Advice please! Puppy coat/Mars Coat King

[Xensgirl]

Could someone give me some advice please?  My 5 month old boy looks like a wooly mammoth!!! I may show him in the future.....if I use a Mars Coat King now would it effect my being able to handstrip in the future?  Obviously his coat won't pull yet and I can't stand him looking like this for much longer.   
Also the hair on his head is straight and getting so long its parting in the middle and flapping in the wind - is there anything I can do to tidy it up?

Comments appreciated....thanks!!

[tracey]

If you intend to show then I would wait until the coat is ready to handstrip, usually between 6-8 months. There are show people that use coat kings, but you can tell as the texture looks different to a handstripped coat You do get a good result initially with the coat king but the texture does change once it grows back as the coat king can break the hair. For now just brush thoroughly daily.

As for the head, have you tried gently pulling with your finger and thumb? The hair on the head is usually ready to come out earlier than the rest of the coat.

Does your breeder show? You could do with some good grooming advice if you want to show, maybe they could help you?

[Xensgirl]

Thanks for the reply - I've shown Cockers before, but many years ago and times have changed!! In those days we used thinning scissors under the hair on the head to tidy it and a stripping stone for the back.....would never do it now.

I have the booklet from the Cocker Spaniel Club and basically know how to do it - my pup is looking such a woolly mess I'm iching to tidy him up    Have to be patient...........will have a go and see if I can get any out of his head though and keep checking the middle of his back.  I use a Spratts 76 together with a slicker so we'll get there eventually.  Thanks again

[KellyS]

Your patience will repaid i'm sure

Good luck with the showing.

[jackie 14]

your not alone, george is looking like a spotted polar bear at the moment, he's just over 4 months, i am hoping to show him in november

[Xensgirl]

your not alone, george is looking like a spotted polar bear at the moment, he's just over 4 months, i am hoping to show him in november

Jackie will you still show George in November, even if his coat is still woolly? what do you do about the sticky out bits around tops of ears and so on? I would like to put my boy in a show in November but don't know if he'll look the part by then  The booklet I got from the Cocker Spaniel Club states not to show until their coat is ready and I'm itching to get going........!!

[jackie 14]

 I'm a beginner at this , so i''ve a lot of brushing to do, but some of these show have closing dates a month before,so i will enter him and see how his coat is nearer the time, have only just started ringcraft classes with him this week, also i'm commited with other dates with agility with Ellie which has norrowed the shows i can attend with George, Ellie's coat didn't need much doing to it when she was 6 months old and still only requires a coat king  on it once a week, i do clip her head and use thinning sissors on her, but she is not good enough to show at these shows
 There is a lot of info on col about this so i'm hoping to pick up pointers from this