Soft coats tougher to groom?

[Ginny Nightingale]

Hi there everyone! My ALD is now 13 months old and her adult coat is super soft and thick with a lot of undercoat. Problem is, it is like a cotton ball and tangles and mats pretty easily. Her coat was about 3 inches long up until today and was so difficult to keep mat-free. I would work for an hour or more each day just on the mats.Lyric hates to be groomed, so this is not a pleasant thing. I just came back from the groomer and she cut her back to 3/4 of an inch.(The same as in my profile picture.) I am not sure I will ever be able to let her have long hair. I have read all about grooming as a member of the grooming group and tried all the tricks,but it would be so time-consuming and unpleasant to have a shaggy ALD. Any other suggestions?

[Diana Allen]

I wish I had an answer for you..I am going through the same thing right now.... makes me wonder what on earth to do .....My dog Cagney is 7mths old and looks like a big puff ball.....I spent a little time every night trying to pull the knots apart etc. he looks rather patchy now... I am trying to stay on it so it might not happen so bad again...

[Ginny Nightingale]

My groomer pointed out that even after all the combing and brushing etc today, if she ran a comb from tail to head, the comb would not go through because there were tiny clumps at the base of the hair. I was looking at the Australian labradoodle group and there is a discussion on mats in this group and someone recommended a product called Liquid slicker--I might try it. Go to the discussion on Mats and you will see the link to the website. Might be worth a try!

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

If your ALD is 13 months old, you are probably not all the way thru the coat change yet. I am sure things will get better. My ALD's tend to be easy to keep until about 11 months old and it takes a few really good groomings and until about 15 months before they seem to get thru all this tangling phase. My 2 year olds are much better. Right now I have some puppies, 1 one year old who is still matting....3 sixteen month old dogs who seem to be over the worst of it....3 two year olds that seem to be much easier to brush and 2 three year olds who are definataly easier than they were in the past when they were younger. It has been about the same time-frame and process for all 9 dogs.
I use the finest Les Poochs brush on them...that's the yellow one. Each time I use the comb as much as or more than the brush.

[Diana Allen]

AHHHHH there is a light at the end!!!!!!! Thanks for all your info!!!

[Ginny Nightingale]

That IS good news--I thought this was IT! Yippee!!