Help - hand stripping question

[KellyP]

oki - so I have my Jackie Merris Brey Video, I have several combs, a slicker, some scisors, some elastics bands .. and very very sore fingers  

But I think I am either missing something (well actually i *know* I am missing something    ) or I have mis understood somewhere along the line.

I have been attempting to hand strip Millie now for the last, well since I found this forum and read how to do it actually! However she still looks fluffy and her coat seems to have "dry ends" or at least thats what its looks like - the ends are going brown and kinda crinkley  :-

I can't get her head nice and smooth like you see in the pictures and videos and she still has a load of puppy fluff in her legs, under her belly and on her chest.

She isn't a great fan of being stripped   and tends to nibble and wriggle.

What am I supposed to do with the afro puppy fluff in her legs/belly? just let it work its own way out and just groom regularly? or should I have stripped this too?

Is it Ok to hand strip her chest - by this I mean from under her chin to her front legs (obviously I wouldn't hand strip under her actual chin - YYEEEOUCH!! - but can/should I do her chest?
And what about her quarters and rump - are they OK to hand strip - Jackie Merris Bray says not, but I can't imagine how thinning scissors are going to sort out Millie's fuzzy back end   :-

How do I know if I have pulled out too much?? apart from the bald patches ...  

Sorry for all the questions (I am full of questions tonight   ) and sorry if these have all been asked before - they probably have                      

[Pammy]

Kelly - how old is Millie?                    

[KellyP]

she 9 months now Pammy - but over the last few weeks her fur has become very wooly and very loose, almost coming out in chunks, and it was dead easy ... I suppose whats left to come out isn't quite ready yet and when it does I guess she'll be left smooth   even tho its hard to budge using my fingers and thumbs, I can still get quite a bit out with a medium toothed comb and an elastic band.

On her head I can see the smooth adult fur just below the puppy fluff - but most of her head is refusing to budge now                    

[Jane S]

Kelly, are you sure you're giving it enough welly? I think sometimes when you are learning to strip, you're afraid to pull the hair too hard & so you don't get much out I would think the fluff on Millie's head should be ready to shift now - it's dead hair so should come away if you have a firm grip & just work on a few hairs at a time.

Re the area from under the chin to the chest bone, no you don't handstrip this - use your thinners to trim most of your hair around here. You would also use thinners around & underneath her tail & a little bit down her backside (too painful to pluck here) although you should try to handstrip the thighs as much as poss. You don't take any hair from the belly - this hair will grow down & become adult feathering. You would try & strip any excess hair sticking out at the side of the body though. Imagine a line along the body in line with the elbow & strip as far down as that. Legs have been covered fairly recently I'm sure - you'll probably find it if you scroll down the board a bit.

Hope that helps though it is really difficult to teach grooming techniques by words alone

Jane                    

[KellyP]

thanks Jane ... perhaps I am being too soft - but she doesn't half wriggle  :-
I'll try being tougher next time *flexes her muscles* - I'll probably end up with bitten knuckles    

One last question   Is it ok to pluck the bit above her tail? - kinda her lower back region?                    

[Pammy]

I find above the tail comes out with a bit of plucking and with the comb.

I pull the coat up to get a smooth tight surface and pull the coat down it. You have to be careful to get hold just right or you can hurt them I grab firmly about the shoulder blades end pull up towards the head. If that's not working - then some careful use of thinners does the trick.                    

[KellyP]

Thanks Jane and Pammy - I shall post the results in the next couple of weeks ... here's hoping its not too much of a mess                      

[Mike]

I thought I'd gotten as much out as possible too, Kelly - until I tried plucking wearing a rubber glove ( ) recommended by some of the members - and you wont believe the amount of difference it makes! Especially on top of the head, where her hair is really thick.                    

[KellyP]

Well I just thought I'd let you all know that I went ahead and bought some asda smart price rubber gloves and have proceded to pluck Millie a bit more, and blimey it does make a difference !! her back is practically smooth and silky .. still a few wiry woolly hars hiding around, but unfortunately Millie likes to chew the rubber glove .. which causes a few problems        however when I tried it she was on the floor (albeit on her special "brushing mat" which I usually put own on the table when I brush her) she was reasonably good but the lure of the glove got the better of her in the end - next time on the table hopefully she'll be much better.

The big problem comes with her head - rubber glove in full view ...    

thanks again peeps                      

[Pammy]

Excellent news Kelly - keep it up                    

[Gilly]

Kelly, i would cut all the fingers off the gloves...and put one on your thumb and one on your forefinger....this way she won't be tempted to bite your hand.....Butty wasn't too keen when  she saw the Smart Prices coming out...now i just use the cut of fingers and she doesn't seem to mind at all                    

[KellyP]

hmm - hadn't thought of that Gilly .. sounds like a plan   - the art of illusive ninja style rubber glove plucking .. she'll never even suspect