Grooming

[Toto]

How do you do it?

[czymom]

We hand strip, but I have hired a groomer who does it. She does a great job. Buddy is tooooooooo handsome!

[Guest Darcy's Mom]

I'd say a combination of the groomer using the Mars Coat King, me hand stripping when Darcy will let me, and in the spring and summer I take her out on the deck and use the Mars on her. The groomer does her ears, muzzle, tail and privates and feet and clips her nails. I just don't have enough experience with toenaile to feel comfortable clipping them myself.

[Toto]

I just want to keep this on the front page because it only has 12 votes so far.

[Eliz222]

Could you put in the Mars Coat King? That is mainily what I use now.

[Toto]

I don't think you can change a poll when it is started put in with the combo of other methods

Here is a note for people who vote

Other methods OR Coat king

[AllAboutPetey]

I brush 2 - 3 times per week, use the MCK about every 3 - 4 weeks, do the ears by hand (those hairs come out super easy), use thinning shears on the legs,belly, and tail, and blunt scissors around the eyes, feet, and privates (not that often). I also obsessive/compulsively pull hairs when either dog is in my lap in the evening...then I need to vacuum.

[bradl]

I added Mars Coat King.

[Toto]

Thank you Brad for adding that. A lot more votes so far. 25

[Jessica H]

I have had them stripped their whole lives, I had them clipped this summer. I like it because they look so neat and tidy but I am going to let them grow out and go back to stripping.

[sheila and Misty]

Misty is partially stripping comb, flea comb which really gets alot of loose ones out, bruch sissors around butt and etes and bottom of paws. bath about evry 5-6 weeks or as needed

[jimnconnie]

I use the MKC, hand strip, thinning scissors on the belly and inside the rear legs, and small blunt tip scissors around the bottom of the feet & between the pads. The biggest problem I have with Sophie is the very fine black hair on her muzzle (both sides of her nose). It's hard to pull out, and she hates that, so should I just use scissors, or thinning scissors??

[kjwarnold]

Wow, Sophie has gorgeous coloring!

For those fine hairs on the sides of Packy's face, I cut first with scissors and then use the thinning shears to make the cut look less of a straight line. I have, on occasion, just use the thinning shears, but that takes longer. What do you use on Sophie's legs? Packy's fur there is very fine and feathery, probably because I don't get it stripped out well enough.

[jimnconnie]

kjwarnold, thanks we really like Sophie's coat too, it's quite unusual I think. Thanks for the hints on trimming her muzzle, I'll give it a try. I don't know if she'll hold still for the scissors around her face though, she's kind of skittish.

Sophie & Bailey both have coarse enough hair on their legs that I can pull it by hand, except for right at the bottom around their feet where I use scissors.

[kjwarnold]

I hold Packy's ear in my left hand while I trim his head with my right hand! He doesn't seem to mind and it keeps his head still!

[bradl]

jimnconnie - great job you are doing with Sophie! If you can stand to buy one more tool, you might find a stripping knife useful on the muzzle. It's the one area where I don't worry that much about breaking the coat (that is, cutting it) with a knife - for dogs not being shown. I usually use a Hauptner knife for this purpose - they are much too sharp for jacket use, but quick and easy for breaking coat.

[brin145]

I just found this page for step by step shots of stripping by one breeder:

color-and-grooming.html

[Mollyrocker]

I use Mars King Coat, thinning shears and a strip knife. I brush her once or twice a week with an old round brush of mine. Of all the grooming brushes I have bought, the old conair round bristle brush works the best.

BTW, I am in love with Sophie!!!

[pammyandpeanut]

WEll for rocky, i shave him real close in the summer,,hes not a outside dog, so the sun cant burn him, but his hair is sooo thick and so heavy that he feels so much better with it all gone. At one time he was getting a cockerspanial cut, but he was having so much dry skin troubles it was hard to keep him clean . Now some of those methods i've never heard of, might have to find out what they all are.. now with my new puppy, i have to see what type of fur he has and how much trouble he has . Right now hes cute and his hair is fine, just keep him bathed and brushed, and he's soo cute ,but a pain in my butt lately.

pammmy

[Hagar]

I use a Mobile Groomer for Renny. He gets a bath, comb out, and some minor trimming about every 8 weeks.

