We have had Airedales for many years two of them Spaire-dales (rescues). We have home-stripped or pro-stripped all of them. The two rescues came to us clippered by the rescue people (to make her presentable) or by the previous owners (who found it easier on them to just "buzz" it away). The clipped coat just doesn't feel right. With one clipped and one stripped in the house the difference is quite easy to feel. Behavior is different, too. The clipped gal frequently seems uncomfortable and is always scraping against furniture, the walls, anything to help pull out the hair "whose time has come!"
The previously-clipped coat can be brought back with a lot of work but that wiry stripped coat is what the Airedale all about!
Posted on Nov 30, 2001, 1:40 PM from IP address 158.93.84.89