Based on how often the subject comes up.... I know that many folks here are interested on how hand-stripping works.

On Animal Planet this weekend on the "Groomer Has It" show...the competion groom was handstripping border terriers. There are some good camera shots that show how stripping knives should be used (pay attention to Jonathon & Jorge) and how they should not be used (watch Artist...he breaks/flicks his wrist). Also a discussion from the Border Terrier lady about why wire or rough coated terriers should be handstripped.

Although this is a reality TV show and not a how to show...I thought this may be of interest here, since many folks have expressed how difficult it is to understand how stripping works and have never seen it actually done. So in this sense this single episode is worth watching (fast forward through the silly parts :+).

I think Animal Planet will air it again during this week and they also post these episodes on their website, so you can watch it there too.

(On last weeks episode there was a Cairn Terrier...who got the worlds worst groom ever...total body shave down and ears done down to the leather....you should have heard how upset my daughter was when she saw that dog...cause it looked like he had a decent coat to start with)

I volunteered to help a lady learn to strip her Border, first one I had done and their hair is really different from Cairn hair. Except for the sensitive places, it really comes out in globs and leaves them down to the underware. I was really surprised, cause it would have taken days to get one of mine down as short as we got that dog in a couple hours. I wish they had done the hand stipping test for the TV show on Cairns, that would have really been different. I thought the Cairn they shaved looked bad too.

Darn it! Saturday was the only episode I've missed of Groomer Has It (and the only one that would have been particulary useful...LOL). Oh well, maybe sometime today or tomorrw I can watch it online, or check the rerun schedule. Thanks for the heads up!

Next week they are doing a marathon right before the season finale. I'm going to try to catch a couple of episodes I missed - one of them was that Cairn one. (I hope whoever did that butchering of his coat was eliminated!)

Edited June 23, 200817 yr by shellj2323

Groomers either 1) don't know that double-coated and wire-coated dogs should not be clippered/shaved, or 2) they do know, but the customer requests to have the dog shaved down and the groomer does it because, if they don't, the groomer down the street will do it. Once a dog's coat is ruined, the groomer has a guaranteed revenue stream to keep shearing the dog down when the coat comes back crummy looking. Plus, now that I'm seeing how many hours it takes to handstrip Desta's dead coat, a groomer charging $100 for a hand-strip wouldn't be earning much per hour versus a quick shave down on several dogs in the same amount of time. I think if they do know to hand strip, they don't want to spend the time.

I've seen some real "coat abuse" on Groomer Has It, including one episode where one groomer clipped a cat's face and I think cut off its whiskers.

Chris, I am there with you. Most groomers are not taught how to deal with wire coated dogs. Those groomers who do know how to strip, don't like to do it....I have heard complaints of aching wrists, time involved, not profitable and complaints of difficult terriers. Stripping is viewed as pain in the arse thing to do. Since grooming is a trade learned mainly through apprenticeships...this idea gets passed down to the new generation of groomers.

What really burns my bottom is the groomers who will try and talk a pet owner out of having their pet dog stripped. Indicating that stripping is only for dogs showing in confirmation. Saying it hurts the dog (they should see my cairn falling asleep while lying on my daughters lap as she pulls coat). The other argument is it is too hard to keep up with. Quite frankly I have to pull my dogs coat much less often then I would have to take them into a groomers shop for shaves and/or cuts.

Edited June 23, 200817 yr by eastofeden

Yes, I saw the whole "stripping hurts the dog" argument over the last week on groomer-specific websites, while I've been reading everthing I can find on how to take care of Desta's coat and splotchy skin. Of course, forums like this and reputable breeder websites provide much better information for owners than groomer websites... at least in terms of doing it right instead of doing it easy.

I can't tell you how many of my friends are convinced that they cannot cut their dog's toenails because the dog puts up a fight and bites. I usually tell them that the vet or groomer is very likely to quick their nails, man-handle the dog and hurt them, so they should really learn to maintain their dog's feet at home. The dog bites because everytime they pay a stranger, the stranger hurts them. With home trimming, the dog has a chance to learn that cutting nails doesn't hurt if they aren't cut into the quick. I've shaved about 1/16th to 1/8th inch off Desta's nails on two separate days this last week. She came to me with almost 1" nails and is walking on her heels flatfooted, so I'm just taking a bit off a couple times a week until the quick can recede and I get them to the correct length. A vet or groomer would take them all the way back, and hurt her I'm sure.

When you finally get the length you want ...the rule of thumb is to do it about every 10 days. This also depends on the terrain they travel on a day to day basis. If they are not on concrete or street surface (hard scratchy surface) then the nails seem to need the every 10 days grooming. Also, to not say that the cut the groomers did on the show was right...it just goes to show how inexperienced they are in knowing breeds. I think that if the woman had gotten that client she might have known a little more (she has said she has shown dogs in the ring before).

