Rolling Coat

Do anybody of you use this grooming technique?

I normally strip my P/S Standards all the old coat down together twice a year only with hands - no stripping knive - (sometimes I have also to strip the undercoat if too much - especially after winter) and the texture and color are always good (in some case they can also improve with the time).

Do rolling coat preserve the coat quality? Is it complicated to do? Is it true that using this system dogs are in good coat condition all year round?

At shows I have seen in the past some dogs shown for all the year thanks to rolling coat (and scissors too?), but after 1-2 years the coat (I am talking about P/S) became much more greyish than brillliant pepper salt.

My giant has been in a rolled coat for several years now. My young p/s male mini has been in a rolled coat since December last year - I stripped out his long coat and he had a perfect length coat underneath! The colour and texture is as good as ever.

NO to using scissors on the harsh coat.

Jo wrote:My giant has been in a rolled coat for several years now. My young p/s male mini has been in a rolled coat since December last year - I stripped out his long coat and he had a perfect length coat underneath! The colour and texture is as good as ever.

NO to using scissors on the harsh coat.

Don't you think that having hair of different length on the body of the dog in case of banded ('agouti') coat like the P/S can modify the overall tone of the color, making it look uneven? Shorter hair can give black for their tip, longer ones can give white for the central part more exposed... Maybe it's a stupid question, but I ask you because I never experienced coats like that - I'm from the old school (I hand-strip also the legs of my dogs)!

Alberto wrote:

Jo wrote:My giant has been in a rolled coat for several years now. My young p/s male mini has been in a rolled coat since December last year - I stripped out his long coat and he had a perfect length coat underneath! The colour and texture is as good as ever.

NO to using scissors on the harsh coat.

Don't you think that having hair of different length on the body of the dog in case of banded ('agouti') coat like the P/S can modify the overall tone of the color, making it look uneven? Shorter hair can give black for their tip, longer ones can give white for the central part more exposed... Maybe it's a stupid question, but I ask you because I never experienced coats like that - I'm from the old school (I hand-strip also the legs of my dogs)!

This is my boy



Does it look uneven in colour to you? That was taken in the springtime, his coat looks even better now!

I have been rolling coats here since I started my first one in 1980. Back then, it was believed it couldn't be done successfully on a miniature schnauzer. I picked as many brains as I could... some of the top terrier breeders and handlers of that time, both here and in Canada.

Carol Garmaker, then wife of Kurt Garmaker, told me it couldn't be done on a mini when I asked her about it. My response was, "But I am doing it on my BS, Sunny". Carol replied, "Well, then it can be done on a black coat, but not on a SP." Not too long after that, Carol was successfully showing Ch. Rampage Represenative in a rolled coat, and many others have done it since.

All but one of the dogs I have shown in conformation have been in a rolled coat since that time.

Canadian Best-in-Show-winning Am.Can.Ch. Britmor Sunnymeade Frost, Am.Can.CDX, CG


I have done a few SPs, too: Can.Ch. Britmor I'm So Blue, Am.Can.CD


Not all mini coats are good for rolling. An ideal coat is hard, doesn't have a lot of undercoat, and grows quickly. The amount of undercoat a dog carries is pretty important... too much, and it won't usually work well unless one rakes and rakes and rakes to get that undercoat under control. A slow-growing coat can be very frustrating to try to work, also. A softer coat *might* work, if the other two elements are there. Rolling a Stripped Coat

I forgot to mention that at least three of my dogs, Sunny, Witch, and Peter were rolled until they were about twelve years old.

Witch, MACH Britmor Bewitched, CD JE was probably around ten years old in this photo:

I'm using this technic very offen, but only on some dogs with harsh coat. I tried it on female which had a lot of undercoat and than its taking the covering coat and youre standing with dog in wool only. But if the dog has harsh coat it's working very fine and you could keep the dog in coat whole year. I actualy like this method, even is making the dog a little dirty and you have to brush the dust from the lether stone out...

Thank you all for the feedbacks, all your dogs look nice! It seems that I am some 10-20 years back with grooming ! So I must try rolling coat on one of my dogs....

Luckily my dogs have good coat texture so the result should be good - the only problem could be the groomer skills . Now the question is: is there any source on the internet (or anyone of you can explain in more detail) how (and when) rolling coat should be done? Can Mars Coat King be useful for it?

Have a look at the link in MSBritmors post, that shows you how to roll a coat.

Personally I would avoid cutting the coat and this is what the Coat Kings do.

Jo wrote:Have a look at the link in MSBritmors post, that shows you how to roll a coat.

Personally I would avoid cutting the coat and this is what the Coat Kings do.

Thank you very much Jo for the link and MSBritmor for the detailed article, I will read it with more ease in the week-end and I will start experimenting it on my younger female who actually has longer coat...

Alberto wrote:Can Mars Coat King be useful for it?

I have used Coat Kings on occasion, and I do get into more detail on them in my article. They can be used on good (hard) coats, but I would never use them on a dog that was going to be shown in conformation as they DO cut some of the hair... some CKs more than others. They are useful if one just wants to maintain a hard coat in a pet but doesn't want to work it as religiously as one would work a showdog. Sometimes I will use them to take out some of the coat in a dog that I will eventually be rolling. It is a good way to "debulk" a coat in those early stages... like on a puppy. As the (rolled) coat improves, I would stop using the CK altogether.

MsBritmor wrote:

Alberto wrote:Can Mars Coat King be useful for it?

It is a good way to "debulk" a coat in those early stages... like on a puppy. As the (rolled) coat improves, I would stop using the CK altogether.

I have this b/s male puppy, from my avatar, and I can't decide to role or to strip his coat. At what age do you thing rolling should start? On the picture he is 7 weeks old, now he is 9 weeks old. Thank you

It will be interesting to hear the replies to your question! As we can start showing at 6 months, I strip out the puppy at 4 months. Once the new coat comes through, it will give you a better idea of whether it will be easy to roll (quick growing, thick coats seem the easiest to keep).

BTW. cute puppy, he is the same age as 2 of mine!

By stripping out you understand pulling out all hair to skin, at the same time, or you make it by regions, in 5 or 10 steps? Because I have red some articles, where they mentions these 3 forms of stripping. Please send me fresh stripped puppy photos if you can, it would help me a lot. I am also curios to see the puppies you mentioned.

Szende wrote:By stripping out you understand pulling out all hair to skin, at the same time, or you make it by regions, in 5 or 10 steps? Because I have red some articles, where they mentions these 3 forms of stripping. Please send me fresh stripped puppy photos if you can, it would help me a lot. I am also curios to see the puppies you mentioned.

With puppies I tend to take it all out at once, well as much as they can tolerate in one go, but I won't leave big breaks between areas as I am not section stripping. It's nice to see the puppy stripped right out, so you can see the true shape and it will give you an idea of what areas you may like to let grow a little longer to cover dips (eg just before tail if the tail set is low or longer in the centre of the back if there is a slight dip).

However, as the dog grows and changes, the way I groom the individual will also change.

Not great photos of them! Here they are at 7 weeks old.

Beanara Indys Grace


Beanara Indys Guise