hand-stripping

Question
I have an Australian Terrier and it is recommended that his coat be hand-stripped.  I purchased the stripping knives and have attempted to do it myself since I cannot find a local groomer who is willing or able to do this.  I am not a trained groomer so the process is very tedious and the results are less than desirable. I read that there is a clipper attachment called a split-tooth blade that yields results similar to stripping. Is this true, and do you recommend using this blade as opposed to hand-stripping? Also, do you know of any groomers skilled in this technique in the Pittsburgh or Allegheny County, PA, area?

Answer

Skip-tooth blade Hi Norma,
Hand-stripping truly is an arduous job! It is difficult to find a groomer who does hand-stripping because of the time involved and the required skill.

First, excuse my candor, is it important to you that your AT is hand-stripped or do you think he should be because of a book you read or perhaps because the breeder's ATs are hand-stripped? The reason I ask is because most often when terrier owners realize how expensive, time-consuming and painful for the dog (if done incorrectly) hand-stripping is, they decide to have their terrier clipped.

If you really like the way hand-stripped ATs look, and you are prepared to pay three times more than a regular haircut for upkeep (if done professionally) and your dog tolerates it, I would suggest instead, looking for terrier breeders who show. All terrier breeders hand-strip their dogs for the show ring. They are usually a tight-knit community with a plethora of answers. They may be able to guide you to someone who will hand-strip your AT. Don't be surprised if they recommend having him clipped if you are not going to show him; hand-stripping is usually reserved for show terriers for the aforementioned challenges.

Lastly, the "split-tooth" blade you write about is actually a "skip-tooth" blade. This blade is used for two reasons: Roughing-in a dog or clipping most of the fur off a thick-coated dog before his bath -- the haircut is finished when the coat is dry, with a "finish" blade. Skip-tooth blades work very well to give a sort of rough but groomed look to terrier fur. I prefer skip-tooth blades on rough-coated terriers, like Airedales or Cairns if the owners don't want the back clipped short. The skip-tooth will partly mimic a hand-strip look in that the coat will not be all one length. It will differ greatly by changing the texture of the coat. Hand-stripping removes the soft part of the coat and leaves the rough, wiry hair, leaving the colors dark and rich. Clippers shorten the rough and soft part of the coat. Eventually, the colors fade by about 25%.

Good-luck with your terrier,
Becca