Dead leg hair

[MightyBindi]

Hello guys. My puppy is 4 months old and her leg hair has stopped growing. It started to clump, the tips of the black hairs look burnt, and they just look unkempt overall. I brush her legs twice a day but they look very ugly and the hair feels coarser than before. I am very very tempted to strip them because she also became itchy and i have a feeling she is about to shed her puppy coat.

Will they grow back wiry if i pluck out what seems dead hair? Should i pluck it out now to allow the hair to revitalize and then scissor it?

I never scissored her legs because i wanted the hair there much longer but as i said, its not growing anymore and it looks dead.

[Dawnspell]

Its sounds a bit like with combing twice a day youve been pulling out all the undercoat and encouraging the wire hair to grow, which is why it appears not to be growing and its got coarser. If the hair isnt nourished it will also start breaking easily when combed. Schnauzers legs arent normally stripped you wont get the same look if stripped.

I would suggest you start conditioning after washing and use one of the conditioning, leave in, de-tangle sprays before combing and reduce the amount of combing to as much as is needed to prevent matting. They do have different coats some matt easier that others. I use a wire comb on Jasper to make sure I get right down to the skin when doing his legs. I'm lucky he doesnt matt easily and I only go through his legs once or twice a week but I do use hair product to prevent matting.

[MightyBindi]

Its sounds a bit like with combing twice a day youve been pulling out all the undercoat and encouraging the wire hair to grow, which is why it appears not to be growing and its got coarser. If the hair isnt nourished it will also start breaking easily when combed. Schnauzers legs arent normally stripped you wont get the same look if stripped.

I would suggest you start conditioning after washing and use one of the conditioning, leave in, de-tangle sprays before combing and reduce the amount of combing to as much as is needed to prevent matting. They do have different coats some matt easier that others. I use a wire comb on Jasper to make sure I get right down to the skin when doing his legs. I'm lucky he doesnt matt easily and I only go through his legs once or twice a week but I do use hair product to prevent matting.

Thank you! You are always a great help. I haven't used a conditioner yet as i thought it might harm her if she accidentally licks it because she is a puppy lol. But i should look into some good "big girl" styling products now and stop using puppy shampoo.

I never got any hair out of her legs while brushing though. So the undercoat is still there but i might have damaged the ends. Thanks again for the advice