Hi My standard wire haired dachsie is 8 months and his hair is getting long.  I think he has to be hand stripped but I am not sure how to do this what I do know is that I don't want to spend £60 to have it done and would rather do it myself.  So I have a few questions, firstly what happens if I don't hand strip his coat and I leave it will it just keep on growing like a Yorkies hair? Secondly won't the dead hair fall out naturally if I leave it? Thirdly if it must be done do I need a special tool to do this? Lastly how do I do this hand stripping please?
Thanks for any advice.

> Secondly won't the dead hair fall out naturally if I leave it?

That is wire coats are stripped as the dead coat sticks.

It's not difficult to pluck the coat by sharp tugs, using finger and thumb, on a hair or two at a time of the dead coat.

American using a stripping knife: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lTLmQ4I080

This one of a Border shows the finger and thumb method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h8HJ06ohiA

I recently handstripped two terriers using finger and thumb as I couldn't find my stripping knife (I do it that rarely, everything is doodley fluffy things these days) and I can tell you it's a hell of a lot easier using a proper knife!

If you look on the...Sunsong.co.uk...website and go to the "About Dachshunds" link, it shows a series of videos of how to hand strip a Wire haired Dachshund.

If you were to leave it, it would continue to grow but not like a Yorkie, more like a Yeti or Womble! The hair won't fall out naturally, but it does come out easily using finger and thumb.

http://on.aol.com/video/how-to-hand-strip-a-wire-haired-dachshund-198452951

I could never get to grips with a stripping knife and if the coat is ready for stripping, it shouldn't need more than fingers as it comes out that easily.

I prefer a stripping knife though I can do it with finger and hand. Never done a daxie, all my w/h customers want them clipped off short (don't ask!!!!), but I've got 2 nice Border terriers coming in this afternoon. :-)

Fantastic thank you all ever so much I am going to have a go with the finger and thumb on is rainy afternoon :-)

Forgot to ask can the stripping knife damage the coat?

No, not If used correctly. Make sure the knife is dull. Some come pre dulled - others sharp. If it's too sharp you'll just cut the coat rather than pull it.

My boy's breeder taught me how to do it with fingers. I'm not a groomer and have no skill whatsoever at anything that involves an artistic eye let alone knives or scissors so I didn't expect to be able to do anything myself - though as it turned out I could do the handstripping the way I was shown with just fingers - but I just chose to only do it a little mixed in with daily grooms as I was blessed to find an awesome groomer who can do it for me along with teeth scaling etc (she used to be a dental hygienist) and any scissor work every month or so and I just keep it up inbetween full grooms.

My breeder, has a video which shows her handstripping and grooming a westie that was really helpful for me to refer to (and my groomer to borrow to check out how I wanted things done so far as the head, ears etc as I was super fussy). I expect the Dachsie breeders have a video somewhere of one of the breeders grooming one in a similar way but if you get stuck you can always look at the one I had. Here is the link to it online somewhere with a preview clip .

http://www.caninecoatcare.com/democlips.php?vidid=189528914

She has two websites - one for grooming and grooming courses - and the other is her show dog site - you could probably get the DVD direct from her if you asked. I think the principles of hand stripping will likely be the same as she does hand strip dachsunds aswell

Ashgate:-
http://www.ashgategrooming.co.uk/about-us/

(Hope this is okay to post - I don't want to sound like I'm somehow selling something or advertising - if it comes across like that please don't shoot me and admin can delete if necessary)

You must be in the South west too Tinar :)

> You must be in the South west too Tinar :)

Yup - though unfortunately not southerly or westerly enough to be somewhere nice !!!! I live in a town that I am sure on many occasions Jeremy Kyle comes to with a net - Swindon :(

Ah, magic roundabout territory. Keeps me away.

> Ah, magic roundabout territory. Keeps me away.<img title="grin" class="fsm fsm_grin" alt="" src="/images/epx.png" />

ha yeah - the roundabout that sorts out the brave from the weak - the home-grown swindonites from the visitors - or as I call them the "been here's" and the "come here's" , and in my case the "wanna get out of here's" 

Lol tinar don't worry think I live in the other jk town..... Croydon