Starting to hand strip a puppy

[Schnauzerluv]

It's really hard to see, but these are the two pieces I was growing out. The one on the left side (looking at the picture, not his left side) flips up between his eyes, the other curls upward in front of his eye. Are you talking about that too?

[Dawnspell]

I was meaning more the area that looked dark rather than the actual hairs.

Ok I've chopped some bits off Jasper so its a bit shorter so you can see what I trim off. My disclaimer, I will tidy the scissors marks up later and we had just been for a walk and hed had his breakfast scatter fed on the lawn and was mucky . I pulled his eyebrows back to try to get better photos but Jasper is a fidget and cant keep still



That's a mucky beard



Then 2 photos when he'd gone in his crate and I wasnt trying to get a good photo but ended up with better ones. You can see the diamond shape better. I think I'm getting a bit of attitude in the last photo


Any other angles ?

[Schnauzerluv]

Oh do you mean the darker area on Jasper? I was thinking you meant Ozzy's black hairs! Wow thanks for all the pics! I know it must have difficult with fidget bum Jasper

I hand stripped in between his eyes at the forehead. I know now I should have scissored it. It's almost bald, like on top of his brows. I hope I didn't hand strip too far down the forehead. I only hand stripped black hairs. No white eyebrow hairs.

But I wonder if the eyebrows look unruly because there is hardly any hair in between them? Or I am totally cluless on what you're trying to help me with and I give up, you've done way too much trying to explain it (thanks very much) and I'm just not getting it.

Is it by chance the hair in between each eye at the top inside corner of the eyes? Like should I scissor the black hairs on each eyebrow in the middle? Like eyebrows should only be the white hairs? So glad I have a pattern to go by. I would be lost with a solid color schnauzer!

I trimmed the hair in between his eyes at the top of the inside corner of his eye a little more, but not that much. I can try to take a pic later, he's napping atm.

[Schnauzerluv]

K I got some more pics. I trimmed a bit more, did I get it?
I think I know now what you mean. The bits made him look grumpy? Should I take more away?










Hopefully it shows what I trimmed.

[Dawnspell]

Yes that looks better. He actually looks as though he's got more eyebrows now even though his eyebrows have stayed the same and it's just the surround you've trimmed.

You could trim more but I'd live with it for a few days and see if you want to. His is a hairy bear (I mean that in a cute way) so you don't want to trim bits too short without the rest of his head being shorter otherwise he's not going to look balanced if you know what I mean.

I think we got there in the end

[Schnauzerluv]

I think we got there in the end

lol I'm so sorry about that! Idk how I couldn't see it. I thank you for patiently putting up with me!

Do you think because his eyebrows stand straight up, that I should snip a gradual swoop in that corner? Like instead of the sharp long brow that usually hangs down to the schnauz in a show dog style eyebrow? I hope this question doesn't open a whole new mystery. I'll post another pic to try to expain.

Lol about his beard. I posted a pic of his beard in another forum, the OP commented how he has a puffstache. She said most of the schnauzers she sees around there have the whiskerstache. Not sure what it means, and I don't know what a hairy beard means either, but I'm guessing it means the same adjective haha! So for curiosity sake, what makes a beard fluffy? Should I be carding the underneath a bit? Or is it a puppy thing? I think my other two had hairy beards too, because I can't see it. Typically you don't trim the beard other than a little tidy up correct?

He had some major knots under his chin, I had to cut some out in the middle and some hair broke off when I detangled it with a dematting tool. It was just in the middle of his beard in his chin, you couldn't tell looking from the side or head on.

[Schnauzerluv]

Something like this?

[Dawnspell]

You could try it. You could also let the white bits grow to see what happens. Schnauzers give you so many opportunities to try different styles It took me about 2 years to get Barneys eyebrows in the right place, fortunately that made it easier with Jasper.

