Schnauzer Grooming ??'s

[doglady]

This past Dec. my family added 2 Mini Schnauzer puppies. Now this is a new breed for me and I hope someone can help me with my grooming questions.

They have just turned 5 months old. I was wondering when do they come into their adult coats? I have heard so much about stripping the coat...does this need to be done? Is it easy to do?
I did recently shave them so their coats wont mat. They were cute in their curls but they look like little bobblehead dolls now that they are shaved. So sweet looking.

[Luvmyjob]

I am no expert on Schnauzers, other than pet grooming. My personal experience with the majority of ones that I have groomed is .... Most have come in to their adult coat by the age of 12 to 18 months. I have had two pure silver (white) ones that took just shy of 2 years to lose "puppy' fluff. I personaly don't hand strip, as I do not do "show" clips. I do the pet clip, pretty close to the one illustrated in the Stone Guide grooming book. Hand stripping can be very time consuming for 2 Schnauzers, not to mention you need to learn how. I guess it depends on how much time you are willing to spend on grooming, as to which method you choose.

[doglady]

Thank you....I was just wondering what all the fuss was about when it comes to stripping their coats. I keep reading that they will not have wirery coats unless you strip them.

I was also wondering ...how do you make their legs looks so puffy looking? I can tell there is some trimming, but to get it to look so puffy.

[Savage Destiny]

To get the fluffiness in the legs, you need to fluff dry. This means taking the dog when it is damp, and using a blow dryer (or something similar) to dry the legs while brushing them out at the same time.

[Luvmyjob]

That's a beautiful clip! The fluff comes from layering at a tapered angle outward from the buttom of foot up, the bottom hair has to be shorter in order for the top to "flip" out. Topped off with a fluffing from the blow dryer.

[merrow]

i have never had the chance yet to hand strip one but hand stripping will keep the coats wire like and give tem a good protection from the weather, ppl than come to use usallly have there dogs clipped off this makes the coat go wooly and then u are unable to pull the hair out later on, if u go to a good groomers they should be able to show u how to hand strip and it is very easy to learn but it dose take a while, but if u do a little each week like u would on a whw or a border terrier then it would be as much work for u.

the body is hand stripped then the legs will be trimmed to give that lovly efect my bf used to have 2 of these and i no after my lhasa gose i will be getting a pair thats y i wanted to learn how to hand strip coz they do look so much smarter and keeps there skin and coat healthy as well.

also when clipping the hair looses its natural oils which can make the coat go dull so if u do clipper them u should think about givivng some fish oil or sumthing like that

[sheplovr]

Christine honey, I had Airdales. I stripped them somewhat and trimmed mostly cause it was much faster. I left the beard on the face, eyebrows, they were so cute. I got a book and followed it and used my horse clippers alot, had many of them in sizes. It is not hard, get one of those small hand paper books and just follow a cut u like best.

[skeffington]

can't awnser your question.. but i was wondering the same thing.. got Mr. Skeffington, my miniature schnauzer from the pound.. and he's adorable!! The only prob i have is that i want to groom him at home between clippings.. winter here and don't want him to be bald in this cold house!! lol.. just need to know what i can use to strip his hair, and his undercoat tends to matt alot.. ( mainly cause he likes to chew on it.. allergies ) if someone out there has the answer, it would be great..

[Lindsayanne]

There is a shortcut to stripping AND keeping that wirey coat. It doesn't produce conformation show quality results, but darn close and in hours less time.

There's a brush called the "mars coat king" It's kind of pricey, but really works. You run it through the coat and it pulls out the dead undercoat and leaves the nice wiry coat behind (painlessly, I might add, my dogs love how it feels to have all that yucky dead itchy hair pulled out) You can just use that tool and leave it, but I prefer to clean them up with clippers after that to get a really near appearance. Because you remove the undercoat with the brush, clipping won't have the same fuzzy-soft result and won't affect the wirey-ness of the hair.

There are some "generic" versions of the brush named above, they're a lot cheaper but I've never tried them and couldn't tell you if they work the same.

[Rip's Girl]

Originally Posted by doglady

Thank you....I was just wondering what all the fuss was about when it comes to stripping their coats. I keep reading that they will not have wirery coats unless you strip them.

I was also wondering ...how do you make their legs looks so puffy looking? I can tell there is some trimming, but to get it to look so puffy.

That dog was probably bathed and his legs dried with a high-velocity dryer. It makes all the difference, as it fluffs out the hair and makes it stand out. Obviously he has had a lot of scissoring done, but the dryer is what causes the legs to look "puffy".