His coat is pretty much kept "natural". Trimming is limited to a little on his lower belly, around his butt, and a little around his eyes and muzzle. She will also even up the longer hair along his sides if needed.

I really like the Mobile groomer. She pulls into my driveway, and is finished in about an hour. I like the fact that she is working on my dog alone and he is not part of an assembly line operation like at many brick and mortar groomers.

We used several different groomers with a previous dog, and the poor little guy would go in for an appointment at 9 in the morning and often wasn't ready at 4 in the afternoon. I did not like the idea of him sitting shivering in a cage to dry, while the groomer bathed the next one in line.

[contemplate7]

when I saw this poll, I asked Bandit what he thought and he says I can pull stuff off his rump, gently, scratch him all over when he presents, and when he feels like it, brush him with the old horse hair brush till he gets tired of it. He has agreed to allow me to bathe him, but only after he's already soaked from the rain or has had a good mud or poo roll. other than that, he'll let me know. I said 'hey, I'm the human here' he just clapped his jaws and replied "and don't you forget it!"

I may be in over my head,

Bandit's human

[nancy rink]

I'm cracking up over Bandit - real familiar with the poop rolls - plus adding a little advice about shaving Cairns & the pitfalls that can result from ruining their coats by shaving:

My Rocky is the luckiest Cairn in the universe because I learned almost everything I now know about Cairns from his predecessor Riley - R.I.P. Poor Riley was taken to groomers & shaved because I knew no better. I found out they didn't know squat about Cairns either. Shaving his coat turned him into 'Velcro Dog' and EVERYTHING stuck to that nice soft coat that resulted from the shaving. Cheet grass was the worst - I had to take him to the vet to get cheet out of his ears & paws so many times she dubbed him 'the money pit'. I tried for years to get him back to a natural coat once I realized what had happened, and it never came back.

Rocky, on the other hand, has it pretty darn good. I discovered an excellent groomer who knows her stuff & grooms Rocky for a really reasonable price, with home pick up & drop off for $20, believe it or not! Most groomers don't even know what stripping means so you have to quiz them thoroughly & SPECIFY no shaving! Rocky comes home a cool neckerchief that's seasonally appropriate......and happy, and obviously had fun the whole time. For $20, I can't even sew the neckerchief, much less strip the dog.

Anyway, Rocky has a gorgeous perfect Cairn coat & he's almost 2 now & has never had a bit of cheet grass stick to him. Poop & dead worms -- well we handle those on a case-by-case basis.

[pammyandpeanut]

I've never knew you should'nt shave there hair, i feel really bad i did that to him and my other dog toto. they always had skin allergys,and they stunk...now i know why. My Rocky is 12yrs old now, not sure what i should do, not sure if i ruin his hair and skin. I do know i will never shave my other new babys now. I will try and figure out how to groom them ,and the groomer i go to ,maybe she may know how to groom a cairn,,if she doesnt ,and suggest i just shave them ,,i will run real fast,and never go back.

Need to try and do some more reading on how to groom them ,,,glad im in this group,so i can do right by my three little boys...

pammy peanut, rocky,Duncan

[nikkikaem]

Don't feel bad Pammy. I made the same mistake with my first Cairn and her hair is really soft and mats easily. Luckily the mats pull right out...so that is easy!

Now I just brush them both, do hand plucking, and trim around the face and feet, then take them to the groomer every couple of months...I think they look okay, but I'm sure it is like when my mom cut my bangs in kindergarten

and Brin145 thanks for that site...very helpful!

[pammyandpeanut]

peanut is 10 months old,and i think hes getting ready for his first grooming. IM not sure what pulling is?????or what to pull...i dont see alot of under hair on him. His butt hair is getting long, but i had a harness on him for awhile,and it seems it stop his shoulder hair from growing ,so that seems pretty short on his shoulder blades,,, i been brushing him ,or combing him out, he loves it.

so i guess i need to read more post and check out more sites and see what pulling the hair means. I've try to pull some,but i dont want to hurt him,its like someone pulling my hair out of my head.

pammy