Stripping Cairn Terriers

Stripping is the single most confusing part of the Cairn Terrier breed! I get more questions about it and have had more questions myself! The process involves pulling the dead hair and leaving the new hair in the coat. The correct way to strip a coat is by hand, between your thumb and forefinger. The problem is that individual Cairns are so different! Some coats can be rolled. This means that on a continuous basis, you pull out the longest hairs and a new coat is constantly growing in underneath. This is an easy process and they continually have a coat length of 2-3" over their body. But not all coats grow in this manner. Most of my Cairns have to be stripped completely once a year. This involves the coat growing out to a long length and in the Spring, with natural shedding timelines, the coat becomes loose and you pull all the hard coat out, leaving an undercoat. Very rarely will they have their new coat already growing in underneath, but that is my preference. The hard coat then grows back in course and beautiful again. For the head, I like that nice round shaped face, and I use thinning shears or scissors and trim the hair in a circle around their face, the length of the ears. I then strip the hair completely off the outer 1/3 of the ear. Show grooming is a different story. It involves completely stripping different zones, and letting the hair grow out with about 6wks between zones. It takes about 6 months for the process to be complete. I never completely strip the head because they look so funny without their head hair. Since I don't currently show, and with my breeding bitches who blow their coat after whelping, I have to keep them looking as cute as possible while dealing with the hormonal changes. Another reason why spayed/neutered pets are wonderful! Rumor is that Col Potter Cairn Rescue network is working on a stripping/grooming video. That's something I've wanted to do for a long time but don't feel expert enough to let people watch me! LOL So when it comes available, I'll publicize it. In the meantime, keep plucking! :)