Home Hand Stripping

[Tracy A.]

I had Mett on the grooming table today and decided to snap a few pictures as I worked on him. I know that when talk about hand stirpping the jacket it's confusing for anyone who hasn't see it done in person. I would not say that I am a very good groomer at all... just barely passable..LOL I feel like I should add a disclaimer to this post!!

Here is Mett- The coffee can is to keep him from sitting down, I worked on stripping his jacket today.

In small sections, starting just behind the shoulder you take small sections of hair and remove the longest hairs.... blending on a downward angle.. I've drawn lines in to show my rows I am going to work. Now it is best to overlap the rows as you strip so you do not miss anyting.

Before picture of a section before strip with the pumic stone..

[sheila and Misty]

dont stop there-show All the steps... some of us need step by step picture demonstration

[Tracy A.]

After picture of same section, see how it's stripped on a downward angle... you contine this on the sides, hind legs, front legs... On the back you strip straight across, using sections from the neck to the rump... When I say straight across this is so all the hairs are as even as possible...

I also worked on Mett's tail, and here are a few my short cuts!!!

I comb the tail out so it's flat from the top, then I strip the longest hairs, the rest i'll so with scissors- I trip a little so I get some hard hair growing in... otherwise his tail is very soft...

Next, I comb his tail out from the side... so it you hold it up, all the hair is brushed flat in profile.

[Tracy A.]

Then I take the scissors and cut in a wide arc... here is an after picture... you can see exactly what i did between the two shots..

If you use that trick you'll get a great looking tail!

I also work the top of the tail, brushing the hair up just like you did with the other sides.... like Brad has said before, think of the tail as 3-d...

It's really hard to strip and take photos.. Here I am pulling some of the longest hairs with a pumice stone on Mett's tail... this is just to get some hard hair texture growing in.... I use scissors as the primary shapping tool on him...

As I work legs i'll take more photos, but it's the same basic premis, work the section in rows that you overlap, blend downard angle..... where the two join like at the side and hind leg, blend the two sections together by taking the hair in a single section from both border areas.... Sounds a lot harder than it is...

My neighboors must just love me, I've been putting my grooming table right in front of the house the last few times...LOL I was doing it on the driveway... but i'm opting to put the grooming table right outside our front door lately! I guess my redneck roots are showing....LOL

[sheila and Misty]

thank you! you are now in my favorites

[Tracy A.]

At the top of the post is should say " I am Not a very good groomer"

[kjwarnold]

Great demo photos. I've been trying to hand strip my boys and I'm doing okay but it's always good to see someone else working on it. Wow, Mett has a really full, bushy tail! I guess Packy's is similar but his is the coarsest part of his coat.

Funny about you stripping right out your front door. Just tell 'em the light is better there!

[Tracy A.]

Wow, Mett has a really full, bushy tail! I guess Packy's is similar but his is the coarsest part of his coat.

What you don't see in the photos is the fact that I had used a furnminator on Mett and had taken off about 1/2 his coat already... Mett had the most hair and undercoat of any Cairn i've ever seen. His tail is the one body part I pretty much leave the hair intact and just 'shape' it. when Mett needs grooming, he fluffs out and looks twice his normal size!!

[sheila and Misty]

At the top of the post is should say " I am Not a very good groomer"

we'll see-just show a picture of the finished product! (ya know..the WHOLE dog) but no matter at least your on your way and every time youve got to improve-you know what they say about practice

[josie&holly]

Does a "furnminator" work well on Cairn's coats - I was concerned that might remove undercoat rather than top coat?

Holly was originally stripped when she was been shown, but the breeder then just trimmed with scissors [yes, I know wrong] her when she had litters, so that is what I have had done since I got her as have not found a groomer who would strip. So seen this thing advertised here in the dog magazines in get but they seem to say that it removed the undercoat and I thought you did not touch that.

[Tracy A.]

Well, the good and bad of using a furminator, is that it pulls hair out... but you really don't have any control over how much... so it's easy to put 'holes in the fur' so you see undercoat. I know that if you use very short strokes you can target underfur rather than top coat.... and with long strokes target top coat.

But in reality the most controled way to groom (other than cutting the coat) is hand stripping some of the coat.

What you dont' see in the photo of Mett... is the hole in his fur with undercoat showing on the other side!!LOL

See I used the furminator too much in a section.

So next topic, I need help with doing the necks of the boys.... I love that sleek neck of show cairns and would love to get something close... but i'm jsut not sure how to go about it.... Any tips/suggestions?

