Yet another Schnauzer newbie looking for help

[absousa]

Hi everyone, I got into the wonderful Schnauzer adventure close to 3 months ago and everything has been going as good as it can but now I'm getting some grooming/fur doubts.

I had never had contact with a non trimmed Schnauzer before I got my mini, Eddie. He is 5 months now, healthy and active little pup, the thing is altho I've read a few posts I would like to keep him as "natural" as possible (i know that most are avid defenders of stripping) and I present myself and Eddie to the "council" for some guidance

I've been using a flea comb to brush him everyday (I have a bristle and pin combs but they barely seem to do anything) but for a non shedding breed I seem to get a lot of fur when multiple references say they barely shed
Not sure if it's due to his age and not having an adult coat yet or if the comb I'm using is too narrow and breaks too much hair, or if it's just natural.

I don't have any groomers nearby besides the ones that shave the dogs like sheep and call that a good cut, so I'm kind of on my own.
I just want to be sure that I'm not damaging his coat beyond repair.

Anyway, enough bla bla, I'll leave some pics of Eddie and wait for your feedback






PS: The last pic is the comb I use daily and the amount of fur I get from brushing him a couple of times along the back.

[Dawnspell]

Hi and welcome. Eddie looks as though he's got a lovely wire coat perfect for stripping. I'd say the comb you've got is a bit fine, the hairs in it look like wire rather than undercoat so I think the comb is pulling them out so not shedding.
Read through this thread about Kats progress with Ozzy. Eddie is older but the principles are the same. You will probably find the cost easy to pull as it's quite long so nearly blown so don't get carried away pulling too much at any one time.
viewtopic.php?p=305586#p305586

I'd start combing his beard down as it should have nearly enough weight to stay down now. You'll then be able to see where you need to trim the "stop" the bit between his eyes better.

Are you going to shave his cheeks and chest or are they staying natural?

[absousa]

Thanks for the reply!

Yea, I'm not sure about going full stripping mode just yet, for the moment I have the time for it but once I start working full time it will be a bit harder to do it correctly. I'm not looking for a perfect look, I just want the little guy to be happy and with a healthy coat (to be fair I like how he looks right now).

I've read some stuff about the mars coat king for some easy semi-stripping, but I'm afraid I'll groom him bald with a tool like that eheh.
The ideal would be a daily brush/tool that keeps him in decent shape but doesn't require the amount of time correct stripping does, something just to remove the dead hair.

Started to comb his beard down as you said, lets see how it goes. About the cheeks I'm not sure what I'll go for, but probably not going to shave it unless it get a bit too messy.

[Oscar 12345]

Hi Miguel, take a look at this, better than a coat king, really easy to keep smart with one of these if you aren't bothered about some of the hair being cut.,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andis-65760-Pe ... B009H525I4

[absousa]

Hi Miguel, take a look at this, better than a coat king, really easy to keep smart with one of these if you aren't bothered about some of the hair being cut.,
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andis-65760-Pe ... B009H525I4

Thanks, I decided to go ahead and order a similar tool to the coat king (cheaper tho) and a pair of stripping knives to try around a bit, in the worst case scenario I mess up and Eddie will be a patchy dog for some time

I know that once a coat is clipped for a while it gets hard to revert to wire coat again, is that the same the other way around? If I strip him for a while can I get the fluffy undercoat back or is it gone for good?
By stripping I don't mean the full bald one, just the undercoat removal (not sure if i'm using the correct terms).

[Oscar 12345]

No, no problem other way round, you will still get undercoat once you leave it.,

[Oscar 12345]

No, no problem other way round, you will still get undercoat once you leave it.,

[Dawnspell]

I know that once a coat is clipped for a while it gets hard to revert to wire coat again, is that the same the other way around? If I strip him for a while can I get the fluffy undercoat back or is it gone for good?
By stripping I don't mean the full bald one, just the undercoat removal (not sure if i'm using the correct terms).
[/quote]

I have met a couple of dogs who are clipped but you can still feel bits of prickly wire coat. I think it would all depend on if the dog had a good wire coat in the first place if you could get it back after clipping. One or two clips you would as the wire hair has around 12 week growing cycle. The undercoat continues to grow when you strip and has to be removed to maintain the wire coat. Every hair follicle produces one wire hair and up to 12 undercoat hairs which is why the undercoat needs removing otherwise it crowds out the wire hair.

