Jenny They have to be hand stripped, so yes loads of grooming is required You probably found some photos of WFT's groomed for the ring, it takes a lot of trouble to get them looking like that, as most of the time they look quite scruffy. I actually think they're quite cute scruffy though

Lucky for me, I found someone who is prepared to show me the basics of stripping, although as he won't be a show dog, I'm debating whether to just have him clipped rather than stripped. The problem is it will change the texture of his coat completely.....

Carole, don't worry, Archie is more used to seeing the camera than my face so there will be plenty more piccies for u all to enjoy!

OOOh! Tuti, he is soo sweet,like a little teddy bear.....

Soooooooooooo cute

adorable pup! what a cutie!

Beautiful piccies Tuti. Have tried to post reply several times regarding stripping but keep losing it everytime I try to post. Will try again

Here goes will try again.

Regarding handstripping vs clipping: Clipping will not only ruin the texture and colour of the coat but also it's waterproofness. Clipping the coat leaves the dead hair still in the skin and this can often lead to terrible skin problems, as the skin cannot breathe, also leading to a very smelly dog.

Grooming a Wire Fox in a pet trim should take you about 4 hours (Olive takes me 6 hours for a pet trim), this can be done over the course of a week, to begin with try 30 mins each night while you are watching TV. Start getting him used to stripping as a pup by plucking a few hairs while you are having a cuddle.

I have always handstripping Olive using finger and thumb, but this time decided to use a stripping knife. The first knife I tried left a terrible result, cutting lots of the coat, the knife was far to sharp. The second knife I tried was a Pearsons, and the results were terrific, very professional, no cutting and a beautiful finish. I will be using this in future.

Tuti, here is a link to grooming a Wire Fox, it is a very interesting read:

Stripping link

Olive, thanks for the advice, it's nice to hear from someone who also handstrips (not many broken coate terriers on DW)

The article is great, I had found another on handstripping but nowhere near as detailed as this I've had a skim through it and when I've got more time I'll print it and read it. Thanks a lot!!

Glad to help Tuti. I think one of the wonderful thing about terriers is their amazing hard wiry all weather coat, and it is a shame when owners clip them. I'm not sure if it is the same with the Wire Fox, but the Irish coat has the red colour only in the tip of the hair the rest on the shaft is very light coloured, so if you clipped the hair you would lose the coloured tip and the dog would lose it's wonderful rich coloured coat.

Stripping can be very theraputic, sometimes I do it without even knowing. If you are going to strip get yourself the right equipment as it makes it so much easier.

The equipment I use includes:

chalk, to help grip the coat
a pair of rubber gloves, to help grip the very hard tail hair
Stripping knives, Pearsons, fine and medium, these are expensive compared to most knives, but I ordered them straight from Pearsons in American and got them for half the price they sell for over here.
Terrier palm Pad
Thornit powder, excellent for stripping the hair inside the ears. I love this stuff!!!

I am still very new to stripping, but have enjoyed learning about how to do it.

Geoff that comes on here has Borders and strips them, so he should be able to give you lots of advice.