# Fur Stripping?



## Mojo's Mom (Jun 6, 2009)

Mojo has a mobile groomer I've been very happy with, but I have not yet asked her to do any cutting other than for hygiene. She admits she is not knowledgeable about Havanese cuts, but is interested in learning, and I will have to give her very specific instructions and use photos when I let her give Mojo his first puppy cut.

At 9 months, Mojo is becoming much harder to brush and comb. His fur is 4 to 5 inches long, and I guess he is starting the "blowing coat" stage, because he has begun to mat regularly in underarms and other places, and I get a brushfull of fur every time we brush. It's hard to get through the coat and very slow going, and he's beginning to dislike the process because of what I have to do to get the mats out.

I'm considering getting his first puppy cut soon, but the groomer suggested the possibility of stripping the coat to make it easier for me to maintain, if I don't want to cut it shorter. All along I've said I would let the fur grow until it became too much to maintain, so I'm not opposed to cutting it, but would stripping be at all a good idea? I don't know what she uses for this process.

Any input would be appreciated.


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## psvzum (Jun 11, 2009)

I've never heard of stripping a havanase. In addition to Loki, I also have a cairn terrier. This breed has two coats-undercoat and wiry overcoat. It is recommended that cairn's be hand stripped of their wiry overcoat and not clipped.

I think your groomer is recommending thinning out Mojo's coat/removing dead hair but be sure to ask. Stripping is also a term for close shave downs.

This link takes you to a faq about stripping a dog's coat.

http://www.harborside.com/~laurelt/handstrip.htm


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Mojo's Mom said:


> I'm considering getting his first puppy cut soon, but the groomer suggested the possibility of stripping the coat to make it easier for me to maintain, if I don't want to cut it shorter. All along I've said I would let the fur grow until it became too much to maintain, so I'm not opposed to cutting it, but would stripping be at all a good idea? I don't know what she uses for this process.


I was under the impression that coat stripping was mostly for rough-coated breeds.

Here are some photos I found of the process and the results:

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=93313

There are a bunch of websites that talk about stripping coats, and they ALL are talking about rough coated terriers.


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## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

If Mojo has hair like Pixie's, a full coat is an enormous undertaking. Her hair is very dense and thick and mats like crazy. I just couldn't do it anymore. I found an amazing new groomer. She keeps the face long with ears untouched. I think it really helps to keep the neezer look. I love the teddy clip on the rest of her and will never go back, and I'll just admire the beautiful long coats of the forum doggies.


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

I stripped my first little schnauzer nearly 20 plus years ago. It was a long process and she hated it. The next one just got the shears taken to her (and her ears were not clipped either). The stripping literally pulls out the outer hair leaving the short hair. It has to be done first when they are puppies when they are losing their puppy coat. I wondered about stripping the Havanese at the blowing coat stage also; but I don't think it is the same thing as losing the puppy coat in other dogs. The long fine hair never came back after stripping the schnauzer--just the rough coat. I don't know yet as Rosie is only 9 months; but it looks as if she will always have this long fine hair floating around when she runs. Am I wrong about this?
Anyway, Stripping is just cruel--don't do it.


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## Lina (Apr 26, 2007)

Bad idea! Please don't strip your Hav! As a long coated (and soft coated) breed, this would just cause huge issues including, I think, tons of mats down the line. If you really can't keep up with him, have him cut short. The hair can always grow back! In addition, if the worst area is the underarms, why not shave (or cut short) the underarm? It doesn't show at all and as you're not showing Mojo, there's no reason for him to suffer through that! I never had to cut Kubrick's underarms short but I did have to do it with Hitchcock. His belly and his underarms are cut down short to keep it manageable and you can't even tell when he's standing up or laying down or sitting. The only time you can tell is when he's on his back but even then half the time people think that's just how he looks!


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## Mojo's Mom (Jun 6, 2009)

Perfect, this thread helped me get it figured out. Thanks for the detailed explanation of stripping and why it would be a bad idea on a Havanese.

Mojo won't get stripped, I'll just begin his puppy cut when things get to be too much. 

I always intended to keep his tail totally natural and his face, head, ears, beard, mustaches,etc. natural and uncut, except for a small triangle between his eyes so I can see them. I've done that little bit of cutting myself so far, to my satisfaction. He still has the long hair falling down to the sides from above his eyes so that he's getting the little old wizard look I wanted. I spent tons of time studying photos of Hav faces I liked, then began scissoring just a tiny bit at a time, studying the result and figuring out how to get the look I wanted. I decided that it was better to do it myself so that I could experiment gradually and if I screwed up, have no one to blame but myself.

I had wondered if I couldn't just shave his armpits, and I think I'll do that. It's the hardest area because it mats easily and it is the place he hates most to be brushed or combed. 

I just ordered the CC 005 comb and the CC wood pin brush, and they will be here Friday. Hope they work as well as people say.


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