My firend has bought a minature schnauzer puppy and wants to know when is the right time to start having her clipped? obviously she knows ideally she should be handstripped, but as she is not going to show her, is contemplating just having her clipped. what is the appropriate age to start clipping her? opinions welcome

thanks

To be honest it would be better for the dog if she had her stripped ;)  she would then retain the weatherproof coat she was born with :)   It really isn't difficult, although it can be time-consuming, but then grooming usually is on coated dogs.  Why would she buy a dog with a particular coat and 'look' and then just clip it?  I don't really understand :(

I strip mini's and it makes such a difference ;)

It's worth looking for a groomer to handstrip her if she wants that look but doesn't have the time / skills to do it herself, I have 2 Border clients who were very pleased to find someone who stripped instead of clipping. Having said that though, whether she wants the puppy stripped or clipped, if she's going to a professional groomer it's worth booking her in even if just for a bath and face tidy, these grooming intensive breeds are best if they are started young.

Definitely book in for a few wash and brush ups first :)   That way pup will get used to the whole set up.  And remember to groom at home daily too ;)

I was told by someone recently that I was clipping my pup too soon (not a Bedlington person)  She has had little bits of clipping or scissoring done every week and brush and comb daily.  I don't do it for long at a time, a few minutes at most.  But she really enjoys it.

If I'd left it for 6 months as I was advised :(  she would be in a real mess and would hate the whole thing and I doubt she'd be keen on the clippers or scissors :(

I will clip the heads and tails of my pups before they go, so they can wait until about 16 weeks old before going to the groomer for a tidy up clip and bath. I will groom pups in the shop as soon as they have are allowed to go outside after puppy jabs.

It is easier on the pup and owner to have the dog clipped, there is no shame in doing it! Many show dogs are clipped off once they are retired from the ring.

With minis more so then any other breed it is important for an owner to keep up with stripping out the undercoat, otherwise it can become a very long process for a dog to go through all in one visit to a shop to be stripped. A lot of breed specialist groomers can be found via the schnauzer club of GB website. It is worth finding a groomer who knows how to trim the breed as there are a lot of bad schnauzer grooms being done out there!

Thanks all for the replies, opinions are all appreciated, she is bathing her herself at home regularly to get her used to it. i suggested to her that she just have her face and bottom and feet trimmed firstly which she is going to do, but she is still not sure at what age to start having her clipped or handstripped. i believe the pup is only about 13 weeks now so is still very much a pup and her coat is very soft, so what is the best age to start dealing with her coat?

now i like to have pups in as soon as they have had all there jabs i groomed a pup sch 14 weeks the other day i just stripped out the puppy fluff on the back and then clipped the chest and the head but not the ears not till she gets older,
i only stripped her because it was so whispy and wasnt enough to just start clipping it and i didnt want to ruin her coat completly
pm me if u need any more advice

If she was a show pup, she'd be stripped out at about 3.5 to 4 months of age to have a new coat in by 6 months, no reason to treat pets any differently.