To Strip or not to Strip

I sometimes get the question: "Do you hand strip?" My answer, shortly followed by a cringe...is "no." Hand stripping is a classic grooming technique often administered with show terriers. It is a process that aims to remove the fly-away longer strands of hair that extends longer than the shorter, more dense hairs of most terriers.
What is hand-stripping/carding?
Hand stripping involves the use of a tool called a "stripping knife" that looks like a cheese spreader or butter knife with sharp jagged teeth. It has also been referred to as "carding", the process of using the back side of a #10 finishing clipper blade. Essentially, these tools "pluck" thousands of hairs at a time out of the dog's coat, giving it the final finished look of being smooth.

stripping kife

In my opinion, unless your dog is a competitor in the prestine dog shows of the world, this is not a process worth your pet's endurance. If you can only imagine 30 to 45 minutes of constant plucking and pulling of thousands of strands of hair...it is a very torturous thing to put your pet through for no reason, except for that of cosmetic outward appearance. It's one of those things I refuse to do. In fact, I do not even own a stripping knife! There are two fantastic alternative methods to achieving a similar appearance that will leave your pet not only looking smooth and gorgeous, but feeling pampered and remaning comfortable during his/her grooming experience. When grooming, my number one goal is to make pets look their best while keeping them safe, comfortable, and stress-free. Grooming can be very difficult for some animals!
There are two ways to achieve the same smooth look of a hand-stripped terrier. One is to use a short blade size and shave off the wispy, wiry, flyaway strands of hair. The other is to blend them down to the length of the smoother, shorter hairs. I use my blending (thinning shears) to achieve this. Sure, it can be a tiresome process for the groomer, because it involves a lot of hand motion in having to blend the entire body. But, it's a far less painful experience to the animal and it looks wonderful afterwards!

A terrier mix with wispy strands of hair standing out everywhere.

see how the wisps start to blend off nicely, leaving behind the denser, desired portion of the coat.

Left: not scissored / Right: scissored

After Photo

Education is what's important for our pets! Isn't it nice to know what really goes on at the groomer's? I'm not one of those groomers who charge you extra add-on fees to put your dog through more torture. Although, sometimes, my methods or alternative options may leave an owner in a state of hesitation, my clients know that I always have their pet's best comfort and safety set as my top priority. Everything else is just in the details!

Posted by Stacey using Blogsy