New Puppy - When to begin Stripping?

[Ireland80]

Newbie here so apologies upfront if I ask questions that I am sure have been asked before.

We just brought home our first ever cairn. She is young, just a smidge over 9 weeks. I noticed when I visited her and her brothers that the boys had thicker top hair whereas our girl has fairly wispy thin top hair. Is this typical of younger cairns? When should we start stripping her top coat? Does it thicken with stripping and/or with age? She is pretty tolerant of me trimming her nails and the hair around her pads so I am wondering if there is anything I should be doing with her now that will aid in stripping later? TIA

She has a black mask just on the lower part of her face and when she looks straight at you it looks exactly like a black mustache. She is cracking us up with her antics.

fury.htm

[hheldorfer]

Welcome! What's your little girls name? She's adorable.

I've never had a Cairn pup - I adopted Buffy when she was approximately 1 year old - but I can tell you that their coats will change over time. Some of our members with puppy experience will be able to tell you more about when to start stripping.

[Rawrkats]

My little puppy is just over 9 months now and his coat is definitely strippable. The coat changes, it gets SUPER fluffy and sometimes will 'dread' up, if you grab the tip and pull, it comes right out, the dog will look at it and be like "can i eat that?"

I wouldn't worry about stripping until he's AT LEAST 6 months, perhaps even longer.

I haven't stripped Boo yet because its deep winter here and I don't want to put a jacket on him. (He eats stuff like that)

[Hillscreek]

I waited till Angus was six months to strip his puppy coat.Doing what you are doing is fine I'd say. When Angus was small like your pup I got him used to me pulling gently on his hair though not pulling any out.

Got him used to me fiddling with his ears and tail. This all helps later

There's lots of info on the grooming forum. Many of us have had questions and needed help.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Hillscreek

[Lynn in TN]

Welcome to the forum. Your pup is beautiful. I can't wait to hear more about her.

I stripped Kelly's puppy layer off at about 11 weeks. Some are ready by nine weeks, some are not ready until 16 weeks. If you put on a pair of rubber gloves or some finger cots grab a few hairs and tug if they come out fairly easy she is ready. It does help to thicken their fur, and so does age. If she is ready pull out the really wispy hairs. Some choose to wait until their older, but I chose to strip Kelly when it was ready as I believe the sooner you begin the more use to it they will become.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Lynn in TN

[hheldorfer]

I checked your profile and saw that your girl's name is Fury. Perfect name for a Cairn!

[Dempsy's Mom]

I finally got into your pics and Fury is adorable. Love him in his little santa hat. What a beautiful family little Fury has - we would love to hear all your stories of Fury growing up. I see his little wisps of hair - I think they are adorable and they will grow. My Dempsy has thinner hair than most cairns. It's ok. Thanks for the pics and welcome to the forum!

You will find lots of threads on stripping. Demps was 1 when he came to me and he is my first cairn. I thought I needed to strip him and I read and followed all the advice. Since then we have slacked off alot. We strip a little and we use a thinning scissors and we use the Mars stripping tool - we like to have our coat longer most of the time - when summer hits that's when we get serious.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Dempsy's Mom

[Ireland80]

Thank you all for the input! I have tugged a little here and there and it seems like the coat isn't quite ready just yet. I will definitely keep working over her ears, tail, etc. to get her used to the handling.

My daughter just turned on a ZhuZhu Pet and Fury was hilarious to watch with it - she is such a tough little thing! I am going to have to see about uploading a video...

[Idaho Cairns]

Your puppy is just beautiful and those kids....!! What a pretty family, it is great to have a Cairn puppy grow up with children, they just seem to bond so well to little ones (so long as the kids are gentle handling them) and become "one of the gang". Cairns are tough enough to handle the rough and tumble of a young family. Welcome and stay with us, keep the pictures coming so we can see the progress.

[Ireland80]

Thank you Charles! I think Fury has the children fearing for their lives as she is quite the ball of ferocious energy - well, at least the twins (who are younger) are grimacing when she comes running past them or starts circling them   . I am amazed at how smart she is at 10 weeks. She seems to be doing fairly well with the "ow, no bite" command and as long as I have teeny bits of treat in my pocket is actually somewhat mindful (she follows me happily wagging her tail which I equate to being mindful for the time being). We definitely never leave her alone with the kids and the older two (who are 12 and 9) are very engaged in reading how to raise and train a puppy. My younger daughter really wants to find earth dog trials now that she's read up on Cairns. I'm hoping to get them started in puppy socialization classes with her soon. 

[Critterlover]

how cute she is! seems to have kind of the same coloring as my little man.  His wispy coat isnt ready to come out yet, he is about 18 weeks old.  your kids are adorable! ive got a 4 year old that is my puppys best friend!  its so cool seeing them romp around together! fun times!!

[Critterlover]

oh i forgot to add we have done the zhu zhu pet thing to! its sooo freaking funny.  Try giving her a big bouncy ball, like what the kids play with the big over sized one, scooter barks like mad at that and noses and bats it around.. it is so funny!!  Remot control cars are fun to!! lol we discovered this at christmas, when the 4 year old got a remote control bat mobile lol.

