HAND STRIPPING YOUR PET TERRIER

This article is addressed to terrier owners who are following their breeder's advice to have the dog's coat hand stripped rather than clipped, and are not sure quite what to expect. Because hand stripping is a very different process than is grooming by clipping and scissoring, the grooming result may also be quite different, and it is important to have realistic expectations.

First, let's review the reasons for hand stripping. Harsh coated terriers, such as Airedale, Wire Fox, Irish, Norwich, Norfolk, Cairn, West Highland (Westie), Scottish, and Welsh Terriers have double coats. Each hair follicle supports a single hard outer hair and several soft finer hairs that form the supportive undercoat. The characteristic rich color and hard texture is formed by the outer hairs. As these hairs grow out and become old, they become thin, soft and faded at the roots. More of the softer hairs push their way out of the hair follicle. The purpose of hand stripping is to remove the old faded hairs so that new growth can occur, and to muck out excess fuzzy undergrowth that may be jamming the hair follicle.

When the coat is not refreshed by stripping out the old, several things can happen: The coat can lose color and become faded, the ratio of fuzzy stuff to hard hair can be altered so that texture is lost, and the hair follicles can become plugged up with fine hairs and oily sebum. This can even lead to skin problems, such as the pimples or "acne" that is sometimes found on Miniature Schnauzers. If the hair is clipped or cut rather than pulled out, the growth of harsh new coat is inhibited, and the entire coat can become faded and soft. In some breeds, such as Airedales, the once black jacket becomes grizzled colored or greyish, the red brown becomes light brown and the leg furnishings become straw colored.

This is Finnegan, a Glen of Imaal Terrier whose body coat (called the "jacket") is very overgrown and ready for some major stripping.


If I lift and separate a section of this coat, you can see how it is nearly white at the roots. In fact, all the color is on the outer inch and a half of the hairs.
If we were to cut of the ends of this coat, or clip it, Finnegan would become a beige boy, instead of having his nice color.

MORE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CLIPPING AND HAND STRIPPING

• Hand stripping requires considerably more time than grooming with clippers. This means it will cost a lot more to have it done professionally. This is also a reason that many professional groomers decline to offer the service. Hand stripping is a very specialized service that does not fit well with a high volume grooming operation. Hand stripping is very picky work! :-)
  
• The end result of hand stripping requires hair growth. Although a hand stripped grooming can include considerable "tidying up" of the overall appearance, when major work is done on any area, it may look ratty until the new growth comes in. Clipped and scissored grooming can deliver a consistent finished result; hand stripping is a work in progress.
• Results of hand stripping can vary from groom to groom. If your dog is being worked on regularly, your groomer may be prioritizing different areas on different visits. In my work, sometimes I am focusing on the jacket, other times the head needs a lot of my time, and I cannot always do everything on every visit as I can with clip/scissor work.
  
• Full stripping, "staging" the coat, and "rolling" the coat. A "full strip" is generally when the coat has completely grown out and the groomer takes it all off, down to the fuzzy stuff. Some groomers call this "stripping to the underwear." If the dog does not have much underwear, it can be rather bald. In 10-12 weeks the dog will look great, but walking out of the grooming establishment she can look, well, can we say "butt ugly"? "Staging" the coat is often done in preparation for a presentation on a certain date, such as a dog show or grooming competition. In this format, different parts of the coat are stripped along a schedule, so that everything is at the right length on the Big Day. "Rolling" the coat is how dogs that are being campaigned on the show circuit are groomed to maintain the desired appearance. This requires at least weekly working of the coat. That way, there is always a layer of new growth coming in. Although we often call frequent pet grooming "rolling" the coat, it is nearly impossible to keep on top of a coat with less than weekly work.
  

Here is more of our work on Finnegan. This picture shows the difference between the area that has been worked and the fuller area that is untouched.

This is not exactly a "full strip", as you can see there are still quite a few light hairs that could be pulled out if we were going all the way. When Finn returns in 8 weeks, these will be removed, and he should have the beginnings of a new layer of firm, dark coat. Before I called it "good enough" on this day, the coat looked like this:


And here is Finnegan as he walked out the door. I confess that I cheated on his ears. I usually hand strip the Glen Terrier ears, but Finn's ears were looking raw from the stripping, so I elected to use the clippers. In my opinion, a little "cheating" with the use of clippers and/or thinning shears is acceptable on a pet. I also cheated on the underside of his tail where he is sensitive. Who cares? Not me. My goal as a pet groomer is to work within the time available, the individual dog's coat and tolerance, and use all my skills and tools to achieve the best possible results. Here he is:


Here's the Before/After


For me, hand stripping is a lot like gardening. I am working for what it is going to look like, as well as what it looks like today. Each "crop" of hair is a little different, and each dog has an individual pattern and rate of growth. I find it fascinating and rewarding, but it does require a little more work to get the customer's expectations lined up with how I work. I hope that this article helps both other groomers and pet owners understand the process a little better.

To book an appointment, in Tucson, Arizona, you can find me at Transformation Pet Center.