Coat: Hard, wiry, very dense; composed of soft undercoat and a harsh outer coat which, when seen against the grain, stands slightly off the back, lying neither smooth nor flat. Coarse hair on top of head; harsh beard and eyebrows, the Schnauzer halllmark.

Recommended Grooming for the Giant Schnauzer (and most all of the harsh coated terriers) is stripping or plucking. That is the hair should be pulled out of the body by hand, with the aid of a stripping knife. This method is not painful to the dog provided it is done when the hair is long and the coat has blown. It is the most effective grooming method and assures that the hard, wiry hair described in the standard will be preserved.
Hand stripping has been used for many years, however because most pet groomers will ususally not hand-strip hard-coated breeds because it does take some time not only to learn to do it properly, but the process is not as fast as clipping. However, the continued use of clippers on the Schnauzer coat causes it to become soft and to lose the texture desired. On salt & pepper coats, continued use of clippers will turn the coat silver in color and the salt and pepper effect disappears entirely.

Recommended Tools-the bare minimum:
1. Steel comb (with coarse & medium teeth)
2. Fine-tooth steel comb for eyebrows
3. Pair of barber shears
4. Pair of thinnng shears
5. Pair of blunt-ended scissors (for hair between the pads)
6. Toe nail groomer (either clipper or grinder)
7. and if using a clipper, get an Oster A5

Grooming Procedure
After fundamental grooming operations have been completed (brushing, bathing, blow-drying, ear cleaning and nail trimming), the pet grooming of a Schnauzer is as follows.

Body-First clip the body coat, using the #8 1/2 blade. This blade will leave the coat approximately 1/4 inch long. Starting at the base of the skull, move down the backbone to the base of the tail. Clipping smoothly and always moving in the direction in which the coat grows, clip the entire body coat down to just above teh elbow on the front legs and to the point of tuckup on the hindlegs. Unlike the other terriers, whose legs are clipped in a semi-circular fashion, extending down from the tuckup to the hock joint but leaving a fringe of hair on the forepart of the hindleg. There is no precise measurement for how much fringe should be left on, but it should extend approximately 1 inch from the stifle. The forelegs are left full, untouched by clippers.

Tail-Continuing with the same #8 1/2 blade, clip the tail (top, sides and undersides) leaving an open, slightly tapered effect.

Head-The last area for clipping is the headpiece, which includes the skull, the face, the throat, and the ears. The ears require separate treatment. Changing to the #10 blade, start at teh top of the skull or crown (just above the eyebrows) down to the base of teh crown. Clip the entire crown. Then, using parallel strokes, clip from the corner of the eye to the base of the ear and from the corner of the mouth to the line of the throat, on both sides.

Ears-The ears are clipped front and back with the #15 blade. Since the ears are too soft to hold up for the clipper, each ear must be held firmly with the free hand while being clipped. The clipping follows the grain outwards from the center of the ear to the edge. Do not clip the edges themselves, since this must only be scissored.

Click HERE for illustrations on how to properly clip your Giant Schnauzer.