Phase One - Cording

[Lynda Kamrath]

Well, I am on my way.  Harpo had a bath this morning and we started with combing out his ears and feet.  I trimmed the hair under his ears and  below his eyes and put on drying sweaters in the heated laundry room where he stayed for a couple of hours.  He is now ready to go for a walk out at Ft. Ord.  I haven't put the Frontline on him yet and will do that tomorrow with both dogs.  He didn't have any mats, but his feet were tangley.  He was a good boy throughout the ordeal.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We love him anyway!!!! Spud the billionhair is beautiful to us.  Ned and Clancy

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

He is at a very ugly stage. He looks great then ugly.  His legs and feet are extremely difficult to manage right now.   These are from today.  I really don't have anything good to show.

Spud Dog BillionHair

The legs just now are ready but he will not let me touch them. You can see a felt running down the forwarm.  I want that one bad.  I can get a few done at a time.   So we will get there.   The rest of him... I am very happy with.   Very

 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Nancy, you saw this one.. I think.  This was a month ago. 

[Donna K & Quincy]

Joanne, how do you go about bathing them when they are fully corded?

[Lynda Kamrath]

Yep, I hope to.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Bathing is another entire video.  Oh my the process.  Here is just some of it:

1. dilute the soap.  Use Dawn or Palmolive.  No cutesy grooming stuff.

2. Rinse for 25-30 mins at least--AT least

3. Remove from bath and SQUEEZE each cord. Each one. Squeeze for the next 3 hours.  

4. Apply sweatshirt after sweatshirt to absorb as much water as possible--change shirts every 10-15 minutes and squeeze.

5.  Some force fan but that can be very dangerous to a crated dog  (  I will not be doing this )

6. Dry time is 24-48 hours and you better hope they don't smell like dirty laundry from a slow drying process not done correctly.

 

Spud swims--this is why I will cut his cords off once a year.  We will not be doing this.  :) 

[Donna K & Quincy]

Good grief, that sounds like a marathon event. I think the clippers would be looking pretty good at that point.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

You know it!  On my cording page I really think they used Cord Extensions on those poodles.  They are too perfect and the cords are too long.  Suspicious.  But So Beautiful!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Very exciting! Can't wait to see the progress.

[shelly]

You and Joanne... how cool!

[Lindsey, Lee, Whopper and Simba]

Good Luck!  It appears as though Harpo's coat is a lot curlier than Simba's.  I'd love to be able to meet up when you are in VA. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Linda, you wrote:  Aren't mats different from cords?  I thought mats were kind of a negative thing, but the cords are the positive outcome of working with the dog's hair.  I hope Harpo doesn't get mats in his hair.

Linda, you wrote me that you thought mats are bad. You must mat to cord!!   I placed a lot of videos in my discussion and one other discussion in the grooming group. You can not cord until the dog is WELL MATTED.

I'm confused about your use for sweaters

Sweaters--are you using them because you think they will promote cording?  That was not what they are for. They are to keep debris out only.   Be cautious about sweaters.  The skin really needs to be watched closely for health.  It should be able to breathe.  Keep the sweatshirts off unless it is just after  bathing or out in the mud and woods.  

The reason for sweatshirts/or sweaters is only to keep Burrs out of the cords. Used for when you go hiking only.

The conditioner free soap/shampoo.  You use that to promote matting so the cording can begin.

Hope this cleared some of the things up for you.

If it is the spiral curls you are looking for--not cording you will have to take a different route.   If this is what you are trying to do, bathe the dog as normal then get a spritz bottle to promote those spiral curls.    I can't do this--Spud is way to thick.  THICK