Cocker Specific Discussion > Grooming

Help - hand stripping question

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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  ::)  ;D

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

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