Stripped terrier coat growth?

W

Widgeon

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 January 2017
Messages
4,718
Location
N Yorks
Visit site
Our 10 month old Cairn has just been to the groomers'....I am not posting a photo because I am embarrassed by his tail; it looks like a huge bottle brush - what have they done to it?! It looks like a Westie tail! The rest of him is very tidy though (and I know for next time to tell them not to touch his tail) and it was definitely time he was stripped - he was starting to lose long grotty hairs all over the furniture. I'm still getting over the shock of how different he looks - I'd got used to walking and cuddling what looked like a muddy hearth rug.

Anyway, my question is, how many weeks do you reckon it'll take him to achieve something approaching the hearth rug look again? He's been stripped, not clipped, so the harsh outer coat is still there and the inner fluff is still cosy and warm after a walk in the rain - but both coat layers are considerably reduced in bulk, and his messy face and leg hairs are all trimmed (not his whiskers, don't worry). We're off to the Lakes in 3 weeks and I'm hoping he'll have a bit more on him by then. Plus, his tail is an embarrassment (or so I think) and I don't want to be seen out and about in Keswick with it.

Oh, and he's neutered (after much consideration and one retained testicle), so I'd be interested to hear anyone's experience of coat regrowth in a neutered terrier. I've heard both - some say that it makes little difference and others say it will inevitably be fluffier as it regrows.

Reassure me please everyone!
 
Can only speak for Borders, but I well remember the shock of picking up a transformed dog from the groomers! Maybe he wouldn't let them do his tail? The borders always came back with a tail as neat as the rest of them.
Borders were bitches, but all spayed, and coats possibly were a bit fluffier, we had them stripped twice a year and put up with the smelly hearthrug in between.
In 3 weeks he should have just enough regrowth to look spot on, IMO.
 
Clodagh said:
Can only speak for Borders, but I well remember the shock of picking up a transformed dog from the groomers! Maybe he wouldn't let them do his tail? The borders always came back with a tail as neat as the rest of them.
Borders were bitches, but all spayed, and coats possibly were a bit fluffier, we had them stripped twice a year and put up with the smelly hearthrug in between.
In 3 weeks he should have just enough regrowth to look spot on, IMO.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! I feel much better after hearing this!

I think the tail was intentional - they said he was very good, and when I dropped him off and picked him up he was tremendously happy to be there (he's a sucker for a biscuit and a cuddle). They said something about "a nice carrot tail" and I said "errrr ok" thinking "what on earth is that?". Now I know.....it's a tail that looks like a bottle brush. Or indeed a fuzzy carrot.

I have to say I quite like the hearth rug look, but it is a pain to clean the mud off him when he's in a hairy phase. I might have to make him a little coat out of an old towel for the sake of the sofas.
 
I have two Norfolk x JR terriers, one smooth, one hairy. The hairy one (a neutered male) gets stripped about twice a year. His coat isn't as bristley as some rough coats, but it definitely needs to be stripped rather than clipped. He's never come back with a fuzzy tail - it always matches his body, if that makes sense? A couple of weeks post-strip is always when he's at his most handsome, so hang in there!
 
I'm a little confused - are you saying they took too much off or too little compared to the rest of him and it's unbalanced?

I was taught to handstrip and can do many breeds to breed standard. I went to a Cairn person who shows them to learn how to do them specficially, and I was taught that they should be a scruffier version of a westie tail, but not overly so. A westie should have a tidy carrot tail, a cairn I have heard described as a bottle brush. If I could upload photos on here (now that photobucket is not playing right) I would. But I do have a good photo on the banner of my FB page of a h/s cairn pup. The one on there is a youngster after her first strip and probably could have done the tail better but at one year old and first ever hanstrip you kind of expect that the trim can always be better....

https://www.facebook.com/BraidPetsS...315561169578/1358663457534778/?type=1&theater
 
PucciNPoni said:
I'm a little confused - are you saying they took too much off or too little compared to the rest of him and it's unbalanced?
Click to expand...

You've got it just right with the Cairn/Westie tail thing. He looks fine - just like a handstripped Cairn - except for his tail, which has been given the full Westie treatment an looks a bit bare compared with the rest of him! So yes, just a bit unbalanced. But it sounds like it should only be a few weeks until he evens out again.

I'll take a look at your photos, there are not all that many Cairns around and a surprising number of people seem to advocate clipping them. So I don't see too many good examples in the flesh, so to speak.
 
Ok, I see. Yes that would annoy me but it will grow in again :)

I do more cairns than anything else at the moment it seems, and dandie dinmont are catching up!

I really like the way a stripped Cairn looks but I do have some clipped as well as they don't always have the best of coats.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top