pet hand strip on a Brussels

[Alicia]

I had a woman call me tonight and beg me to hand strip her Brussels Griffon. I do have 2 other Brussel clients but they aren't in true breed clip, close but modified. I explained to the lady that I've never done a true hand strip. I have used a 4 or 5 skip to set the pattern, and used a stripping knife afterwards. I told her it just would take too long to totally hand strip a dog for me at least. She agreed she would be willing to try this as she has found nobody else in the area willing to take a new client that wants hand stripping. I'm nervous because I don't even know what the dog looks like. I told the lady to come early on Sat. so I would have time to go over everything with her and make sure she wanted to do it. She said it couldn't be worse than the last shop who "totally shaved" her dog. If that really happened I don't know. I asked her if she would give me the name of her last groomer so I could call them (she moved out of state ), but she just commented that she would try this, because it was probably what the the groomer she liked did because her dog usually came home about 2 hours after being groomed, and she usually goes 8-12 weeks between grooms.

Any helpful tips from anyone who truly does hand strip? How often do you require them to come in so it doesn't take all day? Do most people charge by the hour?

[petstylist]

Hi Alica,
I do a little hand stripping, most people dont want to pay for it by the time I tell them how much it will be. And yes i charge by the hour.
If the dog has been shaved there is a good chance his coat is bad off and/or might not be long enough to truely hand strip, depending on how long ago it was "shaved".
Depending on how "blown" or dead the coat is I would work section by by section (to me,personally, a section is about a 3" square) and if she is truely wanting a hand strip she might have to bring him in every week untill his coat is in rotation again.
I personally find that when I explain the time and money and commiment people will have to make to this type of hair style they find it not worth it, then I card out the undercoat, pluck a little hair to keep the texture and color and shape it all up with a long blade (#4 or #5)

Hope this help and I think this is the longest post I have ever made!
Tammy

[Poodlefluff]

I hand strip a little brussels but she is just a pet. So I HS her ears with my ear knife, pluck out her back and sidecoat and tail for about 45 min. Then I bathe her and safety pin a towel around her in the drying cage and then I finish her by carding a little and skim over her with a #3 skip tooth. The HS of the ears makes the biggest difference. I charge about 10 more than the haircut price.

[Alicia]

follow up on Brussels

Well I groomed the Brussels on Sat. He was a very sweet little dog. It had been quite awhile since his last groom it seemed, the owner thought 8-10 weeks. I told her I would hand strip the best I could but he really needed to be done more often.
He turned out cute, the owners were happy, but they commented that he was usually much redder. I tried explaining that it was only fair to expect her dog to tolerate so much stripping in one session and if she came back next week we could get it almost to the point it needed to be. She said she'd schedule for 8 weeks and think about coming in sooner. I guess we'll see.

I really hope I can get them on a more regular schedule. The dog was so well behaved, he even gave me kisses while I was working on him. Didn't argue for any part of the groom, though towards the end I could tell he was tiring of being worked on.

[bluebonbon]

Combo of Handstipping and carding

I have several (5) that I hand strip. One is my own Brussels griffon. I make them agree to 5 week appointments or otherwise it is too hard to keep them looking good. I have one border terrier who goes down to pj's. I wash first with warm water to loosen the coat. Then I dry. After they are clean and dry it is easy to see which hairs are ready to get pulled out. I use rubber gloves as it gives a good grip and is easier on my hands. Dead hair pulls out easy and should not make the dog's skin red. It only get really red if your client insists on stripping a coat that is not really ready to go. If the client doesn't mind, you can use thinning shears to trim up bushy areas that are not ready to stip out. Once you have them on regular rotation, it is easy to keep up and not spend too much time. But I have spent as much as 4 hours on one dog and yes, I charge by the hour.

[MarkyMark]

please post a picture of the border in his pjs.

[Kim in SD]

(Please post a pic of the border in his pj's) LOL, then you look at the avatar w/the pink dress on.. I'm laughing so hard.

[gitl]

First handstrip on Brussels

I'm so glad there is posting about handstripping a Brussels. This is my experience -- I have a client with 2 Brussels which she purchased in "Brussels!" She had been handstripping them herself with instruction from the breeder. Anyway, she asked for my help and basically "taught" me. I used a rubber finger on my index finger and worked in sections. The client and I sometimes worked together on one dog. No clipping (except sanitary), and the only scissoring was around the foot and thinning shears around the tips of the ears. She doesn't bathe them; says the breeder told her not to. BTW, they're 18 months and 2 years old. Simply darling. I loved them. She paid me quite nicely, considering she did half the work. But it was quite a worthwhile experience. Something new for me to learn. ( I would have paid her just for the instruction -- Yeah right!) I tried to take pictures to post but they didn't come out well. Maybe in the future. I'd like to see others' pictures, if you can.