I carded her coat

You can either "pluck" with your fingers, or use a tool to grip.  You can use a callous remover, rubber gloves, or a fine toothed comb. Some folks sprinkle terrier chalk for better grip.  You are pinching and pulling straight out(with the lay of the coat), so you don't want anything sharp that will tear the coat.  I have a cheapo knife I won at a silent auction.  I have yet to try it, though.  I always use my fingers on my Terrier.

 This morning, a gal made another appointment for her "Wesscott", which is actually just a WestiexScotie.  She has an altered pair of them.  She usually has them both shaved down (with a Scottie head), but she wants me to start hand-stripping one of them, to improve the coat texture.  I mucked out a ton of undercoat this morning.  I used an Oster rake, it is much faster than a clipper blade.  So, I will try to strip the guard coat in a few weeks.  Hopefully I can change the cycle, and have the outer coat growing faster than the undercoat.  It will probably take a few sessions to fix the damage I've done with my #7.

 I bet this whole process will improve Emma's skin condition.  Good luck to you!




 

You actually PLUCK their hair out?

Owwww...how does that not hurt?? Is the wiry hair really that much different from regular hair? Cherokee GLARES at me if I accidently pull her hair when brushing, and yelps if I accidently or purposely pluck it. Her fur's thick and coarse, though I guess not wiry? Just sounds painful..but I know literally nothing about dog grooming beyond brushing, bathing, and clipping nails.

You are stripping out the dead "blown" coat.  It does not hurt the dog when correctly done.  When you are rolling a coat, you strip the hair in sections, and pluck the dead and dying hairs on a routine basis.  This way, the dog never blows all of his coat at once, and will be pressentable in the ring at all times.  I don't have many request for hand strips, but even if I did, I would still shave the sanitary reigon and the face.  Those areas are tender.  Some people do strip these areas because it looks so much more natural.

I've been hand plucking her guard hairs since she was a puppy. She likes it. I guess it's just the terrier skin. The blade felt like it was pulling hair out, too. Her leg thumped, and she streeeettttched her body out, and got that "Ohhhhhh!!!!" look on her face. She loved it. She asked me to do it some more, today, but I don't want to make nekkid spots.

So, I need an Oster rake? One of the things that looks sort of like a mat breaker? I was thinking of buying one of those for dogs like Poms and Chows.  I'll get a stripping knife, too, and figure it out. Plucking a few hairs with my fingers takes years....  

BTW, I won't strip her ears or sanitary. I'll still use a blade on those. Too sensitive an area. Anything else that bothers her, I'll clip or use thinning shears on. She's a pet dog, and I'm just now considering starting correct grooming on her. It's not worth stressing her out on her. It's likely I'll end up pulling out the good ol' 15 backwards, some time in the future, anyways Old habits die hard, you know.... 

I was going to say, I'm kind of surprised you are stripping her at all, you always are so assertive about shaving Emma, often emphasising that she is only a pet dog.

I doubt I would ever strip a sanitary.  And unless I eventually start showing dogs, I would probably only ever strip a dog's head/face for a certifaction test.

The Oster steel rake is a very safe, and sturdy, tool to use.  It suits my needs very well.  It's basically an all-steel coat king.  I have the smallest size.  I would have bought all three sizes, but the other two were sold-out at the trade show.  I especially like to use it in the tub for de-shedding.  It's also pretty good at de-matting.

 I know. I'm a weirdo I've always, always shaved her down. Her coat is coming in so pretty, now, though. It's finally acting more normal, and it's tempting my inner show groomer. I've wanted to learn about stripping for a long time, and there's no better guinea pig than a dog who stand-stays on command. I won't do it if she hates it. I won't even do it if she doesn't like it. If she tolerates it well, though, I'll see what happens.

It's hanging out with show people.... They're a bad influence! 

 Sometimes I think "man, it would be so easy to just shave Rose." but then I think of how bald she would look because of her fairly thin undercoat...not good...as my mentor says, "she would look like a peeled onion."  I can get Rose done from extremely fuzzy to neat and tidy in about 1 hour.  Colton is faster because he doesn't have as heavy furnishings.  I hand strip Colton's chest and most of his belly but shave the sanitary area.  I shave Rose's belly and chest.  I strip both of their faces.  I try to strip as much as possible and have started hand stripping Rose's chest and just shaving her belly recently.  Cash gets all but his sanitary area stripped.  All three stand very well and don't flinch.  Once in a while Colton gets sick of standing and tries to be nippy, but that stops quickly.  I have a curved knife for the face, and fine and coarse knives for the body.  On some areas, I just use my fingers. 

Oh, I'm glad I read this post!  I think it gave me the motivation to do some grooming today!