Mugwump's Fish World

We're fixing to have our last cold snap.  It always happens in March or early April aftrer a long stretch of beautiful Spring weather...

So...I have no dogs booked for Friday when it will be drop to below freezing.  If I get any it will be just one or two.

My neighbor's daughter rescued a Great Pyrenese a bad neighbor I will have nothing to do with.  The dog is her's now because he stays with her where he was being cared for.  The dog is huge, larger than most of his breed but he needs a professional grooming.  He was shaved when the bad owners got him and luckily for the dog, the hair grew back fine.  But every time a double coated northern breed is shave down there's a huge rish of the hair not growing right because shaving inhibits top coat growth and invites undercoat growth. 

She's bring him Friday.  I'll give him what I call a blow job with my powerful force air dryer.  (I only call it a blow job to people who can handle the joke)  I'll use my desheding shampoo and conditioner, put him under the fans for a while, then give him the blow job, brush out what's left, and then do the finish which will be the easy part.

It will cost nobody anything.  I won't loose any money on a freezing Friday.  The dog is good kind soul as is my neighbor who gave him a home.  Only bad thing about the dog is that if he comes to visit you dare not leave a door open.  He's walk in and squire a shot of pee on everything verticle ;D

Quote from: LizStreithorst on March 25, 2015, 07:03:28 PMOnly bad thing about the dog is that if he comes to visit you dare not leave a door open.  He's walk in and squire a shot of pee on everything verticle ;D

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Some guys just like to claim their territory!  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Quote from: Ron Sower on March 25, 2015, 07:07:42 PM

Quote from: LizStreithorst on March 25, 2015, 07:03:28 PMOnly bad thing about the dog is that if he comes to visit you dare not leave a door open.  He's walk in and squire a shot of pee on everything verticle ;D

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Some guys just like to claim their territory!  ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I wouldn't say this if I hadn't had 5 Olulto's :-[  When my gentleman friend visits and wakes up in the morning, and say's he gonna go out and pee on a tree, I always tell him to pee high on the tree so if any other men come sniffing around they'll think that he's a big guy and stay away.  I doubt this works with human but it might on a subliminal level.

LOL...... ;D

I like you, Liz!   ;D

Well, that was a job and a half.  I thought the undercoat would blow out more easily.  The dog was delightful (Pyr's always are).   The owner helped me get him in the raised tub.  He needed 2 baths.   With my bathing system bath time took about 25 minutes.  I used my deshed shampoo and conditioner which may have been a mistake.  I put him in my largest wire cage and put 5 fans on him while I groomed 2 small dogs, about an hour and 45 minutes.

Then I pulled him out and gave him the blow job.  Hair did not go flying like I'd hoped.  I ended up doing a whole lot of brushing and combing.  I had to use the mat splitter  in a few places above his tail  and under his neck where his drool had made him mat.  Then there was a lot of work with the heavy duty brush and wide tooth comb.  I was going over him with my longest snap on comb when the owner showed up.  She helped me position him while I worked.

The dog actually needed the whole procedure done over again but the dog had had enough and I was whupped.  The hair is about 2" long and a comb will go through it.  It was fun, too.  Hands on time was about 3 hrs.

I want to do him again in a few weeks.  Next time I'll use a silicone conditioner that should make undercoat more slippery so it blows out more easily.

Dog was bigger than you, huh?..... ;D

Wow, Liz! 3 Hours!!!

Nothing like a 3 hour b.j. LOL

The dog, Ollie, came to visit this morning.  He considers my land part of his territory.  Pyr's are guardians but the area they decide is under their guardianship is up to them unless they're fenced.  He didn't look bad.  Everyone thinks he looks great but I'm the one most criticle of my work.  I know for sure that he still needs another wash and blow.  I will do a lot of Furminator work first.  His undercoat....I don't have words...

There was a Schnauzer judge at the grooming competitions who befriened me.  His name was Paul something.  He was an excellelt all breed judge but showed Schnauzers.  He said, "Undercoat is our enemy".  I thought of making a T shirt for him that said:

I'm learning more and more about dog grooming done properly.  ;D There's much more to it than I'd ever thought would be....

Learning more that you want to know is more like it :P

It's not at all what people think.  Folks tell me all the time that they would love to do what I do but don't have the patience.  In my mind, patience has nothing to do with it except for the fact that all work involves a degree of patience.  One prerequisite is understanding the mind of the dog.  Different dogs need to be handled differently.  Another, if you want to be any good, is having a sence of balance and symmetry.  Techniques can be learned.  Different tools and products can be experimented with.  Some work well on one coat type some work well on others.  A dificult thing is figuring out what the owner wants and translating that into into how to accomplish it while at the same time getting the most attractive look for the dog.

Of course, there are those who buy a clipper and hang out a shingle.  I put them in the category of those folks who advertise as "handy man"  and screw up everything they touch.

I have a "broken coated" Jack Russell that I used to have hand stripped when he was younger. It is so hard to find someone that can actually hand strip a terrier and as Liz said "keep a sense of balance and symmetry".

