How often to schedule handstripping??

[ejmj30]

Ok, I think I've gotten a handle on the stripping thing, but I'm not sure when to tell people to reschedule their next appointment. When I first started, I told people 4 wks, but it seemed like they didn't have any hair to strip. Then I have some customers that wait several months, and I have to take them down totally. So how do I get a nicely rolled coat, but so they don't have to come in ALL the time? Or do I just wait til the whole coat is blown again and restrip them all over??? Thanks.

[wet noze]

I have many questions about this topic as well. I have 2 dogs I handstrip but they don't get groomed often enough so I do the best I can. What exactly does blown mean? Can you explain in simple terms what rolling means? How do you do that? How often should that be done? I've read alot about handstripping but it doesn't make that much sense to me as I've only seen it done once or twice.

What I do is handstrip out what I can then I go over the coat with a snap on comb and then I use the coat king. I am careful not to cut into the undercoat. Both customers are happy with what I've been doing and the dogs look good.

Will this ruin the coat eventually?

[bubblesaway]

to keep it in pristine condition you would actually want to go through the coat every 2 weeks and you just go through and pull our all the dead hairs. you can stretch it to four weeks. any longer than that you start to lose to much good hair to get a nice roll and layers going. eventually you are going to need to strip back to the dogs underwear, but keep dogs on a four week schedule

[ejmj30]

That's what I thought, but then what do I charge for it??? If I don't rollthe coat, do I only do it 2-3 x a year when the coat is shedding in it's natural cycle???

Blown coat is when they dog is all one length and there's no different levels of coat, so when you strip the dog down, only undercoat will be left. A rolled coat means you strip the dog in cycles of however many weeks (that's my question), and you'll always have a good outer coat. When a rolled coat comes in for an appt, you strip the longest hairs. Underneath that is a perfect length coat. Under the perfect length coat is a coat that is still growing in. To roll a coat, you pinch the skin between your fingers and roll down the dogs body pinching the skin so the hair stands up, and you take out the longest hairs. Obviously describing this technique is NOT my strong point, so there's a link on my website to a great description of stripping. www.littleshopofhowlers.com look on the FAQs page.

[luckydog]

Charge by the hour and then you won't have a problem. I charge all my grooms hourly and handstripping an extra $10 per hour on top of that.

[Mia]

If you do a pet dog it differs between different breeds - but also between dogs.
But this is a rought schedule that I have found to work :

Long legged terriers - every 8 week. Some dogs needs another 2-3 weeks.
Westie/ Scottie - every 8 weeks
Cairnterrier - every 12 weeks
Norwich/Norfolk - differs alot - but most of them every 12 weeks
Schnauzers - every 12 week

Borderterrier,Jack Russel and dachhounds is very individual - some only sets a new coat twice a year.

With this schedule you have a nice short layer under the top coat everytime.

If it is a showdog you need to do it a lot more often!

I charge per hour - with the showdogs also its a lot of work and my hands rather do a poodle *smile*