Starting to hand strip a puppy

[Schnauzerluv]

Ok update pic for undercoat rake Andis tool




We just got back from a walk in the rain (he was wearing a raincoat), but look at the jacket shine!

I've been working on his 'fro' and face. Work in progress. Looks better once dry

I forgot to mention, 1st card session and once my husband saw Ozzy, he noticed how black he was and "shined up"

[Schnauzerluv]

Ok so quick question on the hair on the schnauz right below the eyes.

I remember I was told there would be some stubborn hairs that want to stand up straight. I've been growing out whatever I can, i'm left with a small tuff at the very top.



Am I to leave them grow out or is it normal to snip that tuff?

I'll probably continue to let it grow out because I don't like fussing below the eyes, i'm just curious.

And a pic to show our progress


He was waiting for daddy to come home haha.

Any tips/recommendations?

[Schnauzerluv]

He likes to watch out the window, especially when daddy is due to come home haha.



I had to put down a towel to protect the sofa cover because he would run in from outside and jump on the sofa lol. Good thing we are easy going haha.

[Schnauzerluv]

My phone has been out of commission all winter, so i've been going a bit snap happy while it's working.

I got a better pic of the tuffs



Complete with dirty beard Arg The BEARD.....!

[Schnauzerluv]

Also I should've updated earlier, but the hair on his head was looking so different from his stripped coat. He had a curly 'fro' I suppose I could have kept it trimmed shorter, but I didn't want the upkeep. Here is his 'fro'.


So cute, but I think it would look much better in uniform to the rest of his jacket. The difference in texture is really obvious. For Ozzy anyway. Curly and fine vs course and shiny. Not to mention his scissored hair seems to take on a brownish tinge. Same when his coat needs carding. I guess his undercoat is brownish.

So I attempted to hand strip his head although previously scissored, I just let it grow out enough to be able to seperate and grab. I accidentally stripped him bald above the eyebrows. I don't know what that will do, but his eyebrows are wild lol. I thought stripping behind the eyebrows would help them sit proper. I stopped there because I didn't want to make his head bald and it already quite thinned out.

I also started doing his ears. Again the undercoat hair is brownish and I was hoping to restore the jet black color to the ears. I hope there's not more that I need to know hand stripping the ears, but so far it's been not that bad. I get a lot of that stuff done late at night. Last night he fell asleep and was running in his sleep while I hand stripped lol.

[Dawnspell]

Wow hasnt he grown, he turned into a very handsome chap

I use thinning scissors to trim the bits sticking up so its a V down the nose. I feel safer using those with them being very blunt nosed and you dont get definate lines.

With the tufty head I tend to scissor the bit above the eyebrows, then then section on top between the ears do a strip and trim, then from ears back strip. It kind of all blends in. I did once strip nearly bald between the eyes and further up on Barney and it came back all wire, but I do like the fluffy head

I've never tried stripping the ears. I leave the hair long on Jaspers to help keep them under control. He has ears of character, if I trim short he looks like Dobey from Harry potter

My phone has been out of commission all winter, so i've been going a bit snap happy while it's working.

I got a better pic of the tuffs



Complete with dirty beard Arg The BEARD.....!

That in our house is a super clean beard Some people also trim the black from under the white part of the eyebrows to open up the eyes.

[Schnauzerluv]

Wow hasnt he grown, he turned into a very handsome chap

I use thinning scissors to trim the bits sticking up so its a V down the nose. I feel safer using those with them being very blunt nosed and you dont get definate lines.

With the tufty head I tend to scissor the bit above the eyebrows, then then section on top between the ears do a strip and trim, then from ears back strip. It kind of all blends in. I did once strip nearly bald between the eyes and further up on Barney and it came back all wire, but I do like the fluffy head

I've never tried stripping the ears. I leave the hair long on Jaspers to help keep them under control. He has ears of character, if I trim short he looks like Dobey from Harry potter

My phone has been out of commission all winter, so i've been going a bit snap happy while it's working.

I got a better pic of the tuffs



Complete with dirty beard Arg The BEARD.....!

That in our house is a super clean beard Some people also trim the black from under the white part of the eyebrows to open up the eyes.

Thank you i'm really in love with him. I can't believe how much he's grown either. Looks like an adult schnauzer already. Where has that little baby gone?

