The groomer hands your Wirehaired Pointing Griffon back to you and says, almost as an afterthought, “You really should be hand stripping this dog, not clipping.” You nod. You have absolutely no idea what that means. You get home, look it up, and find a twelve-year-old forum post and a video with 400 views. Welcome to WHG grooming.
Hand stripping sounds intimidating until you’ve done it once. After that it becomes almost meditative — you and your dog, an hour or two, dead coat coming out in satisfying clumps. Here’s everything you need to know to do it at home, from someone who learned the hard way (and ruined a perfectly good coat with clippers first).
Why Hand Stripping Matters for a WHG Coat
The Wirehaired Pointing Griffon’s double coat isn’t like a retriever’s or a spaniel’s. The harsh, wiry topcoat is engineered for brush, thorns, and cold water — that texture is produced by the hair follicle cycle, not just genetics. When a wire coat dies at the root, a new harsh hair pushes up behind it. Pull the dead hair out at the root, and the replacement grows in correctly: stiff, water-resistant, and the right color.
Clip it instead — run electric clippers through the topcoat — and you sever the dead hair midshaft. The follicle interprets this as job done and doesn’t push a fresh wire coat. What grows back is soft, slightly wavy, and faded in color. Permanently. If your dog’s topcoat has already gone soft from previous clipping, expect two or three full strip cycles before it fully recovers.
This is why the groomer’s comment matters. They weren’t being precious about breed standards — they were trying to save your dog’s coat.
When to Strip — Recognizing a Blown Coat
WHGs blow their coat two to three times per year. A blown coat is ready to strip and makes everything dramatically easier — strip at the right moment and the hair practically falls out. Strip too early and you’re fighting the follicle.
Signs the coat is blown and ready to go:
- The topcoat looks dull and slightly wavy rather than crisp and harsh
- When you grab a small section and tug gently, hair comes out without much resistance
- You can see undercoat pushing through in patches, giving the coat a layered or fluffy appearance
- More hair than usual coming off on furniture and your clothing
If you tug a section and the hair just doesn’t budge, it’s not blown yet. Give it two or three more weeks. On my griffon, the coat blows reliably right around when daylight starts shifting noticeably in spring and again in early fall — your dog will develop a rhythm you’ll start to recognize.
Tools You Need — and the One to Avoid
You don’t need a lot of equipment. Here’s what actually works:
- FURminator deshedder (medium or large): For the undercoat — the soft, downy layer under the wire topcoat. Use this first to clear undercoat and make the topcoat accessible. Don’t run it through the topcoat itself.
- Mars Coat King stripping knife (medium blade): Your primary tool for the body topcoat. The serrated blade grips and pulls dead hair cleanly. Light pressure, short strokes, always following the direction of coat growth.
- Stripping stone or pumice stone: For finishing work and areas where the knife is too coarse. Good for blending transitions and for working on the head.
- Your fingers: Genuinely the best tool for the head, ears, and anything delicate. Thumb and index finger, small sections, pull with the growth direction.
The one to avoid: electric clippers on the topcoat. Clippers on the undercoat — belly, armpits, sanitary areas — are completely fine and actually recommended. But keep them off the body topcoat if you want to preserve that wire texture.
Step by Step — How to Hand Strip a WHG
Clear two hours if this is your first time. Once you find your rhythm you’ll get faster — somewhere between 90 minutes and two hours is normal for a thorough first session.
Step 1 — Bathe and fully dry the dog. Clean coat strips more easily than dirty coat. Dry thoroughly — damp hair is slippery and hard to grip. Skip conditioner; it softens the hair and kills your grip.
Step 2 — Deshed the undercoat first. Work the FURminator through the entire body coat, going with the direction of growth. Remove as much loose undercoat as possible before you touch the topcoat. This gives you a clean working surface and makes the topcoat much more accessible.
Step 3 — Start at the neck and shoulders with the stripping knife. This is the least sensitive area and the best place to find your grip pressure. Hold the knife loosely, use your free hand to keep the skin taut, and pull with the direction of coat growth using short strokes. You’ll see dead hair coming out in small clumps — that’s exactly what you want. It should not hurt the dog. If your WHG is squirming or flinching, you’re probably pulling against the grain or taking too large a section. Reduce the amount of hair in each grab.
Step 4 — Work back toward the tail in sections. Back, sides, rump, then down the legs. The coat direction changes in different areas — always feel which way the hair lays before pulling. For the tail, use fingers or the stripping stone rather than the knife; it’s easy to overdo the tail and end up with a thin, stripped-looking tail that you’ll regret.
Step 5 — Clear the undercoat from the chest and belly with clippers. The belly coat is typically soft and clipping is appropriate here. Keep the line clean where clipped areas meet the body topcoat.
Take breaks. Let your dog wander around and shake out. This doesn’t have to be a continuous session, especially on the first attempt.
Head and Ears — The Tricky Parts
Head and ears need a completely different approach. No stripping knife near the face — full stop.
For the skull, cheeks, and top of the muzzle, use your fingers only — thumb and index finger, small sections, pulling with the direction of growth. Use the stripping stone around the eyebrow area to tidy and blend without pulling aggressively. Leave the eyebrow tufts fairly full; they’re characteristic of the breed and you don’t want to strip them flat.
For the ears, work only on the outer flap with fingers only. The skin there is thin and sensitive. Never use the stripping knife on ear flaps. Leave the inner ear completely alone — if ear hair inside the canal needs attention, that’s a vet conversation, not a home grooming task.
Under the eyes and around the muzzle: skip stripping entirely. Small grooming scissors to tidy if needed. The goal is clean and neat without irritating skin near the eyes.
How Often Should You Strip Your WHG
Two to three full strips per year is the baseline for a companion dog. If your griffon is hunting hard through heavy cover, the coat takes more abuse and probably needs that third annual strip plus some light maintenance between — ten minutes every couple of weeks with your fingers, pulling out the most obvious dead patches.
That maintenance habit makes the full strip sessions significantly faster and more comfortable for the dog. Built-up dead coat also traps moisture and can cause skin irritation underneath, so there’s a comfort argument beyond just aesthetics.
The first session is the longest and hardest. By the third or fourth, you’ll know your dog’s coat rhythm, your grip pressure will be calibrated, and 90 minutes will feel comfortable. Most griffon owners end up doing this themselves rather than paying a groomer — partly because it’s not that hard once you’ve done it, and partly because most groomers, honestly, don’t have hands-on experience with WHG coats specifically. Your dog and your coat will thank you for learning.
