We are now in week 8 or 9 of Farfelle’s hand stripping. For the record, I’m doing this for numerous reasons:
-
To debunk the myth that once coat is shaved or neglected for years hair texture can never be restored
-
I’ve always dreamed of owning a bright, wire coated griffon
-
I have the time
Things are changing so I thought “d do an update and talk about stage 2. I have worked on him for about 1/2 hour per day, give or take. Brushing or carding is producing very little dead undercoat now. I have changed to a medium toothed stripper. You need to be careful when you do this, it grabs quite a few hairs at a time, it is easy to get overzealous and painfully yank gobs of living hair. Remember, lightly. A few long hairs at a time. Your pet will appreciate it! In case I forgot to mention it, don’t stay on just one area at a time. Try to allow time to skim the whole pup at least once, otherwise he/she will get sore, impatient, and look very unbalenced. It’s exciting when you make major progress in an area, just don’t get carried away! If you hear hair snapping, SLOW DOWN!
It is a critical time, patience is the key. It is time to move on to areas you have not managed to thin as well as the main body because hair grows and sheds at different rates. I spend a few minutes combing the whole coat, then moving on to areas like his flanks (still very dense with undercoat), his lower legs, his neck, chest and head. The longer hairs on his back and upper body are half frizzy and half wire. You will have to wait until fall to eliminate them entirely. Remember, do not leave your pup out in the sun, his coat should be very sparse right now and almost no protection.
Farf and I have made incredible progress. Fall shed isn’t happening yet. In New York it happens between end August to early Oct. I’m not quite sure when it will happen here in South Carolina. I have eliminated almost 3/4 of his lousy undercoat and a small percentage of new wire hair is growing. Surprisingly, much of it is black, interspersed with deep red. He is registered as red, I’m not quite sure what the percentage of black would be necessary for him to be *belge*, a less commom color. (found it! black and red a combination known as belge. Don’t think he has enough black, but that’s ok).
His coat is surprizingly good. He looks trimmer, smoother, and already I can see the jacket developing, The toughest parts are his head (touchy), face, (very touchy) and his chest. Legs are very touchy, but when I card them the progress is fast. I believe I can get this coat rolling by spring shed! Of course, I’ll post instructions then.
whole body shot, very sparse, mostly wire
Nice looking Griffon!
