Border Terrier Grooming

[louloulemons]

Does anybody have any advice or experience with this?

I have a 4 month old BT girl and we are planning to get her spayed after her first season.

I just phoned the groomers, she’s not in desperate need of a trim but her fur is starting to grow towards her eyes and her claws are very sharp. As much as anything, I’m hoping to get her used to going there whilst she’s still young.

The groomer told me though that they can’t be hand stripped after spaying and now reading online, it sounds like some people think clipping ruins their coats.

I just want to do the best thing for her but new to all of this! Does anybody have any advice at all please?

Just to add that she’s a lovely family pet but not going to be a show dog or anything. I do love her wiry coat though and sounds like it’s needed for waterproofing?

I would say not necessarily true.

From my research, spaying can sometimes cause this, but often a bit of additional and more regular stripping can being it back. I think it is rare it completely ruins the coat for stripping.

I used the "spaying = no stripping" response as a way to filter groomers I didn't want to use.

Note mine is an Irish not a Border though!

Reading with interest because I was told the exact same thing about my Norfolk Terrier.

She has just been spayed so hasn't yet had a visit to the groomers post-op.

I will be disappointed if she can't be hand stripped and her cost suffers as a result but I believe the benefits of spaying outweigh that.

*coat not cost

we had a border terrier who was spayed and always had her hand stripped.

I didn't think Norfolk's we're usually handstripped? We had a half Norfolk and my mum has a full Norfolk - both are/were clipped rather than stripped. Ours was a male Norfolk cross and he always went to the groomers at the same time as our border and none ever suggested hand stripping for him.

We have a BT. She was spayed after her first season and has always been hand stripped since then. The breeder we got her from said we should never ever have her clipped as it will ruin her coat.

There is another BT in our village who is clipped, rather then stripped and her coat is completely different to our dog's. It's really soft and fluffy whereas our dog's coat is wiry.

It definitely affects how waterproof they are.

@pingster The breeder and breeders' club advice was to hand strip. Neither mentioned any problem as a result of spaying; that was raised by the groomer who has stripped her already.

I have a border, she's 13 months. I had her stripped after her first season (if you are going for hand stripping you need to wait).

I would have her hand stripped to be honest, it's better for the coat, leaves the under coat undamaged and keeps the coat wiry and waterproof as it will go a bit soft and wispy if you have her clipped. Of course you can still have them hand stripped after spaying, what on earth is she on about. I would find a groomer knowledgable about this if I were you.

You shouldn't mix and match, so decide what you are going to do and try and stick with it. If they are ready (when their coat is blown) then if you use a decent groomer it won't hurt. It took about 3 hours to do my girls first strip, she came out looking like a different dog. I love the scruffy look, but she looks lovely either way.