To Clip Or Not To Clip

[Annette]

Hi all.

Ever since we brought Buddy home I have been determined to do my best to strip him, and never have him clipped. Not because we have any plans to show him or anything, just that I wanted to keep him cocker-ish, and worried that once clipped we wouldn't be able to go back to hand stripping.

At 8 months old he seems to be almost ready to strip, some bits of fuzz come away relatively easily although he doesn't particularly like it.

However he has discovered water in a BIG way, and all of our walks take us past water (we live practically on a flood plain!). The main river is ok, just mud on the way in and out, but the stream and "swamp" are disgusting. He comes out smelling awful, and on a bad day carries much of the grit, muck and gunk home with him.

He is getting used to being hosed down, but as his feathers get longer thay are getting dreadfully knotted as we try to get this yucky stuff out, and it's a nightmare getting him dry and combed out again.

I know the obvious solution would be to keep him on the lead past these mucky parts, and we have tried to do that, but tonight, for instance, Steve and Buddy met up with one of his little Westie friends so allowed him off for a run. This of course ended in the water (bemused Westie just looked on!).  Also, we really enjoy watching him loving the river and swimming.


SOOOOOOOO..........what do you think? Would it be kinder all round to just have him clipped? Or is there some other way a complete novice like me could learn to cope with the mixture of film-star looks, and gutter dog personality?


Sorry this is so long. I vanish for a while then return with an epic!

[Cob-Web]

I have resisted the temptation to clip Molo - despite daily hosings  

I use the "elastic band in the comb teeth" technique and a coat-king - but up until a few weeks ago, I had left the length in his feathering, which was getting more and more unmanageable  

Then, we met up with Caroline and Alfie after his haircut at the groomers - and I noticed he'd had a lot of length cut off his feathers (front and back) and the hair on the front of his front legs thinned out quite a bit. He still looks like a cocker, but a clean and tidy one  

So, I took the "cocker by the ears" and tried to replicate this look    For a first attempt, its not bad - I'm really pleased with his back legs, his front are a bit tatty this time, but I'm sure I'll get better with practice  

He is much easier to clean now than he was with the length in his feathering; and brushing and combing is alot easier to  

HTH

[suki1964]

Annette, heres a picture of him to show you. The feet have been cut right back because of the grass seed problem, usually I have the hair left on them and just have them trimmed

Alfie

[Cob-Web]

Annette, heres a picture of him to show you. The feet have been cut right back because of the grass seed problem, usually I have the hair left on them and just have them trimmed

Alfie

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Thank you CAroline - hope you dodn't mind me volunteering him as a model; I can't get Molo to stand still for long enough; he sits or lies down at every opportunity  

[shonajoy]

Hamish is the same, and I have thinned a lot of hair off his feathers recently. I'd never want to stop the menace jumping in muddy puddles, so the compromise is shorter hair. He hates being groomed at the best of times, and gets stressed out if I tug, so, short it is.

[Annette]

That's all really helpful, thanks!

Caroline, did you do that yourself? How?? edited to say: "Annette, just read the d****d posts will you!"

I may have to just go to the groomer recommended some time ago!

Do you think it's worth seeing what his coat looks like when he's all grown up? Or do the feathers not thin out with all the pup-fuzz going? (not that he has much of that tbh. That would be the other shame - I was hoping he'd have a lovely manageable coat like his mum).

Please keep the advice coming. I'm not thinking of doing him tonight!

[suki1964]

Annette I WAS doing him myself untill I found a lass in the next street. I found it so stressfull as he hated it and wiggled and groaned and yelped and Im such a wimp Id give in For the £20 she charges its well worth it plus I get a free morning once in a while

What you cant tell from the picture is that hes also been really thinned out along his middle so now hes not getting so matted in the arm pits as he did. I still keep on top of it all with the comb and elastic band but to have someone else do the scissoring is a blessing

I now have a contact for hand stripping so once he starts getting scruffy again I shall book him in. I think Im probably looking for too much when it comes to his coat, I look at those dogs who have been stripped and think yummy, but comparing Alfie to say Molo (same age) theres such a difference is coat texture (Molos in much finer and silkier) that I think its never going to happen and that Alfies coat will always need to be kept under control with regular trims and thinning out with the scissors.

And now I have to seriously think about castration which is also going to effect his coat  

[~Jilly~]

Bella is also turning into a bit of a water baby so I can sympathise, every time we come back from our walk I pick her up at the front door, carry her upstairs and plonk her straight in the bath. She doesn't get a bath as such, just clean water to paddle and splash in - thing is, she loves that as much as the lake so now everytime one of us is in the bath or I'm cleaning it, Bella's there, paws on the side, head dangling in - can I have a go mum?

It is starting to get tiring now as it's every day but I'm really reluctant to cut her hair, I love her curly locks

My sister-in-law is a dog groomer and keeps saying things like 'bring her round one day and I'll do her for you' - kind as this may sound, it does annoy me a bit as I love her hair as it is I trim her feet quite often as she seems to pick up round ball stickley things (sorry, haven't a clue what they are ). She also showed me her friends cocker the other day and explained how she 'thins' her hair rather than clip it but it still looked very severe to me

My next door neighbour has her cocker clipped and it freaks me out every time I see it when it's first done, it's sooooo severe, she just about looks ok as she's due to be clipped again.

