shaggy Cairn

[Guest]

Our Darcy is now about 9 mo. old. I have tried the hand stripping (if only she would stay still, I think I could manage it). I bought the Mars King coat stripper and have used it twice on her. Takes out lots of fur. But now she looks so straggley. Hair poking out everywhere, some long, some short. Did I do something wrong? Somebody help please. Thanks.

Sandy

[bradl]

The mars tool is a godsend but it is a little 'brute force' for the finer details. If you can develop the knack, it is possible with a lot of wrist action to use the coat king to break off or cut the long stick-out clumps. I personally find it faster and a little smoother-looking to first brush and then comb them down, and then simply pull the long, dead, fly-away clumps with my fingers. Just a few hairs at a time! Take my advice with shaker full of salt -- our dogs usually look like the result of some kind of unfortunate accident between a yak and a lawnmower.

[Guest]

Brandl:

Thanks for the comforting words. Our little girl looks awful and I was afraid, what with her having the double coat, that I had ruined her. I know she needs to be neatened, and I will do that if I can ever get her to sit still. You mention "Yak", is that your cairn's name? I was just wondering, it is so unusual. Thanks again.

Sandy

[bradl]

Hang in there! You can take some detours but I don't think you can really ruin their coats through grooming. Like any bad haircut, it will grow back eventually. For me the hardest lesson seems to be don't try to do it all at once. If I just do some and let it drop I can watch them run around the house for a day and decide what little area I can touch up tomorrow. But I usually feel like I have to fix everthing and then try to do too much. Their coats seem to respond better to frequent touchups moreso than major overhauls. I hear it's like housecleaning that way

Yak just refers to the shaggy beast of the same name. Here's a pic: http://users.tmok.com/~yak/yak.gif

[Guest]

Yep, that's sure a shaggy yak!!! I don't think mine looks quite that bad but I just cannot keep her still long enough for me to groom her ears, mouth, legs, etc. I am seriously considering a grooming table with arm/noose but there again I have checked the net and there are so many and I just don't have a clue. I am a short person, but the tables are different heights, arms/nooses have different lengths, its very confusing. I just need something to keep her STILL so I can groom her in other areas besides her back and head. Thanks for the encouragement and I'll just do a little at a time.

Sandy

[bradl]

Finally remembered to whip out the tape measure. This is the grooming table we use: http://www.3cdog.com/product_info.php?cPat...roducts_id=1119

It's 18 X 30 by 32 tall. You might also try going to a dog show and just standing next to a few tables of anyone grooming a similar-sized dog.