[bradl]

Any post of mine on the subject of grooming should be weighed down with ten pounds of disclaimers

Re neck: the way I've seen it done effectively is to put the noose high up on the neck (or use a show lead and wrap that around the grooming arm) so that it is tight behind the ears and lifted straight up. Then pull everything *behind* the lead in the direction of body coat, and down to body level (if that makes sense). Even the back of the head, from the occiput on down. Everything in front of the lead gets pulled forward away from the body, towards the face. It seems to take particular effort to weed down the area right behind the jaw as there often seems to be a cowlick there.

Almost everywhere else on the Cairn body the effect seems to be of simply blending one plane to the next, with no sharp or obvious transitions. Everything just looks like it naturally grew that way (to quote Bill McFadden).

Re furminator - I don't think it's really necessary for 95% of Cairns. It is wicked effective for removing undercoat, but it's rare that undercoat is an issue for general grooming. An ordinary pin brush will thin it out during seasonal changes etc. Sound like Mett is a coat-growing machine, so he may benefit from the full arsenal.

[Cairnmania]

Mystic,

I particularly admire your coffee can trick! Brilliant idea.

[Tracy A.]

Mystic,

I particularly admire your coffee can trick! Brilliant idea.

I have sticky felt around the outside so it won't roll off the table.... and provides a little padding. I got this trick from my grooming teacher.

[Shazza]

Great idea with the coffee can!

What is sticky felt?

[Tracy A.]

Great idea with the coffee can!

What is sticky felt?

Felt with self-adhesive on one side so you can stick it to stuff... that's what I did on the can put Felt with the adhesive side down on the can.

[Shazza]

Ahh, gotcha!

I will have to get some of that. Thanks for the great little tip!

When I recently groomed Max, he kept wanting to sit down, not anymore!

[Tracy A.]

Re neck:Then pull everything *behind* the lead in the direction of body coat, and down to body level (if that makes sense). Even the back of the head, from the occiput on down. Everything in front of the lead gets pulled forward away from the body, towards the face. It seems to take particular effort to weed down the area right behind the jaw as there often seems to be a cowlick there.

Brad, I started working on Bratt's neck, he has a lot less fur than Mett- I've found that I have little topcoat that is left as I'm stripping away... the bulk of hair on his neck is blown and as i'm taking it down to body level i'm left with few hairs that are short enough not to pull. He'll be funny looking with his underwear showing on just his neck!

So it looks to me like I want to have a vastly shorter top coat on his neck than on his jacket... then again I think that I have a tendency to leave the boys with a longer coat opting to roll coats with a lot of blown hair rather than take them down to the underwear.... Which Metty would hate me for since he has so much fur... and my husband would stop talking to me because his boys looked funny..LOL

[bradl]

Ideally it wouldn't really be *vastly* shorter. But if the coat is blown, yep, your choices are to take it all down, or leave some sparse dead coat as a faux coat. You can roll the neck just the same as the body. You could minimize a turtle effect (naked neck poking out of a bulky body) by keeping the top of the jacket pulled pretty tight along the topline, and blending the sides of the neck down into the shoulders.

[lish82]

i can just shave her wit a shavers?.

[Sandi16]

Lish.. idealy.. no you shouldn't.

[Nancee]

Hi Everyone ~

I just had my 5 month old Cairn into the groomer this weekend. I chose this particular groomer since she said over the phone that she could do the hand stripping I requested. When I arrived at her shop, she proceeded to talk me into a "clip" rather than the hand stripping. She told me that since Piper is going to be a pet and not a show dog, that I would be putting her through a painful unnecessary ordeal. I am mad at myself for not sticking to my guns and allowing the clip job. Now Piper looks like a cream colored Westie. Not the look I wanted. Can anyone please let me know if there is any hope for her coat to come back like it should??

[bradl]

Sure, she's only five months old and has her whole life to grow many new coats! It may take a few growth cycles. Think long term.

[Nancee]

Thanks for the response. I was just worried because I've read that a Cairn coat can be permanently damaged with just one clipping.

[bradl]

Well anything is possible, but at some point if you qualify every single answer with every possible outcome, it ends up not being very helpful. For the most part, Cairns are active and prey-driven. For the most part, it's a poor idea to let Cairns off-lead. For the most part, coats are regenerative.

With dogs it really doesn't matter what you say, someone will have had a different experience and for sure a different opinion. Mine is that it's so unlikely that a puppy's coat would be permanently ruined from a single clipping as a wee puppy that it would be pointless to qualify. And what's to be gained? Relax and enjoy your cutie - they are so rambunctious and busy at that age.