My very first cairn (pet) over 30 years ago was groomed like a schnauzer (sp is prob wrong, sorry). I was mortified! After that her hair was never the same. This was done on her very first grooming...so I can't say what the groomers did on the show was really that bad. At least the dog had hair on its body..not to say they had much left on the ears. The excuse was lame...made a booboo and so he just shaved both ears all the way to the head.

On another note...at least they attempted to incorporate the breed into a show. Also, the three finalist were not my pick...just a show.

I watched the stripping show online yesterday. Pretty cool, they cut 15 minutes of commercials out when you watch online...though I had to sit through the same Pampers commercial 5 or 6 times. LOL It was interesting watching them handstrip those border terriers in 2 hours. Two hours! I think I've spend 6-7 hours on Desta's dead coat since I got her last Tuesday and have barely made a dent. I'm not using a stripping knife though, just my fingers. And yes, I will be maintaining her toenails every Saturday or Sunday, just like I do my Corgi's. He wears most of them down walking but I shave a bit off just to keep him accustomed to nail clippers.

I also watched the segment on the Cairn Terrier they shaved the week before the hand stripping episode. Outside of the guy clipping too much off the ears, the owner got exactly what she asked for. She said it was the best cut ever, gave them a rating of 9.5 out of 10 for satisfaction, and said she would definitely let them groom her Cairn again. So in that case, it was the owner who was ignorant about how to take care of her own dog's coat. The groomers just did what she asked them to do. One more happy customer...(hah!).

I was wondering when and if they were going to do hand stripping, I was hoping if they did it would be Cairns. I saw the episode with the Cairn, the owner said do what you want. If it was my Cairn I would have made sure they did not clipper.

Sadie is getting ready to go into to be stripped, I have no idea how much it is going to cost, my breeder used to do both dogs when I went on vacation and just give me a total for both being stripped and boarding. I boarded both dogs with her for 10 days and had both stripped and total was $180.00, I doubt it will be that cheap but she had a baby and cannot do it for a while.

I hope I catch that episode.

Animal Planet is doing a marathon replay of the entire series "Groomer Has It" today, ending with the finale. The mobile grooming show where they shaved the Cairn is coming up in a few hours (6pm EDT) followed by the Border Terrier hand stripping episode. Just FYI for anyone interested in watching.

SO is the stripping one title "Down to Business"? I really want to watch that one but it doesn't mention it in the description. Looks like it would be at 7pm, I am in New England.

Yes, it's "Down to Business". They do a dog park competion at the first part of the show, then the second challenge is the Border Terrier stripping. You can probably miss the first 10-15 minutes of the show. It is on at 6 o'clock my time and I'm in Central, so I believe your time is 7pm.

AWWWWW! we missed it-well guess if were lucky we'll catch a repeat.

They did Cairns again in finale! They didn't look all that great - again.

For some reason they clipped all of the Cairns they did. Not sure why? You would think they would do the same as the Border Terriers, you would think they would know that they should only be stripped...

I know! They didn't even mention the fact that clipping them wasn't standard to the breed. They made a big deal about it on other dogs.

I never really watched the show - got sucked into it at the end, but I have to admit I was rooting for Artist because of his big heart.

I was routing for Artist too. I think he has a big heart, he has a great attitude and I don't think he comes from a great background, and he has that adorable baby. Johnathon was already grooming celebrity pets so I think he is probably pretty well off already and I am sure he will get a much larger client

During the so called judging it was mentioned the Jonathon scissored the cairn ..... but I could have sworn I saw him clippering that dog. Jonathan was asked why he scissored and not stripped or clipped the dog. He gave a very lame response...about how it was more to breed standard????

The judge Joey V (The one who runs the grooming school) actually has Cairn terriers........

Anyways....it was a reality tv show...what could we expect.......

I think the show just exemplifies that groomers in general are taught to cut, clip and shave dogs. Puppy cut, schnauzer cut, this cut, that cut. Cut, cut, cut. They ruined a lot of wire coats and double coats on the show. Just standard practice. I bet the judge who is a show dog handler had a lot more to say about that off-camera than what he said on the edited-for-TV edition. Anyway, it is up to the dog owner to know what is healthy for their own pet. Too many people ask to have their dog clipped or shaved in summer without knowing that they are damaging their dog's coat. The groomer is in it for the revenue so very few will educate the customer (if they know the dog shouldn't be clipped) about the right coat, nor will they turn away the business and income. Buyer beware. Cut, cut, cut...

I'm also glad Artist won just because he is the "nice guy" with a great attitude. Jonathan is a more experienced and probably better groomer, but I found quite a few of his arrogant comments off-putting. Anyway I wish them both success.

I was glad Artist won too, even after I was mad at him for the westie cut on his Cairn in the finals. I couldn't figure out what either of them were doing to the Maltese? I thought a puppy cut would have been better than shearing them.

Both Cairns were clipped in the final. Artist's dog had a westie cut. Jonathan's didn't look much better. It made me cringe to see those dogs clipped like that. I thought the cairn clipped in the earlier episode looked bad too.