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Key features
Stripping knives are used for dogs with wiry coats like many terriers and help to tidy up their appearance so as to achieve their breed look. We use the finest quality, heat treated stainless steel. This means they are anti-rust and very durable. The cutting edge is in between the teeth and the teeth tips are blunted to ensure your thumbs are kept safe.
Before you begin, ensure your dog's coat can be hand stripped (i.e. it hasn't been previously clipped which can soften and/or thicken the coat) if in doubt seek advice from a qualified groomer.
Before using a stripping knife, ensure your pet is relaxed and comfortable with being groomed. Don't bath your dog prior to stripping as this will prevent you from getting a good grip on the hair. Remove any knots or matts by brushing through the coat with a slicker and comb first.
Begin by holding the stripping knife with the smooth side of the blade facing you. With your other hand, hold the skin taut close to the area you are going to strip whilst you are stripping this will make the procedure more comfortable for your dog.
Follow the grain of your dog's coat, use a combing action to catch the hair between the serrated teeth. Hold the hair in place with your thumb and remove the hair by gently pull in the direction of the lay of the coat. Use an arm and shoulder pulling movement, rather than a wrist action to ensure you pull out the hairs rather than cut them with the knife.
Work methodically through your dog's coat, a section at a time until the entire outer coat has been removed. By hand stripping every 4-6 weeks, you will achieve a "rolled coat" where the hairs fit neatly into each other and the coat becomes flatter and coarser.
Our stripping guide has some handy hacks to help you get started.
Product Overview
Mikki Classic grooming products are made with both you and your pet in mind. Their ergonomic design helps to reduce common strains associated with the repetitive actions required to groom our pets well.
Dogs with wire coats have been bred overtime to usually work in heavy natural environments, causing their coats to catch in branches, brush and weeds. Their coats have evolved to have a releasing hair follicle which allows the hair to pull out relatively painlessly rather than get tangled as a longer, silkier hair type would. Hand stripping is a grooming technique that involves pulling out the dog's hair, in the direction it grows to remove dead hairs, create shape and retain the coat colour and texture to give a natural, tamed finish to a wiry coat.
Our range of stripping knives come in fine and coarse, which describes the teeth on the blade. They make the hand stripping process easier by quickly removing hair from dogs with rough or wiry coats - like terriers.
The fine tooth knife is ideal for blending and finishing or for dogs with a thinner coats. The coarse tooth knife is perfect for coarse, thick or longer areas of the coat.