[Barney & Emmy]

We took our first 2 Cairns to the groomer - didn't know any better.  Harry did ok, but Emmy has had skin problems and has a curly, wavy coat now.  When we picked up Barney from the breeder, she told me to hand strip him.  I viewed videos on YouTube and picked up the Mars took, a stripping knife, scissors and a slicker brush.  I stripped Barney's puppy coat at about 6 months using the tools, but then found it easier and got better results with rubber finger grips from the stationary store and a metal flea comb.  I comb him frequently and strip using the rubber fingers every few weeks and it appears that I have "rolled" his coat without even knowing it, based on the postings here.  He is a lovely little cream brindle boy, and has more black striping coming on his legs and a black stripe right up his muzzle.  Our other Cairns changed coat colors for a while before they settled on wheaten.  I think Barney will stay a brindle, and we are hoping for a little more black in his coat.  He hates brushing and combing, but if i give him a dried sweet potato or "chewy" I can pretty much pull the hair out with no problem.  I'm saving his hair and putting it in toilet paper tubes to hang from the bushes so the birds can use it to make nests. 

The other mistake we made with Emmy was not socializing her enough.  We had Harry and our schnoodle Scooter, so didn't think she needed outside socialization, but she did.  Barney has graduated from puppy kindergarten and is going to intermediate shortly.  We are also joining the Cairn Terrier meetup in North Jersey so he can meet and play with other Cairns.  Barney has brought so much fun and life back into our home after we lost our Cairn Harry Potter last year to lymphoma. 

[Ivy & Lucy's Mom]

No need to strip yet as others have already said. I will say that her color most likely will change-Ivy was pure black as a puppy and now she is brindle. Enjoy your little cairn. They are wonderful little dogs.

[Mandy]

Hi, I’m new on here.  I have a 4 1/2 month old cairn named Roscoe.  Very close to where I live is a groomer who also has a cairn, which I thought was great because he’s very familiar with the breed.

He didn’t say when pups first need their coats stripped but suggestedI I stop by with my dog in January.  After reading these posts I think I’ll wait since it’s winter here and I want Roscoe to be nice and warm!   (I think he’d try to eat any jacket I put on him!)  Anyway, the groomer also told me about pulling out the feathery hair around my pup’s ears.  He said it doesn’t hurt the dog and they become more used to it the more it’s done.  Is this a normal thing to do?  I’ve seen on YouTube where the hair is just trimmed off.

Any advice would be appreciated... oh and I can’t figure out how to put up a photo, it says mine take too much kBs or something!  How do other people manage it?!  Thanks,

Mandy

[bradl]

We gave our pups their first stripping to get the puppy fluff off before they went to their homes at 16 weeks. Most of the puppy coats seemed to be ready to come out around 10-12 weeks. 

It is very easy to remove the ear floof with fingers (although a pumice stone or finger cots or even ear powder can help with the grip) and if you take care to pull only a bit at a time the dogs tolerate it very well. One of the areas I've  never had a dog object to. 

[Guest dog person]

Funny that you mentioned "puppy fluff"  when I got my cairn he had all this black puppy fluff with blonde underneath.    He was between 7 and 9 months old.

As soon as I got him home and bathed him, when his hair dried I used a basic wire brush and all the black fluff came out easily and then I gradually learned how to groom him from then on.

I suggest working on his grooming every day even if it's only for a few minutes.

You may want to look into brushing his teeth once a day too.    See previous posts or check youtube "how to brush a dog's teeth".

My vet is very impressed, my dog has not needed a professional cleaning so far (going on 6)

If your cairn rolls around on his back during walks, get a lobster claw style clasp leash, the standard clasps can open up and the dog runs free!    I found out the hard way.  Best of luck.

PS: I have had luck with Blueberry Pet Dog Harness, found at Chewy dot com.    These cairns are tough, you may need to get a new harness every year or so, that has been my experience.   

Edited January 19, 2019 by dog person

[Mandy]

Ok thanks you guys.  I’ve been brushing Roscoe from head to toe most days with a dog brush that has wires with little plastic ends... it’s a very stiff brush and he loves it.  He does try to bite the brush sometimes but then realizes the actual brushing feels so good he lets me get back to work.  Even his tummy and legs.  He’s good with it all.

Brushing his teeth is ridiculous though!  It’s mostly Roscoe trying to lick off the toothpaste and bite the toothbrush.  I suppose it’s doing some good on the teeth, just from me pulling the brush out of his mouth, but so far there’s not much actual brushing going on!

[Guest dog person]

Check YouTube for how to videos, " how to brush a dog's teeth" you have to grab the cheek a certain way, it doesn't hurt them

Remember, you are in charge.

And you have to get the sides, back, insides....

It becomes routine and takes less than 5 minutes once you get in the habit.

Edited January 19, 2019 by dog person

[Guest dog person]

I forgot to mention the Furminator https://www.chewy.com/furminator-long-hair-deshedding-edge/dp/176386

I just did a 10 minute grooming (removed a handful of hair) and counted the combs and brushes I use.   EIGHT!

Edited January 20, 2019 by dog person