Brushing Review

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

Brushing and Combing your Doodle

Hi everyone..I wrote this down for my new puppy owners so I thought I would share it here.

1.think of dividing the chore into segments and finish one segment before moving to the next. That way no part gets missed.
* A) head including top, sides, muzzle, chin, ears, behind the ears** and throat.
B) neck all the way around
C) 4 legs including front, back, outside and inside.
D) back, neck to tail
E) sides and belly
F) chest from throat to between front legs **
G) tail

2.coat must be thoroughly dry. You can sprinkle the coat near the skin with baby powder to help dry the coat and the brush slide thru easier. Only do this if bathing next.

3.start at one foot….brush coat up the leg i.e. in the reverse direction to growth.

4.work from foot and start brushing down in tiny increments.

5.after an inch or 2 run the comb thru the brushed coat.

6.If the comb snags, find the spot and brush more. Pull out your matzapper at this time and use a product like Cowboy magic.

7.work up each leg this way, making sure you get all 4 sides of leg…outside, inside, front and back. *** When doing the back legs, make sure you brush under the tail

8.brush the back in a similar fashion…by starting with a brushing against the direction of growth.

*tip for whole chore….teach your dog to lie down on a table for brushing. Then you sit on a chair. It makes it more relaxing and you can add some dog massage at the same time
** tip for cutting out dense mattes behind ears and in armpits. Slide comb under the matte and cut with scissors along the side of the comb away from skin
*** tip for combing legs, do outside of one leg and inside of opposite leg while the dog is in one position.

[Lynne B]

Thanks, that's good advice. I have a question, when Beck's coat is longer than 2" or so, it wraps itself around the brush. It is very fine and seems to have alot of static electricity (I guess that's what you would call it) I live in a very dry climate. I have avoided the problem by combing him, but is there some product I should use to reduce this, or should I just keep combing him and not bother with the brush?

[ej]

Thanks for the detailed steps for brushing/combing. I really need to be more thorough with Koda.

[Lin D & Yogi]

Thank you so.......much for the great instructions. Great information. Thanks for sharing.

[Smita, Ollie and Juno]

Thank you for the instructions! Very useful for a newbie like me.

[Lynette Main]

Thanks for the info. Iam tired of taking my Doodles to the groomer . I will try this myself. It was 110.00 the last visit and they shaved Shea. He had some matts.I saw NONE I think it was just easier to shave rather than comb out. Its COLD outside.

[Candy & Hudson]

Jared, I think it could just be fur that she is shedding out. Hudson doesn't shed either but I do get some hair when I brush him. What kind of brush do you use?

[Jenny & Henry]

Thanks so much for sharing this info!!!  Very helpful.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Thanks so much for that brushing and combing advise.  I have now copied it and pasted into my New Puppy File where I'm gathering a whole pile of fantastic advice that I am going to print out and keep.

[Laura and Ebony]

[Laura and Ebony]

This is Ebony......As you can see, her hair is very curly.....I am using a mat remover type comb to try and keep her hair from matting.  She tends to mat right at the skin.  I had to shave her once and it came off like a sweater....Any Suggestion?  Sorry for the super large Picture....I spoke with you once before....Her dad is Stitch.

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

Wow, that's curly. The only dog I had that curly was Cola. She was heavy set so looked great in a short coat so I kept her coat an inch long. Matting to the skin could be because of coat change. Coat change is never ending if you don't get it all brushed out. As one of our members so aptly put it "it's like a weed that you have to pull out by the roots." That really describes puppy coat. I have had dogs 3 years old here to groom and that puppy coat was still there causing matting.

 

I think you could use a matt buster. That's the red Les Pooch brush. Also blowing out the coat with a cool high speed air blower really helps with matting and brushing. I trained another groom locally and she tells me that she blows out wool coats for an hour before starting any part of the grooming. You can identify matts that are starting and take any dust out of the coat that helps cause matting.

This picture is of Cola in her 'mommy' cut a couple of weeks before her babies were born.

[Laura and Ebony]

Thanks Barb....  I try hard with her coat...  I will go out and look for the matt buster.  I bath her at Petcetra and use the high speed blower as well.   Her curls tend to spiral out as her coat gets longer and it looks fantastic so hopefully I can get it or keep it under control