Welcome to My Page on Grooming and Stripping

Here are the directions for stripping that I have.

Starting to Strip

The first step is to pull the long, outer coat from the skin with your forefinger and thumb or with a stripping knife. Always pull in the direction the hair grows. Grasping small amounts of hair close to the skin, pull with a quick, sharp action. do not try to pull large clumps. Rather, with a repeating action, pull only a few hairs at a time. The hair should never be cut. Start with the dog on the grooming table - preferably with his lead attached to a convenient support to maintain him in a standing position, or show pose. NEVER leave a dog UNATTENDED when tied up in this manner. Comb and brush out all mats. Strip the coat from the neck, body, ail rear, forehead, cheeks, throat, and ears. Specifically, strip the head bare along a line from the corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth. The eyebrows are defined by plucking the air short between the eyes, continuing the flat plane of the forehead. Strip down the shoulders to the elbow. In the rear, strip the body down to the junction of the upper thigh and the tuck-up in an arch across the upper thigh to the point of the buttocks. Be sure to strip around the rib cage,well behind the elbows before leaving any longer belly hair. Strip the hair on the fore-chest until it is even with the front legs. You may use the scissors around the rectum, between the hind legs, to clean the belly area and to straighten the bottom edge of the chest hair. When complete, your dog will be wearing only a covering of under-coat which is usually held tight by the skin. Wait about four weeks and then strip off all this fuzz.

Second Phase - Blending

This next stage is a process of tapering the hair from areas of short to long so there is no demarkation. It takes more know-how than just pulling out hair. You must learn, by experience, how much to pull and where to pull it. With your dog stripped to the skin and the rest as yet untouched, the areas that need blending should be obvious; at the elbow, over the upper thigh, along the line of the chest hair and at the whiskers. Starting with the front legs, comb the leg hair up or backwards. As it is standing away from the leg, start pulling at the top where you stopped stripping the body coat. As you work, view the leg from all sides and try to achieve a cylindrical shape. Pull a few hairs and then comb in place to see the results. Then brush up again and pull a few more hairs. Repeat his action, working downward, leaving only enough hair to create a straight, smooth continuatin of the shoulder and the desire cylindrical shape. In the rear quarters, you should blend along the arch over the upper thigh. Use the same procedure. Brush up the leg hair, start at the top by pulling a few hairs, comb into place to see the results, then repeat. Be sure to view your work from both the side and the rear in order to create a mooth, well shaped outline. The hind legs are groomed in a cylindrical shape from the point of the hock down to the foot. Blend the body into the longer chest hair in a similar manner. Be sure to avoid a shirt or fringe like appearance. Blend the whiskers forward along the line from the corner of the eye to the corner of the mouth and under the jaw. Comb up, pull, brush all whiskers forward, and repeat.

Third Phase - Shaping

This finishing step consists of finger picking and lightly stripping the leg hair and whiskers. You should have a mental picture of the ideal Wire, or study photos of a properly groomed Wire. This will help you improve your work. The forehead, cheeks, throat and ears should have been stripped according to Step No. 1, and the edges blended as in Step No. 2. Now, continue shaping the whiskers into a rectangle, a few hairs at a time, being careful not to take too much from under the eyes. The hair over the top fo the foreface should be kept short and dense and level with the forehead, thus filling in the slight stop. The edges of the eyebrows and the hair from the corner of the mouth along the upper and lower lips may be evened with scissors. The front legs should get a complete once over. Even the edges by pulling the lkongest hairs, keeping in mind the cylindrical shape. Any efforts to correct faults should be done now. Hair at the pastern should be brushed up and kep short. The toenails should be cut and filed. Scissor around the foot to keep the round "cat paw" shape. Tidy the edges of the hindquarters in the same manner, working from both the side and the rear. Blend the hair at the tuck-up into the inside of the leg. The upper and lower thighs should curve gently to the pastern, which shuld drop perpendicularly to the floor. From the rear, create a straight true line from the upper high thigh to the foot. Hocks should not appear to turn either in or out. Keep the hair on the inside of the legs short. It will take 8 to 10 weeks for a new coat to grow in. The head, neck, and rear have to be stripped often to keep them clean. As the coat grows longer, you may keep your dog tidy by "topping" the coat - that is, pulling any long hairs that do not lie tight.