Being a "dog person", I sure understand your priorities.

Checking clutch gap is easy - just use feeler guages such as for valve adjustment or spark plug gapping. The clutch air gap is supposed to be 0.50mm, plus or minus some small amount that I cannot remember.

There are lots of options for degreasing the clutch. Brake parts cleaner would be one. Think I used a citrus degreaser intended for bicycles, rinsing with water. It's not rocket science, you just need a method to get it down into the clutch gap.

- JimY