Dont know what a whiskertashe is, unless thats where they shave down the length of the nose so theres only side bits, or Ive seen some where the beard is only about half of the length of the snout. Are you on instagram ? If so check out schnauzer_artist_hiro he does some very untraditional schnauzer grooms as well as perfect hand stripped schnauzers. He posted beautiful headshot photos of a couple of B&S yesterday, they have perfect eyebrows that we can all envy

I think with beards its just genetics same as some have very full leg furnishings and others dont. Jasper is always getting knots in his beard but then hes always got his nose into something and various bits of debris in there too

[Schnauzerluv]

Whiskerstache was just a name she made up to describe a more whisker beard than fluffy like Ozzy's. I'd say his beard matches his furnishings, although I don't keep his furnishings too long. So do you mean his beard is puffy? Just so I understand. It's not a big deal or anything, but I brushed it good this morning and put kid's detangler in (blue watermelon splash).

I might still have Instagram, I've never navigated it, but I'll try to check out schnauzer_artist_hiro, tx!

Yeah I didn't notice the knots until they were really bad. I think he got then at the vet when they removed a few baby teeth.

Not sure what I'll do with the eyebrows yet, so I'll leave it for now and see what I think in a couple days as you suggested. Thanks so much!

[Schnauzerluv]

I found schnauzer_artist_hiro on Instagram. Wow lots of styles! Are these the B&Ss you were referring to?





Hope that is permitted, if not pls remove and I'm sorry.

They really are perfect huh? Ok, I'll let the eyebrow "peak" grow a bit more, maybe shape the rest a bit with the 'S' shape the groomer was talking about in the classic hand stripping video with Smeagle.

With my passed girl, I snipped the eyebrows and muzzle short and round. I haven't decided what I'll do for Ozzy yet, but I'm becoming partial to the triangular shape eyebrow and longer beard...for a male anyway.

[Dawnspell]

I was just meaning his curly hair and his ample beard

Have you scrolled down far enough on Instagram where hes done the stage stripping down to the skin instead of rolling like we do ? Jasper would be shivering if I did that to him Although the coat looks fantastic when it grows back.

[Schnauzerluv]

No, I didn't see that. I'll have to take another look! I always was surprised when I heard of stripping to the skin, but I pretty well did that behind his brows and top nose bridge and it really wasn't hard to do. All of a sudden I realized how thin it was looking.

And tx for letting me know we are rolling the coat by stripping out longest hairs. I thought so but wasn't sure.

Just for fun I took a pic of him today for my friend. Thought i'd post it



It's a cooling mat, I got two of them, the other is larger. I was recommended them due to his black coat attracting the heat of the sun, I think it was Leigh. Anyway, Ozzy already figured out they are cool to the touch and is making good use of them alternating between sunbathing on the deck. He has a fan there too, but it's sick how they work.

Oh and I scissored a bit more between the eyebrows.

[Schnauzerluv]

I found a vid that shows how to snip what I think @Dawnspell is referring to
https://youtu.be/vWk1jkxrJTw
It's between the 0:46 and 1:00 mark.

His brows are long enough now to attempt a triangular eyebrow shape. I'm trying to decide what I want to do, what looks better on him before I make too many snips. Plus I don't have curved scissors, so I am limited. If it turns out good, I'll post a pic haha. Ok I'll try to post a pic regardless.

[Schnauzerluv]

Ok I stopped here before I cut too much

[Schnauzerluv]

My progress


This is his 'better' side, the other is a bit scruffier and needs more attention.

I have been focusing mostly on his head and ears lately as his head was an afro (all curly) and there was quite a bit of chocolate coloring on his ears since his undercoat is chocolate. For that reason I have to card often and strip as much as I can to keep his coat uniform in color and texture.

I have yet to shave his bum area and haven't shaved his cheeks yet. I'm just not comfortable using the shaver. I will attempt it someday, but for now it's scissors and hand stripping only.

His chocolate legs don't bother me, he's more tri-colour than B&S, but I do have a question about it. Does anyone card through furnishings with a deshedder tool? Not sure, but I think he grew some wire in his furnishings after I ran the andis tool through it. I use it more to thin out and detangle, just curious what everyone does. I plan to leave his rear furnishings grow longer and I like the fluffy soft furnishings but the wire will be darker, so not sure what to do.