Help
Honestly, we weren't planning on having him shaved and hoping to keep him a little longer until summer. Anyway, can anyone give me advice about 1. how to make sure the mats do not occur in the first place. 2. how to properly brush him, how often etc. 3. If there is anyway to avoid him being shaved? 4. general grooming advice. The bottom line is that I'm really enjoying his shaggy dog look and am willing to spend more time grooming him but just need to know exactly how. thanks everyone in advance, Doreen |
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| Is the matting from the collar? If so, I'd keep it off of him. My dogs don't wear collars unless we go out. IMO, it's actually safer around the house to keep the collar off.
As far as proper brushing goes, I'd start here for a pictorial tutorial, so to speak: http://www.oes.org/html/sheepdog_grooming.html I know until I learned the importance of line grooming, I was having similar problems because without going layer by layer, you wind up brushing the top layers and the layers at the skin don't get the attention that they need. Some areas are just trouble even if you do give them attention-- they just need more! |
| I'm in the same boat, line groomin spot grooming good brushs do make a difference and thinning the under coat seems to help. |
| Youo might also try the scissors. Perhaps by keeping him in shorter coat you could handle it....especially the legs??? Just a thought as I'm in the same boat. Jack and I have yet to figure out a good spot for a long brush session together. No floor for me, he's too big for grooming table and diningroom table is too woobly...it's an antique, one wiggle and he bolts. Summer I have the porch.....him on it, me standing beside. |
Quote: Is the matting from the collar? If so, I'd keep it off of him. My dogs don't wear collars unless we go out.
Oliver doesn't wear a collar unless we go out either. And when we do wear one, it is a rolled leather. The rolled leather has made a huge difference in the number of matts we get in the neck area. We like Oliver shaggy too, but it takes A LOT of work, especially in this wet, snowy weather. Shaving his belly has cut back on a lot of time, and you can't even tell it is shaved. My husband and I are very hands on with him, and can break up a lot of knots just by running our fingers through his hair. How old is Barkley? We are spending about 15 hours a week keeping Oliver matt free with the wet weather, underwater treadmill, and coat change. Good luck. Sometimes it feels like a never-ending battle. |
| Doreen,
You have already been referred to my line grooming photo essay so you have the basic information. When line grooming you have to be careful to keep the lines close together, never more than an inch. If you advance in too large an increment then you won't be able to get all the way down to the skin and then even though you are "line grooming" knots and ultimately matts will form. How old is Barkley? I'm wondering if he is beginning to go through the puppy to adult coat transition, "blowing coat" so to speak. If this is the case then you will need to be grooming him every day and even then you'll be in for quite a challenge. There are some things that can be done to help at this time but ultimately it is an issue of lots of grooming. I also "assume" you are not planning on showing Barkley. In that case stripping out his undercoat will be a BIG help to you. As you complete each line you can strip out the undercoat by "combing" out each line, first with a medium comb and then with a fine comb. You'll get bags full of fine "cotton" when you do this. If you don't mind spending a few dollars on more tools a "Mars Coat King" matt rake does a great job of stripping undercoat without damaging the guard coat like regular combs can. Be sure to catch and remove all coat that is stripped out. If any of this is left in the coat you will have "instant matts". Ensuring that you collect all stripped undercoat or broken guard coat re-brush the line with the pin brush or bette yet with a large slicker. Don't collar Barkley except when he is being walked. When he is in the house, a fenced yard such as at doggy day care there is no reason for a collar. When my gang do need to wear a collar I always use the wide flat nylon collars with the "snap clips". Regular buckles and round or leather collars catch the hair and cause knots faster than anything else I know. Where do you groom him? This is very important in several regards. Grooming needs to be done in a regular place seperate from where he plays eats etc. You need to instill a "mindset" in Barkley that grooming is grooming and he doesn't get to do anything else once you start until YOU tell him otherwise. Routine is very important for them, especialy when it is something that they don't do of their own choice. Second you need a comfortable place to groom and nothing other than a dedicated grooming table can provide this for you and him. Grooming tables are readily avaiable, can be built at home without too much effort or cast deending on your "handyman skills" or you can enlist a small dining table if he is to big for the common sized grooming tables. While we have two grooming tables (Michele has one while she is away) I almost always use our small dinning table about (48" x 30"). This allows the dog to be fully supported and I can sit/stand in comfort while grooming. Grooming while seated on the floor, catching the dog sitting on a sofa etc just doesn't work because it very quickly becomes uncomfortable and you'll just "give up". Once both you and Barkley are comfortable it will be much easier to spend the several hours necessary to properly groom him thoroughly. It is also important to groom both sides in a single session. Yes you "can" do one side one day and the other side the next but life has a way of interupting that scheduling idea. I also recently posted in responce to how long and how often. Right now if Barkley is matted it will take a long time to "recover" his coat but once he is in good shape he will need to be thoroughly brushed 2-3 times a week. If he rough houese at daycare you will probably need to give him a daily "touch-up" grooming to keep on top of potential problems. It is also important to keep him clean. As the coat gets dirty it becomes much more prone to knotting and matting. There is endless debate as to how often these dogs should be bathed but you will need to monitor his condition and bath accordingly. I'm sure you'll get plenty of advise on this one as well, but if he is dirty he will knot and matt up far more readily than if he is clean. If you are not too concerned about his coat texture then a good conditioning with each bath will help reduce knoting as well. Finally make sure you have good brushes and combs. (Lots of posts on that.) Pin brushes need to have soft supple pads and pins about 1 inch long (7/8 inch or 27 mm are common sizes depending on which brand you buy.) The pins should be firmly seated in the pad and not sunk down needing to be pulled up each time the brush is used. Bent pins will snag and break the coat and the broken hair left behind will be a "seed" for knots. Combs need to have smooth tines. Any flaking of the chrome coating or worse yet rusting of the tines will catch hair and often breaking it providing more sites for knots to start. Anyway, a few comments for you to consider. If you have further questions don't hesitate to ask away, either in public forum or by PM if you prefer. Disclaimer: Some aspects of this post are very much focused on coat care of dogs which are not going to be shown and whose parents are not so concerned with "proper" coat texture. Following these recommendations will help you keep your dog hairy and fluffy but he will not meet the coat standard for showing. Show dogs should not receive general undercoat stripping nor should they have their grizzle hair softened through heavy conditioning. Potential exhibitors should discuss show grooming with a local mentor who can physically demonstrate both long term care and show preparation techniques and assist in several pre-show sessions until the exhibitor is able to complete this by themselves. Thanks and Cheers Carl |
| Doreen,
I just realized that the link ButtersStotch provided is the incomplete essay sitting on OES.org. For the full photo essay see our own website at, http://www.angelfire.com/trek/lindonloo ... gdemo.html Hope this helps. Thanks and Cheers Carl |
Carl Lindon wrote: Doreen,
I just realized that the link ButtersStotch provided is the incomplete essay sitting on OES.org. For the full photo essay see our own website at, http://www.angelfire.com/trek/lindonloo ... gdemo.html Hope this helps. Thanks and Cheers Carl Hey, how come we only have the incomplete version? Who do we need to bug to get the whole thing here?  |
I used rolled leather on recommendation from our groomer. It has made a huge difference. She also shaves his belly and we use a rake on the rest of him regularly. He seems to stay mat free this way.  |
| whats rolled leather?? |
| Here is a good example of a rolled leather collar:
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2811500 |
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