The Schnauzer Forum

Hi all,

Tucker is 7 months old and looks like a big ball of fluff! He has no wiry hairs yet and I'm wondering if this means he probably never will.

We started grooming properly including carding etc at around 5 months or so, he is brushed every day and carding once or twice a week. His parents were clipped quite short so unsure of their coat, and I wanted to strip to keep his coat darker. But if he never gets wiry hair is it best to clip instead? His fur mats really easily so any advice is welcome.

Also what products can people recommend for bathing? He's started to get very itchy and we need a good conditioner for his skin. We bathe every 2 weeks ish as he is a gross young pup who seems to pee on himself regularly.

Thanks

Hi Jess and welcome to the Forum

It is difficult to judge what a puppy’s coat will be like if you don’t know whether the parents’ jackets were harsh or not. Did you take out the undercoat very close when you did the first grooming as some puppies do take a little while to get the harsh hairs through and you do need to remove all the puppy fluff to help this.

It might be worthwhile, if you really want to hand strip Tucker to see if you can find a groomer nearby who can give you some advice after examining Tucker’s coat in person. Usually I would recommend taking a puppy to the breeder for this support but if Tucker’s breeder doesn’t know how to hand strip it will be best to go to a breeder / groomer who shows their dogs. If you live in the U.K. you may find someone on this list who can help:

http://www.theminiatureschnauzerclub.co ... /groomers/

As regards the furnishings matting, this is a real problem with many minis since they have over the years been bred with longer and softer hair on the legs and beard. Really only regular brushing, combing through is the answer to keeping them free of mats and using a good conditioner when you bath him. I wouldn’t bathe the jacket though unless it is really dirty as this may soften the hair and could irritate the skin if it is removing the natural oils. Just wash through his leg and beard hair if he is getting these stained.

You could try using a gentle shampoo /conditioner without the harsh chemicals that can be in many products for dogs and may cause itching. There are a couple of links here to products for sensitive skin in dogs:

https://anicura.co.uk/products/dog-sham ... oJEALw_wcB


https://www.dorwest.com/product/soothe-calm-shampoo/

First, Tucker looks adorable!

When first starting out with hand stripping (not using the stage stripping method) the pup is looking scruffy for a little while. My pup was scruffy in places until he was a year old. I don't know you would notice much of the harsher wire hairs coming in in 2 months, honestly, it took a good 4 months for me to notice much. Remember the wire hairs are still just budding. But once you get more and more wire, they will eventually hold down flat against the skin and the soft undercoat will want to stand up, no it's much easier to see.

My Ozzy has a lot of undercoat (by nature), he's 2YO now and I still see undercoat, but mostly the jacket is wire and looks good so I think it will just take longer to get the wire jacket look for your boy.

Thanks both, I will persevere with gthe carding and hopefully see some results in a few more months! In the mean time I have clipped his jacket back just a little to help with matting fur and generally poofy sheep look.

Thanks also for the shampoo recommendations, will grab one of those to use going forward.