Mat Breaker
Two weeks ago we boarded them at a premier boarding place near the Dells where we were staying. We included a bath and brushout. They looked great when we picked them up, but I'm not sure what kind of shampoo they used on them because its hard to get a brush through. Meaning the brush just seems to glide right over the top hairs without getting the undercaot. Simon has gigantic mats on his front legs and doesn't like me to try to break them up and brush them out. To be honest, he kept his head close and I was scared he was going to bite if I pulled too hard. I kept pushing his head aside and he kept bringing it back to the same spot...right over my hand. My mat breaker is not the kind where you cut through the mat, you just use one or more of the teeth to break it up and then pull through. I decided to work on his back and back legs and maybe work around to his front legs. He let me do the back and legs with NO problem but then he got up and left when Randy went into the kitchen to get "food". Couldn't miss out on that. Simon is starting to look like a whooly mammoth and I'm wondering if I should just take him in to get a haircut. I'm really not good with the mats. If he would just hold still, let me spray(he's scared of it)some mat breaker on them I'm sure it would only take about an HOUR to get all the mats out. I really wanted to let his coat grow out some. |
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| Pam - look at Grannie Annie's demo for hints. Definitely use a slicker.
The threatening your hand thing has got to stop, little brat. Do you really think he would bite? If not, just keep pushing his head away and keep working on it. That's your choice, not his. Take breaks and work on other parts of his body he's not so defensive about. Maybe combine it and hand feed him his dinner in between. You know, pile on some good things. If it's too much of a pain, just shave him. Pick your battles. He needs to learn, but starting when he's really matted makes it much harder. If you end up shaving, use the time while it's growing out to show him how painless and wonderful grooming can be. Part brushing, part massage, part dinner, whatever floats his little Simon boat. Just got a year old rescue boy in tonight who reminds me so much of your Garfunkel...How's he behaving in the grooming department? Kristine |
| Garfunkel is a dream. He lets me do anything to him. He will stand for hours or lay down if he gets tired. Can turn him and brush the other side. I really can't find fault with him in the grooming department.
Wait a minute...didn't he start out at your house. Don't dogs coming from your house come already trained???? I think Simon needs to come to Auntie Kristines house for a visit. As far as the biting goes, yes, he has tried it before but it was a while back but I'm still cautious so that it doesn't happen again. I think he knows this and takes advantage of it. Did you read my post about him growling at me this morning? In Behavior. |
| One thing I have learned concerning boarding my dogs when necessary is I ALWAYS stress to the kennel NOT to bathe them & NOT to brush them. I don't care what length their coats are.....shaved, clipped or show. I don't care what they look like or smell like when I get home. Really I have never found a place that really knows how to groom an Old English the proper way unless they own Old English & then sometimes they haven't been taught properly either. They just do general grooming & clipping. Bathing before brushing even the short coated ones can even result in lots of little mats. And most of the time they do more damage than good by taking out way too much coat. So going on vacation here requires lots of extra time beforehand. I have to brush out all the dogs (3-4) the 2 days before taking them to the kennel. Then when I get home, it is one solid week of doing nothing but grooming them after work each day to get them all back into shape. Most of the time I have to do that in order to get them in shape for a bath because they smell like a kennel. Even tho' the kennel I use is state of the art & extremely clean! |
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