Hi Helen, So sorry to hear you are still having terrible problems with Hamish's coat.  I have an Irish Terrier and very bad eczema (and moderate asthma) - I occassionally end up in hospital on morphine to relieve the pain it causes. I handstrip my Irish and to be truthful if I didn't I wouldn't be able to live with her. The handstripping removes much of the dander and debris from the coat that cause my allergies, it also stops hair from shedding randomly over the house, so I am able to regulate my medication around when I strip her coat - a few days before I strip her I up my antihistamine intake, after I strip her I gut the house, hoovering and cleaning everywhere, it takes a bit of getting used to but it does works well for me.  Handstripping will not rid the coat of all the dander, but it will get rid of a fair amount.  However, what it also does is keep the dogs skin healthy and clean, which reduces the amount of "dandruff" and loose skin.  A handstripped terrier should rarely be washed, as the natural oils help keep the coat and skin in tiptop condition, shampooing often unbalances the skin and the skin can react very badly, getting very dry and flakey - I shampoo Olive only when absolutely necessary.

I am also allergic to dog saliva so I have to be careful not to pet Olive where she has licked and I do not let her lick me - it is very hard not letting her give the occasional kiss, but she now knows that kisses are a no-no.

I can not be around clipped terriers, without reacting very badly, I find myself rushing home to layer my hands in diprobase and steriod creams. On the other hand, I have been to lots of terrier shows where the dogs are handstripped, and been reasonably comfortable, getting lots of cuddles off the dogs :) . I think so much will depend upon what you are allergic to and your level of sensitivity. Unless you have allergies you can't imagine how life altering they can be, so you have my sympathies.

I imagine if you have been handstripping for 9 months and haven't seen an improvement yet, you are unlikely to, it looks like handstripping isn't a solution in this case...I really feel for you. Reading your other posts, it appears that you have tried your very best to find something that works, so I really don't know what else to suggest.

Best wishes to you and Hamish

olivetor, you are a breath of fresh air!! :)  When we harp on about how important it is to correctly handling a dog's coat, and not just to take the easy option and clip the lot off, others reply "it doesn't matter if it's only a pet!" unfortunately sometimes from other groomers too.:(
You explain articularly from your own experience just what a difference a correctly trimmed dog makes.  Thank you.

Thank you Val :) , One of the wonderful things I tell people about hand stripping is that rain and dirt rarely get into the coat, it all just runs off the topcoat, so when I come home from a run in the rain, Olive is dry and clean in a few mins...it's a great easy maintainance coat. To be truthful when I first got Olive, the breeder never even mentioned clipping, he immediately described handstripping and it's necessity as a grooming practice - every Irish Terrier website gives detailed stripping guides, clipping is a big no-no in the breed. I have seen a couple of Irish Terrier that have been clipped and they are virtually blond (actually the hair looks transparent), the beautiful hard rich red coat is completely lost. I imagine if you didn't have this kind of help from either your breeder or an experienced groomer then most people would never know about proper coat care.  It's a shame because stripping once mastered is so quick and easy, I feel that some owners are a little scared to get started, I know my hands were shaking the first few times I did it :) . Now I do it without even knowing, I even find myself having a pluck when sitting in the pub, much to my hubby's disapproval :) .

I think Helen has been ahving Hamish clipped very short for the last 9 months not handstripped at all from how I understood her post.  I think the last mention of handstripping was a slip of the pen. :D

Thanks Brainless, that is probably what she meant :) .

Hi

Sorry i think you read my last post wrong, i didn't mean he had been handstripped for the past 9 months, i meant i have been having him regularly clipped every 4 weeks to keep his coat nice and short, i wouldn't know where to start at handstripping and don't know whether its possible now he has been clipped all of his life?
I am finding that he is loosing quite a bit of hair around the house and am not sure whether it is where he is being clipped or not, i am having to bath him every 2 weeks as i find he gets very dirty and also to try and keep the dander down on his aswell, although i know you shouldn't bath them this often as it doesn't do their coats any good, he just never seems to stay looking white for long!!
He has got such a thick coat that i thought clipping was the best thing for him and my groomer said that this was the best way aswell, this is why i have been having him clipped so often as i thought the shorter the coat the better it would be health wise for me but it is not working that way.
Thanks
Helen

Helen, it would be hard work getting his hard coat back, also as Val said earlier some westies coats are not suitable to be stripped because of poor breeding, and I am unsure how you would be able to tell if his coat is good enough to be handstripped now that it has been clipped.  His coat will appear very thick because his topcoat and undercoat have all been clipped to the same length, this type of clipped coat is a dirt/dust magnet (the topcoat of a handstripped terrier protects the undercoat from dust/dirt). As you have noticed he will still shed quite a bit even after being clipped, as clipping only shortens the dead hair, it does not remove it as handstripping does.  I imagine Val would be better to advise you about improving his coat quality, as I have never worked a Westies coat.  However, there really is no guarantee that handstripped will improve your allergies, it would be a matter of trial and error, and it will probably take sometime for you to see if it works or not.  Also if you are going to handstrip I imagine you would have to strip the whole coat, including the skirt, so that you are removing all the dead hair.

As I'm sure you have picked up from the other posts on the subject clipping will give you a thicker and more shedding coat because it consists of all the old dead stuff and the new firm-rooted stuff.  Many years ago when I got my Dandie Dinmont Terrier I understood it was best to handstrip but when I took her to the groomers it took all day which I thought was an ordeal for her so I was lulled into having her clipped.  The end result was not nearly as nice and we had the thicker more shedding coat conundrum.  I had also been told once clipped there was no way back but I thought I would have a go anyway so I pecked away at it, learning to hand strip myself (I still don't think they want to spend hours at the groomers having it all done at once ;)) it was a long job, about 18 months I would say, before we had got back to a truly stripped coat but we got there in the end.  It does not stop all shedding as the soft undercoat will continue to molt at times but the loss can be controlled by regular brushing particularly during a moult and limited to pretty much where and when you want it to happen.

Isabel, it actually takes me less time to handstrip as the coat is chalked to grip and clean, so doesn't need to be bathed and dried.:)

You must be Billy Wizzz :D I bath, dry and clipper my spaniel but used to hand strip her before she was spayed and hand stripped my terrier and I know which took me longer :).

Never been called that before!! ;)  Maybe I'll accept Whilamena Wizzz!  But I suppose trimming 6-8 dogs a day, you have to be pretty quick.

When you're rolling the coat (only taking out what comes out easily) and they come in every 8 weeks AND you've got another dog waiting patiently for their turn, then you get stripping!! :)  The more you do, the quicker you get.

Does that mean handstripping needs doing approx. every 8 weeks?