Hand Stripping

I love the look of a hand stripped dog. It's completely different than the look of a clipped dog. It's beautiful. I would like to learn to strip, but Emma's coat is horrible, so I just shave her. As a result of that, generalized demodex when it started to break, and LOTS of skin and coat supplements, it's completely the wrong texture and probably not even strippable. She's a pet, though, so it doesn't matter as much. My next JRT (or PRT, as it may turn out) will be my hand stripping experiment[]

Could you explain what hand stripping is?  I don't think I've ever heard about that?

[linkhttp://www.handstripping.com/]http://www.handstripping.com/[/link]
This site tells quite a bit about it.  People think I'm cruel to pull my dog's hair like I do, but when I show them how easily it comes out and that she doesn't care one bit, they usually change their mind.  It has to be done the right way, but it really isn't hard to learn.  The hard part is getting Rose's face to look right.  I'm not great at shaping the hair on her face still.  I'm definitely getting better though!  At least I don't give her bald spots right on top anymore! 

My Sister hand strips a few of her clients dogs...but only because they are being shown.  You have to handstrip for the show ring to keep a hard wire coat.  It can be very painful for the dog if done incorrectly, but, my Sister does it properly and you have to start them young...and it's harder if the dog has ever been shaved before as you will have a soft coat if shaved prior...which means that it's not really worth the groomers time if you don't charge enough...which my Sister doesn't charge enough[] 
 
My Sister attended a handstripping clinic and also did a few dogs with a local breeders to get it down pat.  The breeder was brutal with the dog she was handstripping and it was painful for the poor thing.

For a pet dog you can the same look with a stripping blade (knife whatever...you can tell I'm not a groomer[]).  For pet dogs that the owners want the look of a handstripped dog she uses the stipping blade and can achieve the same look minus the pain & it's more cost efficient for her as it doesn't take a long time.

It's not really cost effecient for a groomer to handstrip.  It takes way too much time for the money you can charge...unless you do have a set price for handstripping.  Also, handstripping is not taught in most grooming schools...grooming schools go over basics for pet grooming, not show grooming.  Groomers like my Sister attended seminars/clinics etc to learn extra things.  For show grooming for each new breed she took on she went to learn from a show breeder who was an expert in their breed grooming.  She also attends seminars in Hershy and she got her Certified National Master groomer status..but, that doesn't cover everything.

Of course I only half listen when my Sister is talking about handstripping etc and grooming...this is just what I understand. 

I had a Jack and stripped him for a while, but he really had the wrong texture of coat for it and I gave up after a while and just started clipping, lol. I'd sit and do it watching the boob tube, same as I do now grooming Zhi. It was very soothing. My BC friends don't understand why I get these high-maintenence dogs but it's theraputic after the harum scarum of training with the sheepdogs. []