Grooming advice for a newbie schnauzer owner

[onesockchief]

Hi All

All things being equal we should be getting our first schnauzer in a few weeks. A P/S mini girl.

We have fallen in love with the breed over the past year and have decided to take the plunge

My question is should we be looking for a groomer to hand strip or clipper. What is carding and what grooming would we do inbetween visits to the salon

Thanks in advance

P

[Maty]

Hi and welcome

What an exciting time for you, does your little girl have a name yet?

I am certainly not the worlds best groomer but I try! Have a read of the threads in the grooming area and you will get lots of help/ If she is going to be a pet you can have her clipped, it gives a softer coat and is less time consuming. If you want to show she will need to be stripped though. Carding is taking out the undercoat (I think!)

I try to brush Rodders through every other day, more often if we have been out in the wet and mud as he is prone to knots. I use a comb and a slicker brush (looks a it like a curry comb to me ).

The more knowledgeable will be along to correct my rubbish soon!

[Snazy]

You must have a funny curry comb if your slicker looks like one! ;)

Have a word with your breeder to see if your pup has a coat suitable to strip, if you can feel plenty of texture in the coat, then that is a good sign that the coat will strip well and easily. Some coats are not so easy to strip.

If you want a groomer to strip your mini, you will also have to commit to raking out the undercoat a couple of times each week (some here call it carding), otherwise the groomer will not be able to provide a good grooming experience for your dog as it will take them hours to get the coat out- this is why many groomers don't want to take on a hand strip mini.

Clipping will stop the top coat growing, so you will end up with just the matt, single coloured undercoat which will be soft and you won't have the 'pepper and salt' colouring that comes with a stripped coat.

Stripped coats are more work but they provide the best colour and weather proofing coat.

Have a word with your breeder about this and if they show, they can show you the difference between clipped and stripped.

[onesockchief]

Thanks for the advice, we're off to see the breeder this week and have a growing list of questions.

We are really struggling with the name - we are hoping something will come to us when we start to see her personality - she is only 4 weeks old !

Thanks again,

P

[Caramomo]

Some good threads to get you started, first some about stripping and carding;
http://www.schnauzer-forum.co.uk/viewto ... 26&t=10366
http://www.schnauzer-forum.co.uk/viewto ... 26&t=10404
http://www.schnauzer-forum.co.uk/viewto ... 16&t=10869
http://www.schnauzer-forum.co.uk/viewto ... =4&t=10272
http://www.schnauzer-forum.co.uk/viewto ... 26&t=12324
A really good clipping guide (read it all as it covers how to clip the whole dog;
http://www.schnauzer-forum.co.uk/viewto ... =26&t=7412
A discussion about a type of grooming tool called a coat king;
http://www.schnauzer-forum.co.uk/viewto ... 26&t=12219

[Cat M]

Elaine, I wonder if you should make this a sticky? I've found the links to threads really helpful to get my head around carding. I can really see a difference in Lola coat after a couple of sessions of de-fluffing. Don't think I'd have had the confidence to give it a go if I hadn't read about others experiences! Thank you

[Caramomo]

Good idea. Done.

[leoti1]

if anyone is intrested i can let people have a email address of a friend who can get the "Miniature Schnauzer Grooming with Ewa' DVD at cost price so you will be looking at £20 plus P+P just pm me and ill get back to u

[Mafia Don]

We used to hand strip our first mini (took hours and very sore thumbs). When we got our second we used stripping knives but once we got our third we realised that we couldn't keep up. A shame really because I love the wire coat that comes through

We went back to the breeder who gave us loads of advice on equipment and showed us how to clip our minis. This is so much more practical for us because of all the running/swimming/cycling our girls do with us as it makes it easier to keep them neat and tidy. I would say that clipping is a good option if your dog is going to be very active and possibly getting mucky. We were shown how to clip them to breed standard (what a complex procedure!) but have compromised on a few things to keep them pretty and 'functional', for want of a better phrase All we have to do in-between clips is check their ears/teeth etc and brush their legs and furnishings through with a pin brush/slicker brush to keep the matts out.

