[linnealand]

Do any of you hand strip your dogs?

Do you have any strong opinions regarding hand stripping?

[tickle]

Hand stripping?

[starbuck8]

Linney, what is hand stripping? I've never heard of it. Can you explain?

[linnealand]

Okay, first let me say that I'm not really familiar with the technique, so I can't tell you too much about it. That's why I asked the question...

My basic understanding of it is that certain breeds of dogs (I suppose it's really certain purebreds) have different levels to their coats. They also have different stages within their coat's growth, depending on age and/or depending on seasons.

I have heard about hand stripping as related to certain terriers and (at least English) cocker spaniels. I have an English cocker puppy, so this is why I'm especially curious.

Within the English cocker spaniel breed, there are two main divisions: there is the working-type dog and the show-type dog. They actually have quite different coats, and their bodies/muzzles are slightly different. I have a show-type.

Okay, now, as a show-type puppy grows from about 2 months to 6-8 months (or even up to a year), they grow this crazy looking fur. They start to look like afghan puppies rather than cockers. Many people say they look like teddy bears (they really, really do), or baby woolly mammoths, etc... the most notable peculiarities in fur change occur on the cheeks/sides of the face and on top of the head. On their heads, they grow long fur, which really looks like a false wig or a toupee. On the sides of the cheeks, there are *big* (in my case) white tufts, at least a couple of inches long, like a handlebar mustache or a foo-man-choo kind of thing.

When the cocker reaches a certain age, which can range anywhere from 6 months to a year, the extra fur starts to come away when pulled, kind of like pulling lint off a sweater.

This is where "hand stripping" comes in. it's pulling away the dead hair with your fingers.

One important detail is that this should not be done if the fur is not ready to come out on its own. It must *not* hurt the dog.

Now, some people would rather cut the excess fur when grooming, either with special grooming tools designed for this purpose, or with clippers, etc.. The reason not everybody decides to cut the fur is that cutting this particular kind of fur will permanently damage the coat. It will become rough. So, for starters, anyone who shows their cockers will never cut this part of the fur (although other parts of the fur can be cut with clippers or groomed with various scissors). The reason some people use clippers, etc. is because it's fast and easy.

So, I have to make a choice with our pup, because he will require grooming sooner or later (he's 6 1/2 months now). I think the extra fur is actually really, really cute (it is!). :) I have no problem with waiting for it to come out on its own.

So, since I had never even heard of hand stripping before, I wanted to know if this is something people know about, or if it's such a tiny, breed-specific thing that no one would know anything about it.

I'm looking for people who might have experience with this. I was wondering what other breeds get hand stripped. It's a curious thing...

(p.s. I belong to an English cocker forum, and I am in contact with our breeder, who will eventually do the first grooming, so I am not shooting in the dark on my own.)

I'm just looking for more information, especially since information about it online seems to be rather limited.

Ugh.

[MELoo]

I have never hand stripped a dog, however you can do that with horses and I know it doesn't hurt. Its called pulling, and you pull your horses tail so that it isn't too long. I'm sure it is fine, otherwise take him/her to the groomers. My boyfrineds parents have one, the always get him groomed, when he's done he looks great!

[starbuck8]

Thanks for clearing that up Linney. I see what you mean now. I used to have an American Cocker, so this must be more specific to English Cockers, because I never saw this type of fur growth on my little boy.

I've never heard of it hurting the coat in any way, but that also might be an isolated characteristic of the English Cocker. I have done this "hand stripping" with Niki many times, and also with my other two dogs that were mixed breeds. You could tell when it was ready to come out, and would pull out very easily, and didn't hurt at all.

With that said, I guess I really can't comment on the Cockers. If I come across anything on the subject however, I'll be sure to let you know. Sorry I couldn't have been of more help to you. ;)

[MELoo]

Your welcome! :)

[tickle]

I never thought of googling, this, but there is quite a bit of info there.

[rex123]

I'm not sure if it's the same thing but when rex goes into the shedding season I can pull out a lot of his hair and he seems to like it. If you wouldn't like to pull it out with your hands, couldn't you get a grooming brush? The other day my mom said she was fed up with the hair, we went in town and she bought a deshedding tool, it works really good! Its called the fur fiend!

[linnealand]

I'm not sure if its the same thing but when rex goes into the shedding season I can pull out a lot of his hair and he seems to like it. If you wouldn't like to pull it out with your hands, couldn't you get a grooming brush? The other day my mom said she was fed up with the hair, we went in town and she bought a deshedding tool, it works really good! Its called the fur fiend!

It sounds like it very well could be. I know that when cockers and terriers are done, you can take off great amounts of long fur, and what's left is a short, pretty layer of fur underneath. I was talking about hand stripping with a woman yesterday, and she said that when her otherwise beige and gray toned terriers get stripped at the groomer's, they come out with a black coat underneath.

I use two kinds of brushes and two kinds of combs on a regular basis. The slicker brush I use should be able to pull out loose hairs, but almost nothing does! The other tools are a round metal brush, a metal comb with rotating teeth, and a flea comb, which I bought because the teeth are so close together that it will also clean the fur by pulling out excess dirt and dust.

I'm guessing the fur fiend is like the furminator? There's an online video demonstration of it somewhere... and there's a dog sitting next to what looks like another dog, but it's just an enormous pile of excess fur. :D

Have you tried it yet? It's supposed to be amazing, and it can save a home from serious shedding problems.

I haven't seen it up close, and I might be wrong, but I have heard that it has some edges which cut the dead fur a bit (at least with the furminator). I haven't ordered one for that reason. This is part of what's so amazing about the differences in coats -- and coat care -- from one breed to the next. I know that my breeder would kill me if I cut my pup's fur by mistake... even cutting dead hair (at least on english cockers) will permanently change the coat. Well, actually, certain parts can be cut and certain parts you can't. It boggles my mind. I'm going to wait to purchase anything else until I meet with the breeder for Sugar's first official grooming.

I don't mind pulling the fur with my fingers at all. Actually, I know there are tricks you can use to make it easier. If you wear latex finger cots, using latex gloves or by rubbing your fingers with corn starch first.

I think only part of Sugar's wig and cheek puffs are ready to come out, so I'm having to wait a little first.

Oh! I have to mention something I just tried that was recommended to me in an english cocker forum. Try intertwining an elastic (a rubber band) between the teeth of a metal comb, and then brush it through. If rex has fur that is ready to be stripped, it can come out with the prepped comb. The rest of the fur stays where it is. I was surprised at how well it worked!

[Alty]

I pull the dead fur out of my dogs all the time Linny. They love it because it's itchy, so pulling it out feels good.

I have three dogs, the oldest two are mixes. Indy (13) is a Lab/border collie cross and gets quite a lot of winter fur. In the spring I can pull out an entire garbage bag of dead fur. I also use a shedding comb because I can't get to the undercoat with my fingers.

The second dog is a Border collie cross and has just as much fur to remove as the lab. With him I usually just use the comb because his hair is coarser and it's not as easy to get the dead fur out with my hands.

Of course the beagle doesn't shed a lot, yet. ;)

You'll know when the fur is ready to come out. With my dogs the dead fur is a different color, it's usually in a clump. You don't even have to pull very hard, just pinch it between your fingers and it comes right out. It's not even attached anymore, it's just stuck in the healthy fur.

I hope this helped. :)

[linnealand]

Alty, thanks. It did help. :)

[starbuck8]

You know what could also help a bit Linney? You know the kitchen or gardening gloves you can get with the grips? They have, like a pimplely surface? They aren't too rough, and might be helpful also. Just a thought. ;)