Show Grooming help

[linda76]

Hello!!!

First of all, i will apologise for my bad english, but it's all that i got, so i hope that you understand me.

My name is sandra and i'm from Portugal. I've got two male cockers (a black one and a blue roan one) that i'm starting to take into shows....

It's me that makes his own grooming, but i'm afraid that with what i've read so far, i'm making some mistakes.....  :?

I do some hand stripping in him, but, for example, in their head, the hair doesn't go out (speccially in the roan) and i finish for taking his hair with thinnings scissours....

Another problem that i've is the hair near the neck (in the sides): i do hand stripping, but again, it doesn't  get out much hair, so i finish to use a stripping knife, to get them a straight look.... i'm i doing wrong?

And finnally, how much hair shoul i leave is the sides (all body)?  

I've seen the photos in the other posts, mas i don't think they are for show purposes....

Thank's

Sandra, Ralph and Black                    

[Jane S]

Hi Sandra

Welcome to Cockers Online From what I have seen, the trimming of show Cockers can differ from country to country - from looking at photos of Cockers from Spain & Portugal for example, it seems that exhibitors do scissor more than UK exhibitors do so it may be that using a stripping kife as you do is ok in your country. If you want to do more by hand, have you tried using chalk rubbed into the coat before you start stripping? Do you use rubber thimbles or gloves to give you a better grip? Both these things can help make hand stripping easier, although some Cockers have more difficult coats than others. Also how old are your boys? Could it be that the coat is not yet ready to come out if they are still puppies? Sorry about all the questions, just trying to get the full picture

When you ask about the sides, I think you are asking how far to strip the body coat down to before the feathering starts? It's a good idea to look at photos of very good Cockers in show stance - you will see that in most cases, the hair is stripped to an imaginary line drawn just above the elbow to the rear leg.

Jane                    

[linda76]

hi Jane,

thanks for your answer... my cockers have 2 and almost 3 years... not pupies.  :wink:

Honestly, i'll try the gloves, and if not the chalk... but my biggest problem is the blue roan head... is that his hair doesn't fall a bit. I've let their hair grow a bit, and now is good for hand stripping.... but his head...

what you've seen in the sites is true..... but i want to learn to do it correctly, you see?

The sides question his that both my dogs are very different one of them, the black has too many hair in the sides, in the front legs and in the back legs....

The other one doesn't have much hair in their back legs.... so, i've watched many photos, but i didn't get what is correct, yet.

If you want, you may see a copy of my black dog (his father) here:

http://stocdale.jvarnoso.com/Stocodale_eng/fire.htm

thanks for the advices!!!!

Sandra