One thing I would recommend is, whatever method you go for, a grooming table will save your back. Any non-slip, raised surface would do, but I like the stability the tethering arm gives. One of our ladies would make a great base jumper, so this is essential for us

Enjoy your grooming time with your dog

[jaegervalder]

I second everything Gemma just said! To keep a schnauzer looking tip top takes time, and for me practicality wins every time. Long furnishing and beards do not go hand in hand with country walks and seeds etc! Cost is another issue. I could not afford to have 3 dogs clipped let alone stripped. So you need to weigh up how much time and money you are happy to put in and look at your lifestyle with your liitle girl. Good luck!

[Lulu5779]

Hi all,

It's 4 weeks until our mini comes home and I am planning to hand strip her, rolling her coat. I am a complete novice in stripping, schnauzers and dog owning.

I want to start the week she comes home and maintain her rather then one groom every 6-8 weeks.

I have being doing a lot of research and just wondering if I hand strip & card her coat weekly do I still need to by clippers for the ears, cheeks, tail, rear end etc? Or is this also hand stripped. Most information I can find on stripping is just about the main body not tails, cheeks, ears etc?

Best regards

[Dawnspell]

Some people strip cheeks and chest. I personally clip cheeks, neck (just started trying to strip out chest), bum. I cant imagine stripping bum area would be very sensitive. I use thinning scissors on ears as I don't like the hair too short. Tail can be stipped or clippered or stripped on top clippered underneath.

For a pet groom its your dog so do whatever you and your dog are happy with

I bought a cheap pair of Wahl clippers half price at around £12 in sale. I didn't want to spend a fortune as I was like you first dog, first time grooming and didn't know if I would be wasting my money. They're still ok for the little bits I do but I will replace with more expensive ones when they give up the ghost.

[Shantyll]

Hand stripping takes a while to get the hang of, I spend about 1 hour a week pulling coat I always work the coat on the same day every week. Best thing is to start them young get her used to being layed down on her side to have her sides stripped ( makes it much easier to see the hair you want to pull and helps them to relax. The grooming table is a back saver! Great investment)
When rolling the coat the coat looks horrid and moth eaten for a while before the new hair starts to grow back, then if you keep up with pulling coat it will always look beautiful. General rule of thumb you want to strip approximately every 12th hair. The hair you pull now is the new coat in about 4 weeks. I have a small pair of clippers I clip the bum and under the tail the cheeks ears pads of feet and throat. only clipper the white parts on bum and cheeks/ throat. If you are going to have a groomer strip your girl it will cost you a pretty penny. Some groomers cheat and use thinning shears on parts of the coat to debulk to save time.
If you purchase stripping knives you will need to spend some time dulling them, when you purchase them they come Sharp and will cut the coat. You could get what they call carding knives and they come dull, but are more money to purchase and harder to find. You could also use nail files and an assortment of other house hold tools to strip the coat. its a lot of work to strip the coat I find it quite fun and I have people stopping me on the street while out for walks to compliment my boys stripped coat. I heard mention of the coat king, great tool only if you are never going to show your dog. I have used it to remove hair from pet dogs I have stripped. It rakes out under coat and removes some old blown top coat. You can pretty well just rake the coat once a week with the coat king and pull a little hair here and there.
Hope some of this info has helped.

[Maty]

Hi and welcome

What an exciting time for you, does your little girl have a name yet?

I am certainly not the worlds best groomer but I try! Have a read of the threads in the grooming area and you will get lots of help/ If she is going to be a pet you can have her clipped, it gives a softer coat and is less time consuming. If you want to show she will need to be stripped though. Carding is taking out the undercoat (I think!)

I try to brush Rodders through every other day, more often if we have been out in the wet and mud as he is prone to knots. I use a comb and a slicker brush (looks a it like a curry comb to me ).

The more knowledgeable will be along to correct my rubbish soon!

Oh how we change over the years

Can I say that stripping actually takes no more time than clipping, you just do a little more often.

I now use a comb rather than brushes on legs.

[Dawnspell]

Can I say that stripping actually takes no more time than clipping, you just do a little more often.

How much time a week do you spend stripping /carding each week ? or another way How long does it take you to do Rodders ?

Having never clipped a full dog I wouldn't have thought it would take more than 4 hours including bath, drying and clipping every 6-8 weeks I'd say I spend up to an hour a week faffing stripping That's not including routine combing, nail grinding, teeth brushing that has to be done anyway.