When to hand strip

[Guest Sarah Allen]

I own a cairn terrier who I believe is mixed with a cardigan welsh corgi and maybe something else and was curious if I could still hand strip him as I would a pure cairn terrier. Does the coat need to be a specific type? His is wiry feeling, not very soft, thick and semi long. It isn't curly though, only a slight wave mostly being straight. I ask because I tried one time to do this to see if I could pull out dead hair and couldn't get any to come out, maybe I was doing it wrong.. I don't have a problem with matting, in fact it never get's tangled. I have no problem with it. Howver, he does itch alot and I'm afraid it's due to dry skin. I do bathe him often due to his strange way of smelling awful after playing outside. (any clue as to why that is?) I am just curious to know if I can and how I go about it. He never sheds, in fact even during his normal brushing not much hair comes out. I'm afraid if I hand strip it i'll be pulling hair that shoudn't be coming out!

Any help would be appreciated..

Sarah

[Guest Sarah]

I know my question is kindof broad and cannot be answered easily but any help would be appreciated. Even if it's any clue as to why he smells so bad after coming in from outside, even if he's out for a few minutes! Can it be a hormone thing? I've always owned big dogs, labs mostly, and this is my first small dog experiance.

Thanks

Sarah

[Eliz222]

Sarah, what kind of food are you feeding him? Maybe has an allergy to the food. Also, frequent bathing can lead to ithcy skin and a bad odor. What kind of shampoo are you using? I bathed Scout in a puppy shampoo and she ended up with a hot spot from scratching herself. I used an anti itch shampoo on her and rinsed and rinsed. Her itching went away and I never used the shampoo on her again.

I don't know about hand stripping since I haven't done it myself. I use the Mars King coat on Scout and it strips the undercoat quickly. I really like it and plan on using it on Finch soon.

[bradl]

Hi Sarah - just guessing since this is a virtural world and folks can't put hands on your dog. How old is he and how long is the coat, on say, his jacket? Dead coat can be very easily pulled (just a few hairs at a time). Dead coat usually is a different color along its length, often going white or gray or even sort of colorless down by the skin; it also gets thin there, because it dies from the follicle up. Really dead coat is dead-colored almost to the tip. If you are beginning to see white coat poking out through a lush coat, the white stuff is probably dead. Ideally there is both live and dead coat at the same time, so you can just 'fan' some hairs and pull only the longer, deader ones.

Smells can be so many things, from a thick dirty undercoat to allergies to food. If some good brushing with a slicker and/or undercoat rake and/or Coat King don't improve things, look to food (try a few months on a different brand/type) and/or allergies. Actually, I'd probably try a different food for a few months right out of the chute anyway to see if it made a difference.

[sjallen]

Thanks to all the information given, here's a little bit more info..

Scout eats kibbles n bits dry food with ol'roy wet food at night. He is about 1.5 years old and as far as coat length goes, his longest hair is about 2.5 inches long on top and his sides/underbelly is short. As far as his smell goes it really only is bad after he comes in from outdoors. Inside play doesn't make him smell bad. I do bathe him often and find him itching alot. Does hot spot mean flaky skin with red spot on the skin? If so, he has some..

Here's a picture to get a better understanding. As you can see he isn't a true cairn, that's why i'm wondering if he even has the same coat..

[sjallen]

Here's a few more, if anyone know what other types of dog he may have in him please let me know.

Already posted this but realized I can't download the pictures, sorry.