I used to strip out my uncles borders with him, and the lively ones were hard work. what we used to do is take them for a long walk then feed them a good meal, seems to take the wind out of them, it worked for us any way. Yes you can over strip so my unkle says, and i did that alot at the begining, it is an art and you'l get better the more you do it. depending what dog your stripping it's usually plain to see if you take too much out. What ever you do dont risk clipping the dog with a shears, it looks ok on some dogs but not all.