Graco, thank you for your response. After reading your response and going through what you mentioned and after seeing your work, which is sooooo beautiful btw, we are going to end up stripping his coat. You made a point that I had been telling myself but felt better after reading it from you. We have nothing to lose if we end up not liking it. I have so many questions with regards to the actual process. We found someone who we are going to pay to do it for us and I want to learn how to do it, so in the future, I can take over and do it on my dog. Unfortunately, no groomers in my area (that I've talked to) do hand stripping on a dog. So my question is this, what area(s) are done first? Also, I read somewhere that said that you have to strip the coat twice a year, is this true? Once again, thank you.
Thank you HM. That is great that you found someone to get him and you started. Hand stripping is something that you will learn by trial and error. You can't really mess up as long as you are NOT cutting hair. Make sure your knives are dulled. They are usually sharp when they come new (I have no idea why..lol) so saw thru some logs, run em thru the dirt, sand, etc. To test them, grasp some hair between the knife with your thumb, and pull it out (dont bend the wrist..motion comes from elbows). Then gently remove your thumb while holding the knife sideways so the hair doesn't fall off..there should be just as much hair on both the top and bottom (where your thumb was) of the knife. If there is more hair where your thumb was, you are cutting hair.
As far as what areas are done first, depends on what condition his coat is in right now, and what "look" you are going for. If you are going to be rolling the coat (keeping him in sch pattern all the time) then you really only have to worry about the head, ears, and body. You can clipper the cheeks and throat as they are sensitive, and being kept short anyway. If you want to strip them, you can, but I find on a pet that its more trouble than its worth, and you don't notice any color/texture change there where its kept short anyway. You could also clipper under his tail and down the back of the rear legs. Another sensitive area. Since he hasn't been stripped before, I would just start on the head and ears, and pull that out bald. Within a week, you will see new hairs coming in. If they are harsh hairs, let them come in for another week or so, then start pulling the longest hairs weekly. I would probably take the body out bald to get it started too. When you roll the coat, you keep layers in it. And every week/2 weeks, you are pulling the longest layer. If you skip a session, the coat will be harder to get back into shape. I always start a rolled coat from bald. It only looks bad for a week or two, and then there is plenty of hair to start rolling, and if you keep up on it, then you won't have to go bald again. The legs on schn are trimmed with shear/thinners, so those won't need stripping. You can pluck some hairs here and there is you feel you need to, but the leg coat is different than body coat, and needn't be stripped.
Alot of old time info says coats can be stripped 2x a year. That is true, if you want a wooly bear then a baldie every 6 months. By 6 months of growing, the entire coat is dead, and needs to be pulled before another new coat will grow. Eventually, alot of it will fall out, leaving a splotchy uneven dog. That cycle would be to just pull all the coat out every 6 months, (bald) letting it grow 6 months, and doing it again. You are never going to have a dog that looks like its breed with that method. In order to keep the breed profile and pattern, you have to roll the coat. (work it every week or two pulling the longest layer of hairs).
I am the only groomer in my area that does hand stripping too. Its expensive, and most of my clients work on their dogs some at home too because its just not feasible for them to come in every 2 weeks, nor do I want to work on the dogs that often..lol I teach them the basics, they come in every few months for finishing work/touchups and clipper work on the designated areas, and it works well for them. Hand stripping is very hard on you if you are doing it every day, and an art to learn, so few groomers do it or even know how to do it. I just spent 3 hours pulling my Airedale out bald yesterday..LOL I haven't touched him since October..(my bad

and I have a grooming show to get him ready for in March..so a rolling I will go. If I can get the pics to resize on my new software, I will post them in the before and afters...He looks like a bobble head..as I haven't done his head yet..