves.

Color is part of the story. The standard explains that a Kerry is black at birth and clears to its mature blue-gray, from deep slate to light blue-gray, passing through very dark blue and tinges of brown on the way, and that the time it takes varies with each dog. A young Kerry's coat can look different from one visit to the next while it clears. That changes neither the price nor the cut, but it is why a puppy's first grooms look nothing like an adult's.

The AKC's guidance is a full grooming every six to eight weeks, together with regular brushing, which it says keeps the coat manageable. At six weeks the groomer is refreshing a shape. Stretch the gap much further and the first knots tend to form behind the ears, in the armpits, through the beard and wherever a collar or harness rubs, and on a coat this dense they sit close to the skin, where a brush that only skims the surface never reaches them.

Dematting is $15 per 20 minutes on top of the $85 full service, and the groomer assesses the coat at check-in before any work starts. Where a Kerry's coat has felted against the skin, a shorter clip that lets it grow back clean is usually kinder than a long session with a comb, and the groomer will talk that choice through with you. Booking the next visit at pick-up saves $5 and keeps you on the six-to-eight-week track.

A weekly session with a slicker brush and a metal comb covers it. Brush in sections, then comb each section to the skin; if the comb catches, the brush missed something. Wash or wipe the beard after meals and dry it, because a wet beard holds food and smell. The club's guide adds that a Kerry does not need a bath every time it is trimmed, and warns that soap left in the coat irritates the skin, so rinse thoroughly if you bathe at home.

On Cape Ann the beach tests the beard. At the time of writing, Gloucester allows dogs off leash on Plum Cove Beach from October 1 to April 30 and keeps them off from May 1 to September 30, and a Kerry that digs at the tide line brings sand home in every wave. Rinse the coat and beard with fresh water the same day, towel it, and comb it through. In winter, rinse salt off the feet; the club's guide scissors the hair growing between the pads.