At one point I thought I could do it myself and bought some tools and gave it a try. What a fool I was. Not only did I mess the poor dog's coat up I hurt my hand in the process. .

t is really hard to find a really good groomer and when you do you need to take good care of them.

You could have done it with a little instruction in the use of the stripping knives.  You already know the right look.  I bet that most of the groomers you took him too left the furnishings too long.  A JR is NOT the same as a Wire Fox.

BTW, I no longer hand strip.  There is no demand for it here, I'd have to charge for the time it takes, and I don't know if these old hands could handle it any more.  I had st sleep in wrist braces after having done that Pyr.

We used to call Sadie, our broken coated JR, "Fuzzy Butt".  I'd strip her coat every spring but she'd get really mad when I'd get to her rear end. We didn't care that she had a fuzzy butt cuz she was our pet and varmint dog. No balance and symmetry even though they look so nice when properly stripped.

You stripped the saddles on your Afhgan's too, right?  That's something I don't know how to do as I've never seen it done.

Quote from: PaulineMi on March 29, 2015, 03:06:21 PM
We used to call Sadie, our broken coated JR, "Fuzzy Butt".  I'd strip her coat every spring but she'd get really mad when I'd get to her rear end. We didn't care that she had a fuzzy butt cuz she was our pet and varmint dog. No balance and symmetry even though they look so nice when properly stripped.

Kobe is very sensitive about his butt too. lol. He is due for a grooming but nobody around here strips so I take him to someone who does a good job with him.  There are some JRTCA members in Pennsylvania that I may look up. They can probably point me in the right direction.

Quote from: LizStreithorst on March 29, 2015, 03:01:50 PM
You could have done it with a little instruction in the use of the stripping knives.  You already know the right look.  I bet that most of the groomers you took him too left the furnishings too long.  A JR is NOT the same as a Wire Fox.

BTW, I no longer hand strip.  There is no demand for it here, I'd have to charge for the time it takes, and I don't know if these old hands could handle it any more.  I had st sleep in wrist braces after having done that Pyr.

You're right Liz. I know the look and have the tools all I need is someone to show me how to use those tools so that I can pull the coat out and not just break it out. ::)

Has he ever been clipped rather than stripped or have you just allowed him to get shaggy? Clipping changes the coat (it looses that place where it breaks) It can be painful to the dog to go back to stripping.  You'll get the best advice from people in the breed club.

If he has been clipped in the past I would suggest to continue with clipping and use a very fine stripping knife held at a 15 degree angle to pull out undercoat.  That won't hurt the dog and you will get an acceptable result.  But, Paul 3:16 said you need to pull out undercoat a few times a week.  It's not an every 6 week thing.

Clipping encourages our enemy, undercoat growth, and discourages and changes top coat growth.

Quote from: LizStreithorst on March 29, 2015, 04:21:57 PM
Has he ever been clipped rather than stripped or have you just allowed him to get shaggy? Clipping changes the coat (it looses that place where it breaks) It can be painful to the dog to go back to stripping.  You'll get the best advice from people in the breed club.

If he has been clipped in the past I would suggest to continue with clipping and use a very fine stripping knife held at a 15 degree angle to pull out undercoat.  That won't hurt the dog and you will get an acceptable result.  But, Paul 3:16 said you need to pull out undercoat a few times a week.  It's not an every 6 week thing.

Clipping encourages our enemy, undercoat growth, and discourages and changes top coat growth.

His coat has probably been ruined. He is shaggy at this time and has a decent undercoat. I will see what the breed club recommends though I think we will do what you recommend unless there is a hand stripper nearby.

I would suggest not trying to go back to hand stripping.  It will be painful to him to get the coat back in shape as the natural break in the top coat  is long gone.   But see experts have to say and please let me know.  I could easily be wrong.

Quote from: LizStreithorst on March 29, 2015, 03:17:33 PM
You stripped the saddles on your Afhgan's too, right?  That's something I don't know how to do as I've never seen it done.

Yes and it's easy. It's kind of like the reverse of an undercoat. The fluffy stuff grows up through the smooth, flat coat. You just strip all the fluffy hair out until there's just a smooth saddle left.

lol, in this case undercoat was your friend because you stripped down to it.  My guess is that you use a fine stripping knife to do that job, not the more course ones you would use to on the top coat of a terrier.  Am I correct?

You are correct.  ;)

I've been looking on the web to find how to trim the feet correctly.  I found nothing.  I did see this one pic of an Afghan in a very good pet trim.  It's easy to crituque a picture but I know that I wouldn't be able to do such a good pet trim on one.  http://www.metro-urbancabin.com/2010/08/lotus-gets-fixed-up-maintaince-of.html

Quote from: LizStreithorst on March 29, 2015, 07:33:24 PM
I've been looking on the web to find how to trim the feet correctly.  I found nothing.  I did see this one pic of an Afghan in a very good pet trim.  It's easy to crituque a picture but I know that I wouldn't be able to do such a good pet trim on one.  http://www.metro-urbancabin.com/2010/08/lotus-gets-fixed-up-maintaince-of.html

Pretty dog..... ;D