Removal of the fuzzies

[Maxy24]

By far my least favorite physical attribute of Tucker is his fuzziness. I believe it was caused by his neuter (though I can't be sure since he was neutered before full maturity, it looks like the neuter coat I've seen in pictures of setters and spaniels which have a similar coat to Tucker). It's wooly, it mats, holds water, gets snowballs stuck to it, if he rolls on the ground it fulls with dirt, sticks, and leaves. I hate it with a passion.

Fuzzies ahhhhhh


So today I decided to rip them out. I have tried before, but he always gets annoyed with me pretty fast and moves away or rolls over, and I don't push the issue, the last thing I want is to give him issues with being touched. But today he just slept through it so I got one whole back leg and the majority of a front leg.

For comparison, here is his left side which has the front leg I did most of, and the still fuzzy back leg:




And his nicely plucked right back leg and still fuzzy front right leg






I am very happy with how it's coming along, hopefully I'll get the rest done in the next couple of days and then just touch up everything. Honestly his whole body could use some plucking, there are fuzzies everywhere, but I'd be happy just getting the legs all done.
I just wish it wouldn't grow back. So this isn't the same sort of hand stripping done with terriers right? Because whenever I read about hand stripping they say you're removing harsh hair and leaving soft hair, but I'm removing soft hair. But is it a similar process? Border terriers are very attractive to me, but only when well groomed and I've always wondered how much work was involved in grooming them.

[misfitz]

How are you getting the hair out, by pulling it? And it comes off just like that? Just curious...Sienna gets fuzzy, too, but her fur doesn't 'pull', I have to use a shedding rake. Or combing with a greyhound comb works well, too for some reason. Tucker looks like he has a similar coat to Sienna's...and yeah, she brings the whole outdoors in with her on her fur, too!

[Kilter]

Some dogs just get the fuzzies, goldens often do down the outside of their legs. A stripping knife and plucking usually does the trick. His is quite extreme, I'd be temped to take clippers and do a bikini shave on him (shave the insides of his legs and take it all off).

Our old cat used to get that clip, from armpits to butt. I'm doing it on him on the weekend actually, his new owner requested it as she also finds him impossible to belly comb. From the top it doesn't look like he's been shaved at all.

[Maxy24]

I just pulled it out, it comes out easily, especially the longer stuff. I can get a video of me doing some tomorrow just so you can see how I did it. When I try to pull the real short stuff he gets more irritated with me because I'm probably tugging on his "good" hair a bit too (I pull pretty slow and gently, not like groomers who I see going a mile a minute, so I don't actually tug out his good hair, but I'm sure he feels me pulling on it). I've brushed with a slicker brush and that gets a little bit out but would never remove as much hair as I did pulling. A fine toothed comb actually did the best but still wouldn't have removed it all. Plus he really hates me brushing his knee area for some reason. How does a stripping knife work? I don't think he'd let me within five feet of him with electric clippers, plus I do think I'd prefer the fuzzy hair being completely gone, not just shortened, as far as looks go.

[SaraB]

Oh wow! What a difference! I think he looks great.

[SpringerLover]

I love how it's turning out!

That's what I do with my dogs' fuzzies! Buzz's black fur on his legs gets all fluffy like that so I strip it out, too!

[JacksonsMom]

I didn't know you could essentially 'strip' hair like that? He looks great though!

From what I've seen, BT's are fairly low maintenance if you strip the hair properly. But it can be a time consuming experience.

You can see the YouTube video of a BT getting hand stripped:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlQlxOq0iTo

But you can only hand strip a rough terrier coat, not a soft coat.

[chaospony]

Originally Posted by Maxy24

And his nicely plucked right back leg and still fuzzy front right leg

I just came here to say his tail is a work of art!

Also many Afghan hound people use either a pumice stone or those rubber finger tip things accountants use to stop papers sticking together when they are tidying up fuzzies from an Afghan hound's saddle. Might be worth a look. Both are cheap. I paid a whole $1.99 for my pumice.

[PWCorgi]

The same thing happens to Frodo, we call it elk butt since it mainly only happens on his back legs and butt, and I just pull it out too

He looks way better!

[Toller_08]

Isn't it awful? Dance gets fuzzies all over her back and front legs just like Tucker. I pluck it out too, but it comes back quickly.