It's down to personal choice but I intend to avoid clipping Bella's hair at all costs I will trim her feathering though if it gets too long (still growing.....) and will continue to trim her feet etc but that's as far as I'd like to take it. I do use a coat king on her which seems to thin the hair out a lot. As Buddy has a full tail I imagin that probably gets quite muddy so I'd maybe be inclined to trim that too.

When all said and done if you have a go at trimming him a little bit you can always cut more or if needs be it will grow back but once you've gone down the road of clipping there's probably no way back

Sorry, this is longer than your post! Just wanted to say lastly that my personal opinion is that roan coats look better that bit longer or they look quite patchy (like a cow :: ) rather than the nice 'blended' look.

I'm sorry, I've probably been no help whatsoever

[Annette]

No really, I appreciate any input here!

Phew, he pongs just now too!

[taliska]

I must admit that I've given way to the clippers with Tali, his coat is sooo thick and he is such a wood, grass, nmud kind of boy that it was getting to be a real mess.  

Having said that I do use a fairly longish blade, as I hate short hair...  I do his feathering with thinning scissors although much corser than recommended, as the smaller ones just didn't make any impression.  he still picks up bobby buttons, grass seeds and pretty much anything else, but its far easier to get them out.  He still gets knots under arms and in his ears, but its manageable.

It is personal preference, but if you have an active dog that just loves the undergrowth, then cliipers are not a bad thing.  

[Jan/Billy]

I must admit that I've given way to the clippers with Tali, his coat is sooo thick and he is such a wood, grass, nmud kind of boy that it was getting to be a real mess.   

Having said that I do use a fairly longish blade, as I hate short hair...  I do his feathering with thinning scissors although much corser than recommended, as the smaller ones just didn't make any impression.  he still picks up bobby buttons, grass seeds and pretty much anything else, but its far easier to get them out.  He still gets knots under arms and in his ears, but its manageable.

It is personal preference, but if you have an active dog that just loves the undergrowth, then cliipers are not a bad thing. 

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I have to agree here   . I resisted the clippers but got sick of continually having to bath him and leave him indoors for hours whilst his fur dried.  Plus the mass of grass seeds and knots i had to get out .Billy is such an active dog, It was more of a problem when i took him on his morning walks before work, i would let him off the lead and he would run into any puddle he could find, plus if he had been rolling around with his doggie friends his fur was soaking because of the dew on the grass. If he came back wet ( which 90% of the time he did) it took me ages to get him dry, he also hated his fur during the summer months. In the end i took him to the groomers to have him clipped and have never looked back. Billy looks much much better clipped. I do have him clipped short but she leaves his feathering on his chest, belly and legs, she just trims this area. I know its not for everyone but as i am not showing him and have limited time in the mornings it has made life much easier for us all  and Billy is much happier. When his trim is overdue he now even starts to rip the fur out himself  ::

[LoveCatz]

I took Pepsi to several groomers as I was advised not to have her clipped. On the phone they said they could strip her but once they saw her they they couldn't because of how dense and wooly her coat is   Anyway eventually I had her clipped. Not too short, just a trim up so she still looks like a Cocker. A scruffy one at the minute as she needs to go again. Just bought some crazy dog wild cherry shampoo so she should smell lovely later after her bath  

[Ben's mum]

Hi - I seem to be in the minority here but I have Ben clipped as short as he can go - infact had him done this week and he looks like a pathetic skinned rabbit!!!

I was also going to hand strip, and loved his long coat, but he also swims every day, has a very thick and curly coat and picks up mud, rubbish and everything disgusting you can think of.  what changed my mind was a walk where he picked up a shortish stick in his coat, he reached down to take it out of his coat before I could get to him and he swallowed it - it got stuck in his throat and you can imagine what follows - crazy mad drive to the vets on a sunday night, emergancy op and huge bill.

I had him clipped the next week - and have to admit I cried when I went to pick him up he looked so strange.  Got used to it now, easy, clean, he can get wet and muddy as often as he wants.  He dosn't look like a cocker for the first week just a skinny pooch with big feet!  but is soon grows to a good length that is easy to mange but looks ok to.

hope this helps?
Ben's mum

[scooby's mum]

I often dream about how life would be so much easier if Scooby was clipped but I know I could never ever do it - to me a cocker should have a long coat  ::  but then again I don't take Scoobs swimming every day but when he does it's an absolute nightmare getting everything out of his coat so I absolutely sympathise with anyone who just cannot avoid water  

I took Scooby for a long walk along the canal yesterday (on the lead) and it was the most unpleasurable walk I've ever experienced - all he kept doing was pulling to get to the water, if he'd have been off lead he would have been straight in.  Trouble is he wouldn't have been able to climb out as the water was a bit low  

Does anyone let their dog swim in a canal? and is it safe?

[suki1964]

Joanne, we dont have a canal, but I do allow Alfie to swim in the river here. Like a canal its banks can be high if the water is low, but he always manages to get out ok (sometimes needs a hand). The one thing I watch for is how fast the river is flowing. When its low theres no problems but if we have had heavy rain it gets deep and the current can be very fierce and he can get swept off his feet so I dont let him in those days