A remark: This post is not about styling the dog (making the correct shape).
I am doing a rolling coat every week. I will try to show and explain my practice working on my Standard Schnauzer Bruce. He is a nice dog with a nice coat, he is almost 9 years old and has never been shaved in his life.
Each weekend I do the following procedure: I comb the whole coat, remove the undercoat by using my stripping knives (first using the coarse one and later also the fine one), pull out the dead coat, and at the end rub the whole coat with a stone to catch some dead hair that somehow "escaped" my hands
I go over his whole body and work always in the direction of growth of his coat. I also do the tail and very gently the pepper salt hair on his legs because I want to maintain the correct color (on the legs the hair is long and tends to become a little bit brownish or darker).
When removing the undercoat, I make sure the knife is completely parallel to the surface of the skin so as not to damage the dog or hair. I pull the knife in the same direction as the hair grows. I pull the skin in the opposite direction with my free hand to make it easier for me and the dog. I am doing it very lightly. I start with a course knife and end with a fine one.
The next phase is pulling the dead coat out. I begin with the head; some others would start on dogs behind. This is not important. I can use different tools. It depends on the current state of the coat and my mood. I will take a grooming stick or just a small worn-out piece of stone, sometimes I would pull out the coat with my fingers, using rubber gloves or finger condoms. Not long ago I got a nice new tool - this is a course knife from Groomer.DK., Diamond edition. It cannot cut the hair, has no teeth, and works very much like stone blocks or sticks - only more efficiently.
I very rarely use stripping knives for pulling out dead hair, but I can afford this because the coat is never overgrown or undergrown due to using the rolling coat technique weekly.
No matter what I use to pull dead hair out, I try to always keep the same pressure of my thumb on the knife, stick, piece of the stone, etc.
I work lightly throughout the whole body, including ears, tail, legs, and chest. All hair is to be pulled out with roots. I am pulling a very small amount of the coat out. This is about one week's growth.
By pulling out the undercoat and dead hair you enable and stimulate the dog's skin for new hair to grow.
In the end, I rub the coat with a stone block to rub out some remaining dead hair. And that is it. I clean the coat with a brush and comb the dog.
Maybe a few tips:
• I always put on the longest hair some care serum or a good hair mask that does not rinse (beard, eyebrows, legs, chest).
• I never bathe a dog before stripping coat (the dirtier the better – it makes the grip better).
• I stop stripping at least a week preshow to achieve the very best coat on the D day.
That is all.