Ok gotcha, you use a progressive approach and blend it. The fact that I stripped him almost bald behind the eyebrows, I'm hoping if it grows back wire that it will help weigh down those curls and keep it flatter. You don't have that issue with Jasper, his hair is already quite course and nice and straight. But it's hard to blend the two types of hair for me. Since I go REALLY slow, and Ozzy doesn't seem to mind, i'll try to continue stripping the top of the head. I'll just wait for some wire to grow in so he's not bald lol. Hopefully it will work as planned haha.

Lol I remember you talking about Jasper's ears. So cute! Yeah Ozzy's never were wild, just hang straight down. They hang more than Chelsea's did. I think I will strip AND scissor the ears, like a mix. Honestly I prefer to hand strip over scisorring and definitely over clippering. I still haven't used a clipper on him!

The black from under the white part: do you mean between the eyes? I did try to trim it, i'll try harder. I do find his eyebrows are close together right? I think he has a cow lick or something in his eyebrows. Or I just trimmed them wrong. It was difficult with all the curly soft hair. Even his eyebrows curl. I think that's what makes it hard to trim.

I think it's so cool how you cater to your dog, like if his ears are wild, eyebrows, whatever, you can trim the hair to correct the issue.

Lol at the dirty beard. It wasn't THAT dirty, it's been worse! It's just cuz it was such a close up lol!

[Schnauzerluv]

Another thing I noticed is there is a few random white wire hairs growing in in the jacket. Not sure if it's genetic or something I'm doing wrong. Should I pull those or leave them? What does it mean?

[Dawnspell]

Jasper has 2 banded hairs that keep growing back, one on his shoulder and one on his thigh. Barney had a couple too. Its nothing youre doing wrong just something that happens.

Barney used to have curls on his head and chest if I let it grow. Jaspers is a lot starighter

Dont worry about the eye bit I was talking about i just mentioned it as I could see the black on the photo. If you hold back his white eyebrow theres a line of black hairs between the white and the top of his eye. Those are trimmed by some that show.

[Schnauzerluv]

Ok thank you!!! So you mean his eye lashes? I circled the part in orange



Is this what you mean? I saw in the video with the woman hand stripping Smeagle that she trims the eye lashes to lift the eyebrows. I'll try and trim those! I had no idea, your suggestion is super helpful, I appreciate it!

Also I circled the tuff bit under his eyes on his schnauz. It's on both sides but I you can see it better in the pic on the right side. I've been using hair gel to keep it weighed down until there's enough length to it.

I actually found a couple banded black & silver hairs too. Must be because he has S&P in his lineage. His father has produced all three colors despite being pure black himself.

[Dawnspell]

No it's not the eyelashes. You can see Barneys eyelashes on this one sweeping upwards from his eyelids and they are stiff, and of course move when they blink. This his just hair directly underneath the white eyebrow hair that some trim.


Jasper is due a trim but hope this helps to show what I trim shorter at the top of his nose


I've found a video, fast forward to around 38 mins and you'll see the big I mean
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0dN93mPero8

[Schnauzerluv]

You've done ALL this to explain, and still I'm asking questions......... I feel so thick.

Is it the bit right under the inside corner of the eye, and the bit between the eyelashes and eyebrow? Should only the white parts be eyebrows? Like do I snip any black parts that aren't stiff like eyelashes? I already snipped Ozzy's lashes off

Jasper's eyelashes are impressive! His seem to grow whisped to the sides, looks really nice! And thank you so much for the most helpful demos! I'll continue to try to figure it out.

[Schnauzerluv]

I snipped a bit and took some more pics, hopefully it shows his brows well. I tried to take different angles.











What would you suggest? I know they don't tend to sit right, at least they don't hang down like the show schnauzers. I used hair gel and tried to comb them as straight as possible.

Tell me if i'm on the right track. If I trim the hair right below the white eyebrow, would that encourage the brow to lie flatter? If his brow is not meant to hang down in front, that's ok too. I'm just feeling a bit lost.

[Dawnspell]

It depends what you are wanting. I think because his eyebrows look quite curly youd probably have to let them grow longer to get the weight if you wanted the show type look. You would need to trim the hair shorter right below the eyebrow. On the last photo it's the bits that look like two dark patches under the white.
Personally I think the short eyebrows suit him

[Schnauzerluv]

Ok thank you!! So kind of like what I circled?





There's a section of his schnauz at the very top that I decided to let grow out that keeps standing up in front of his eyes right now. Above that I trimmed real short in the very corner of the inside of the eye. So I think you mean the black hair above that, between the white brows? Should I trim away all the black hair between his white brows?

So would I make a snip kind of like this?



And thanks again for all your help! And I also very much appreciate your opinion about his brows. I think i'll keep em shorter.