Is stripping worth it at this point?

[candipinki]

My Cairn is 14 years old now so when we got him, I think we had just go the internet so there were no sites like this to help me groom him properly. I had heard of stripping and when I asked groomers if they did it, they sneered at me like stripping was a form of torture that no respectable owner would ever do to their defenseless dogs. Now, the more I read, the more hand stripping sounded like a good idea. He's always had really bad itching problems and always smells. He's also always been cut like a westie. We put him on Derm Caps and that's helped a lot with the itching.

I started to try to strip him a few weeks ago and so far he hasn't had too much of a problem with it. I sit on the floor with him for about thirty minutes at a time and he doesn't mind (and I think he kind of likes) when I strip his back. He tolerates when I go after his hind legs and his stomach and now he lays still when I do his tail.

My problem is his front legs and his face. He lets me do the top of his head sometimes but I can hardly do anything on his face. His hair is starting to get into his eyes now.

I was planning on taking him to a new groomer and asking that they only cut the top third of the ears, paws, tip of the tail and genitals because he moves too much and I would never forgive myself if I accidently cut him. Should I have them cut the face too since I can't seen to strip it?

Also, when I called some groomers for prices of this minimalist cut and NO bath, I also asked about stripping. Either they didn't know what it was or the one lady that did know about it told me it was torturing him because he wasn't a puppy. She also told me that you should never strip them unless they've had a bath. Are either of these things true?

Thanks in advance for all the advice! Oh, and I've read everything I can find on the internet about stripping...

[jimnconnie]

I would say that if your boy is 14 yrs. old, you should do whatever is most comfortable for him. If he doesn't mind you doing a little stripping, go ahead, he may actually enjoy it. As for the areas that he finds sensitive, I would take him to a groomer and tell them exactly what you want them to do. You still want to retain as much of his Cairn-ness as possible. Just don't let them run wild with the clippers. I don't believe either of the things the groomer told you about stripping are true. Stripping is just to time-consuming and costs too much for most groomers to do. Congratulations on having a 14 yr old!!

Jim

[Tracy A.]

You can also use the pumice stone and just drag it across the sensitive areas to remove some of the hair.

I do this with the face and legs to get some hair out... then I go in with thinning sheers... I do the same with the tail... get some hair out then do the rest with sheers.

I think that esp. when a Cairn has skin issues, stripping is the best thing you can do for them. All the better that he is tolerating it.

I've never been able to strip the underside of my dogs.... or the bottom part of the hind legs... infact I have the use the sheers on the whole front leg...LOL

[oscar's mom]

I was told by my groomer, that does strip; you shouldn't bath before or after stripping for about a week. The pores are open after stripping and you don't want to get dirt trapped in pores and cause an infection.

Do what you can with stripping yourself, you will see a difference in the decreased itching.

[candipinki]

You can also use the pumice stone and just drag it across the sensitive areas to remove some of the hair.

Ok, so I bought a pumice stone that I bought in the foot care section. I rubbed it on him and it did nothing! Am I supposed to do something to the stone to make it work?

[Tracy A.]

You can also use the pumice stone and just drag it across the sensitive areas to remove some of the hair.

Ok, so I bought a pumice stone that I bought in the foot care section. I rubbed it on him and it did nothing! Am I supposed to do something to the stone to make it work?

Depending on how big it is, you might need to break it in half, so it's aobut 2" x 2" or so.... Take the stone and 'brush' him with it....going in the same direction of the hair..not agaist the hair direction.

Making long strokes, you should see hair coming off.... This is the method I use to remove the top coat from the neck of my boys....

If you have more issues, i'll take some photos.

[Nena]

I tried just running the pumice stone thru hair and it only got out a few hairs. Now it use the pumice stone with one hand and secure the skin and hair with the other and it gets out so much hair very fast.