matting
|
|
| Welcome to the forum.
Is matting a problem only after a bath or all the time? If it is all the time you may want to read this thread. http://forum.oes.org/viewtopic.php?t=5885 I found the advise very helpful. If the matting is just after the bath, it may be your technique. When wetting the fur, do it in layers. Begin at the bottom and lift the fur up. Bring the sprayer straight in. Proceed upwards until all the fur is wet. I pour the diluted shampoo over a small area and then use my fingers to massage it in. Scrubbing or using the palms can cause the fur to tangle. Rinse, rinse, rinse, using the same method as for wetting. |
| Are you blow drying and brushing her immediately after her bath?
I fully groom out my dogs before a bath, and then blow dry while I am fully grooming them out again immediately after a bath. Bath days are an all day and all night affair around here. LOL |
| Hi
How old is your dog? How thick of mats are you talking about? Is the hair just webed together? Where are you going to show? When is the show? Depending on where/when the shows are has a lot to do with advice. How much hair do you need to save, how fast does your dogs coat grow? You really don't want anything heavy in the coat if your showing right away. Barbara |
I only wash the whites only before a show. Then throughly dry with a blowdryer and then just re-groom through. I only wash all over a few times a year, they need the texture in there greys on a mature coat and washing all over too much softens the coat and creates matting. If the dog is at an age when it is coat changing then that creates a lot of matts at that time till the new coat comes through then it settles down a bit.  |
| Loveoes and all,
As my post on wetting out and rinsing OES during bathing was quoted I will add a few more thoughts on how to avoid matting during bathing. (I have posted some if not most of these before in various threads but...) Quote: I pour the diluted shampoo over a small area and then use my fingers to massage it in. Diluting shampoo is very important to get it deep into the coat. However I have never found simply pouring it onto a dog very effective I always mix my shampoo in a good quality spray bottle. (Spend the extra amount and get a good "gardners" spray bottle as the "dollar store el-cheapo models" won't give a strong enough stream and will only last a couple of baths, if that!) Mix your shampoo so that the entire mixture takes up about 3/4 of the bottle. Shake the mixture well so that you get a good homogenous mix and reshake it periodically during use. Once the dog is properly wetted set the spray bottle to deliver the narrowest stream possible. Forcefully spraying the shampoo into the dog will get it deeper into the coat and gives you a better basis to "massage" it into the coat for a more thorough cleaning. Try to spray the shampoo in vertical lines so it tends to part the coat "along the grain". This assists in getting the shampoo as deeply into the coat as possible. (A horozontal spray pattern, while better than pouring the shampoo, is nowhere near as effective as the vertical spray pattern.) Note that in the more sensetive areas you will need to "open up" the spray pattern a bit as a strong jet spray on the inside of the legs, genital area and sometimes on the feet can be uncomfortable, even painful, to your dog. As always in the bath, monitor your dog's reaction to what you do and accomodate his/her legitimate upset and concerns. Quote: Scrubbing or using the palms can cause the fur to tangle Once you have sprayed enough shampoo into the dog "massage" it in as has been mentioned. Use your finger and thumb tips, never palms and always massage "with the grain" of the coat. Any reverse movement of your fingers WILL result in matting. On the legs and body fringe you can "support" an area of coat in one hand and work the fingers of the other hand through the coat to increase the level of cleansing as this is where the most dirt tends to build up. Same goes with the feet. Hold a foot up and massage the shampoo through with the other hand ensuring you get between the toes and pads. Particulate dirt between the toes can be very destructive to the coat in these areas and can be very irritating between the pads. (Note you should be keeping the hair between pads clipped out as thoroughly as possible.) Of cource the same procedure applies to conditioners as well. Quote: I only wash the whites only before a show. Then throughly dry with a blowdryer and then just re-groom through. I only wash all over a few times a year, they need the texture in there greys on a mature coat and washing all over too much softens the coat and creates matting.
For those who don't show or are just beginning to show this IS the correct routine. The white coat is supposed to be softer than the grizzle coat so it can tolerate more washing and conditioning. However, even the white coat is not supposed to be in any way "silky". Be careful how much conditioner is used and moderate your use to keep the whites "firm", neither harsh like the grizzle nor silky like an Afghan. The amount of conditioner that results in this median texture varies with each dog and as such takes something of a trial and error approach. It is better to be too firm than too soft, you can always soften the coat more for next weeks show, but it is far less easy to go the other way! The use of whitening shampoos adds another little wrinkle to the bathing routine. Most are rather harsh to the coat and will dry the whites allowing, even requiring, the use of more conditioner. But a word of caution - as manufacturer's are aware of this some add conditioner into the whitening shampoo. The amount which is added helps reduce the drying effect but I have found it is insufficient to completely counter the tendency to dry the coat. Be careful to read the bottle to determine if your whitening shampoo is one which is "with conditioner". For those that DO NOT have any added conditioner you will need to either use more conditioner after shampooing or allow the conditioner to sit on the coat longer. For whitening shampoos WITH conditioner increase your conditioner use only slightly. Again this will be a bit of trial and error until you get used to your specific combinations. As noted above, it is better to go too light on conditioner than use too much. Be careful however not to ignore the grizzle coat. It is all too easy to ignore the grizzle and end up taking an "unclean" dog into the ring which will result in poor placements or possibly even a dismissal. Generally I will do 3 "whites-only" baths and then a full bath. If you are concerned that the grizzle could become too soft use a "terrier shampoo" to maintian the texture of the grizzle. Use of one of these "harsh coat" shampoos will afford you the opportunity to both bathe the grizzle coat more often and to use a bit of conditioner on the grizzle without it softening the coat, hence helping reduce bath induced matting on the grizzle and making it easier to dry and groom out your Bobtail after his/her bath. Hopefully there are a few point that can be of use here. As always don't hesitate to ask any further questions, either in open forum or by PM. Thanks and Cheers Carl |
Carl can you suggest any particular brand of "terrier shampoo"? I wasn't aware there even was such a thing, but if there is a product designed for a more wiry coat I would love to try it  |
| Willowsprite,
Both #1All Systems and BioGroom have a harsh coat shampoo formula. ("Terrier Shampoo" is a generic term as these shamppos are predominantly used by terrier breeds.) For those of us in Central Canada Pet Supply House is an excellent supplier. The #1 All Systems product is called #1AS Crisp Coat Texture and Detox Shampoo while the BioGroom product is called BioGroom Harsh Coat Shampoo. Both are listed at www.petsupplyhouse.com Thanks and Cheers Carl |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|