How to Groom a Wirehaired Vizsla

What does it mean to strip the fur of a Wirehaired Vizsla?

Wirehaired Vizslas may come with a variety of different types of coats. They may come with a thick, dense wiry coat. Others may have furnishings mainly on their beard, eyebrows, belly, and/or legs with smoother hair on the rest of their body. Others may look like a shaggy sheep-dog if not properly groomed and have a long undercoat mixed in with their wires. Whichever of these describes your wirehaired vizsla’s coat, the vast majority have one thing in common and that is at some point in time most will need to have their coat stripped.
So, what does it mean to strip a Wirehaired Vizsla’s coat? Grooming the coat of a Wirehaired by stripping means that you pull out the old wires of the dog allowing for new wires to replace them. The wirehaired coat goes through 4 stages of growth. When properly maintained, only the hair in the 4th stage of growth will be removed when these dogs’ fur is stripped. If your wirehaired is looking a bit unruly, it’s likely that most of their hair is in the final stage of growth. Therefore, when you strip them, most of their hair will likely be removed. While your dog will be bald and funny-looking in the short term with most of their hair removed, it is so worth it in the long-term to strip their hair.

Why should I strip the coat of my Wirehaired Vizlsa?

There are many important reasons to strip a wirehaired vizsla. For one, a Wirehaired Vizslas coat helps them to regulate their temperature when properly stripped. It also gives their skin protection from the environment. If wirehaired vizslas aren’t stripped, they are at risk for developing skin problems including rashes and infections because of the heat and humidity that gets trapped within their wiry coat. For these reason’s its important to never cut a wirehaired vizsla’s coat as it can cause problems for them.
When a wirehaired vizsla’s coat is stripped, their golden russet coat shines through better than ever. When we got our first wirehaired vizsla, Cash, we didn’t know what we do now about stripping her hair. She has a long coat with thick wires all over. Her hair became completely white and she looked more like a sheep dog than a wirehaired vizsla. This is because when her hair was in its final stages of life and so it all died and turned white. Not only will your dog be healthier if you strip their hair, but they will look a lot more appealing (not to mention they are a lot more desirable to have around when they don’t have long, dirty, matted beard they are constantly plopping on your lap, lol!)

How do I strip the coat of my Wirehaired Vizsla?

There’s a variety of means in which you can strip a wirehaired Vizsla’s coat. You can use a comb, furminator, carding knife, stripping knife, and/or your fingers! It is important to learn the right technique when using these tools because you never want to cut a wirehaired vizslas coat! This will make it more difficult in the future to strip their fur and it will not give the same great benefits. The tools that are most at risk for cutting the fur are the carding knife and stripping knife. With these tools simply grasp the tool in your hand with you thumb holding the hair to the blade. Then gently pull down going in the same direction as the fur. When using the furminator just make sure to brush in the same natural direction as the fur.
Generally, when I strip the coat of our longhaired wirehaired vizsla, Cash, I will start by using a wide comb. Sometimes this will do the job and will pull out most of her dead hair that I don’t feel the need to continue stripping her. Other times I will continue by using my fingers to gently tug at the rest of her wires that are loose. On difficult areas that are more tender (such as the legs) I generally use the carding knife to strip her hair by always tugging in the same direction as her hair so that you do not cut the fur. With our other two dogs with shorter hair I will usually just use finger stripping method to pull most of their fur as this seems to work and is comfortable for them.

How do I make sure that my Wirehaired Vizsla is comfortable during stripping?

The important thing is to give your Wirehaired Vizsla good experiences with stripping from a young age. Methods such as praise and giving your dog treats throughout the process will help your dog to feel comfortable. Helping them to enjoy the process is important as they will need to be stripped at least 1-3 times a year depending on their type of coat.

These are just a few of the questions we and others have had over the years. If you have any other questions regarding stripping your dogs hair or questions about the breed contact us at 208-358-7804 or canyonrimkennel@gmail.com.