Full bald one is called stage stripping
The stripping where you pull out some coat weekly, the one we all do, is called rolling the coat

[absousa]

Time for an update, so I got a couple of tools and just tried them out a bit, still not really confident (also trying to convince myself to give up some of that undercoat fluffiness ).
I got kind of a stripping stone, a coat kning knockoff from artero, and a stripping knife, they only had the fine one at the moment.


Most of the dogs I've seen doing some kind of stripping/rolling seem to have a way denser coat than Eddie as you can see by the picture, also I'm a bit worried about trying to strip him during the winter in case he gets cold, on the other hand I'm way too curious not to (We live in Portugal so our cold here is not below 0 cold).


And here are the results of a bit of use of the artero (a bit along the back and a few brushes just above the tail, that area tends to get very bushy), on the bigger bulk of hair it seems ok, but on the smaller one it's easly noitced that it is cutting some wiry coat, my question is if that is an acceptable amount or not, if not should i try to dull the blades somehow?




I've been reading around different topics and watching videos but it's hard to put all the information in order and build the confidence to actually do it. Next week I'll get a Lickimat to smear something on and that should buy me some time to things more precisely, at least I hope so.

[Dawnspell]

His coat looks about as dense as Jaspers. Jasper really doesnt have much undercoat I only really rake it out on and around neck/shoulders, the base of his tail and the bit on his body in front of his thighs.

It does look as though its cutting quite a lot of hair. I wouldnt blunt that particular "coatking" as the teeth are very close and it would really pull on the coat. You could use it for thinning though as it is on areas that are over fluffy or need blending. I've recently got one with 6 teeth that are totally blunt and it can pull if Im not careful.

With rolling the coat you have the same amount of hair all year round the only difference can be if you leave the time between stripping eg stripping every 14 days would give you a longer coat than stripping every 7 days.

I had a lickimat for Jasper it really helped now he comes on my knee and I give him the occasional small piece of chew while Im grooming. He still doesnt keep still at 19mths

How did you do get on with the stripping stone ? I've never found them very effective but some people do. I think they're very dependent on type of coat.

[absousa]

Eddie doesn't seem to like the stone that much, it takes a nice amount of hair but doesn't feel that pleasant in contact with his fur for some reason.

So between all 3, the stripping knife is still my best option I guess. The thing is I always have the feeling that I'm pulling both undercoat and wiry coat and that kind of puts me off, but I guess I'll have to go with trial and error. Might go from Eddie to Balddie soon

So in your opinion that rake is a big no no for the entire coat right? Since it cuts hair would it eventually be the same as clipping and weaken the wiry coat? Or just not be as good looking?

[Dawnspell]

Not a no no it's what works for you and Eddie.

I have a 20 blade coat king that I have used on the back legs above the hock and got kind of a hybrid strip as Barney my previous dog just didn't like that bit being stripped. I wanted the look but not at the expense of making my dog stressed, and clipping would have looked weird.

On Jasper I occasionally use it on his front legs at the elbow where the stripped blends to let furnishing as he's a wriggler it's just easier. Also for thinning and running through the chest area. His harness and set weather causes tiny matts.

I wouldn't use it on the jacket though.

[absousa]

Hi again, and happy new year

So to give a little update on Eddie I took him for a professional hand-stripping and the lady did say he had a lot of baby coat (6 months) and she did remove most of that coat. His fur was really soft and a lot lighter after it, since this is my first Schnauzer I'll just leave some pictures here so you guys can tell me if this was a well done job or if I should look for another groomer. The head was a bit extra than a classic cut but I asked for that.

This is right after the stripping:




After 1 month with nothing but the daily brush:


He seemed a little "overfluffed" so I used the coat-king a bit:


PS: don't mind his beard he was entertained with a Lickimat during the brushing

[Oscar 12345]

So I would keep carding out the coat to keep the undercoat at a minimum then start to roll the stripped coat. So 5/10 mins carding each day with the brushing and then once every 10 days or so, just remove the longest hairs. At 6 months the coat will still be soft but you should start seeing more and more wire come through.