I am steadily working my way through chelseas coat a bit each day with a stripping comb. Its taking ages. If i'm careful not to leave lines, would anyone advise using scissors around the back end, then a stripping comb, or will this be as bad as using clippers?
If she had been groomed properly (or at all), in her previous 2 homes would she still have a coat like this, or would it have been maybe a little bit easier? I have got all the matted hair off (it took me 2 weeks), and some of her hair falls into thick ringlets and when i brush it, it goes fluffy too.
Saying all that, her coat is in much better condition than it was.
Does anyone recommend i have her proffessionally stripped by a springer 'enthusiast', to start me off.(where i can stay and watch) and how much roughly does this cost. Or am i just too impatient?

I've no 'proper' advice I'm afraid - but just wanted to say even though I regularly groom Tilly's coat (at the very least brush it through every day and strip it about once a week or so) I seem to spend ages and ages grooming her these days. She is really quite woolly now - almost a year since she was spayed - and her fur mats up really easily and half the hillside comes home with her after a walk.

Have you any pictures of what you have done so far - would be interesting to see!
Mary is the grooming expert - maybe she will see this post ...

I will add pictures to my list of things to do this week. Theyre not very good though coz i take them on my mobile and seem to get a close up of fluff!!!! ha ha Trouble is i'm not very good at getting them from my album onto st. So i could make it my main thing to practice couldnt i.

I'd suggest once you have stripped out as much as you can with the knife, and taken excess you can gently plucking using finger and thumb you use thinning scissors to tidy the rest up. If you take only a small amount at a time with the thinners you can shape the backend and achieve quite a natural look.

Single edged thinning scissors will be the way to go as they will not leave lines, if Chelsea is speyed then I;m afraisdher coat will be fluffy all the time, this can happen when you spey, I was lucky with Mason as his coat stayed silky and flat after his wee boy op