Grooming and Pens

Hand Stripping is when the dead hair is pulled out so a new wire coat grows in, instead of cutting the hair with clippers.   It does not hurt, they may not like it, but it is not painful when done properly. Wire hair is not attached like our own hair. Stripping maintains a proper  wire coat, while clipping makes it soft and ruins the texture.  If you decide to clip, it really helps to rake out dead coat and/or strip a little coat before using clippers. It is not as good as hand stripping, but does make for some new coat and a healthier over all coat. Keep the clip a little long, try to use a long enough blade that it does not dig into the undercoat level.

Each grown out wire hair has a hard wire point, then is semi hollow down to about the undercoat level, very soft at the base and only lightly anchored in the follicle, which is why they pull out so easy. Cutting the hair takes away the structure of the hair. Particularly when cut below the undercoat level, but even just the tip breaks the structure. If cut, the soft base stays in the follicle so a new wire tipped hair can not grow. The soft bottom will continue to grow awhile. If the dog is continually cut, the coat stays soft under coat and soft base hair from the old top coat. Often the wire coat is in one layer and pulling it leaves them in their "underwear" until a new coat wire comes though. The undercoat is soft and supposed to be. It may take 8 to 10 weeks before the new wire coat comes in and is long enough to cover the undercoat.

Expect to pay a lot more, at least double, what the clipping price would be if you want hand stripping.  It is very labor intensive.

Rolling is having part of the coat come in new in layers, so that you can strip off the longest hair, and always have wire coat. This is done by pulling only about  the longest third of the coat, leaving the rest for a week to two weeks, depending on the dog, and then repeating until there is always new coat coming in underneath. This can be started when they are grown out with a blown coat, or when a new coat is just past perfect.  Not all dogs can be 'rolled'.

Handstripping to some is pulling the coat with only your fingers, but most commonly we use the term when we use a stripping knife too. Raking is using the stripping knife, a clipper blade or a piece of pumice stone to rake though or 'comb' the undercoat. This pulls a lot of dead undercoat out and also helps the new coat come in. We also do this when in the wire coat to take out some of the undercoat leaving the jacket even 'harder'.

The purist will say hand strip only. But if you use a stripping knife properly, it works as well as pulling the coat only with your fingers. Despite the name 'knife' it is never used to cut the hair, only to help grip it. Many times the knives are too sharp or the wrong motion is used and the hair is cut.Secretary's fingers, latex surgical gloves and ear powder (which has rosin in it) sprinkled on the coat all help grip the coat while pulling.

Pull out a few hairs with your thumb and side of your forefinger and watch how that looks when you hand strip. The knife is used only to replace your forefinger to make the pulling easier.

Wrap your fingers around the handle and leave the blade sticking out where your finger would have been and so your thumb will close in the middle of it in a pliers action. The grooves in the knife are facing away from your thumb. Pick up a layer of a few hairs at a time with your thumb and squeeze them against the knife blade. Pull them with a very sharp motion, with the grain of the hair, never backwards to the way the hair grows. Say middle of the back, you are pulling toward the dogs tail, not towards the head or up away from the body.  Do not twist your wrist and pull in a circular motion. This will cut the hair and ruin your wrists. Instead lock your wrist and keep your arm straight to the elbow. Pull by moving your hand towards your body keeping the bending only your elbow and shoulder. There is another quite useful description on how to use the tools at the Macknyfe Website.  Sometimes the knives when new are too sharp. Dull them by dragging them though dirt, use them to open boxes, or sanding them a little.

If you just do occasional hand stripping, the readily available in many pet supply catalogs McClellan's are a good choice. Yellow handle, Coarse and Red handle, Fine. If you just get one, buy the yellow handle. The red handle is also an good one to use as a 'rake'. They are also available from Robert McClellen himself, PO Box 254, Upland Ca. 91786   Pearson knives are another popular one with wood handles. 405.257.5832   The common ones found in most pet supply catalogs, Hauptner and the Magnet stripper, may not as good as the others listed, but many people are happy with them.

The amazing thing about this pen, it is fully customizable to whatever size you need.  Below is a list of the materials and tools that are used. 

Material List

*3/4" PVC Tee's

*3/4" PVC 90' Elbows

*3/4" Schedule 40 PVC Pipe

*3/4" PVC 90' Elbow with Outlet 

*1" PVC Tees 

*3/4" PVC Couplings 

*A vinyl remnant to cover the floor underneath 

*2x4 non treated lumber to for your Bassett

*Drywall Screws for fasteners 

*Galvanized L Brackets to fasten base corners

Basically determine the area you want to construct and divide that by the size of the 3/4" Tees.  Then take that number and double it and that will be the number of 3/4" Tees you will need per side.  The amount of pipe will be determined by two factors.  First, how high do you want the sides to be and second how many Tees are required per side? 

You can find a video below. Please note that this video is from another source.