What did we pull?

[Daelene & Molly]

Molly got trimmed to about 1" a couple of weeks ago.  Her coat now is very curly, which I love BTW, but last night as we were combing her the comb was hard to pull through.  They were not full blown mats but more like tangles.  We were using a CC stagger tooth butter comb and as we were pulling it through we were pulling small clumps of her curly coat out.  What were we pulling out?  Is her puppy coat transitioning to her adult coat already (she will be 6 months in a week) or were we just yanking her hair out by the roots by combing too hard?  She was not yelping in pain or anything but I am just beside myself thinking we may have been hurting her. 

I love this puppy so much, never had a dog that needed grooming before so I am feeling overwhelmed and I am not even the one who grooms her.

If anyone has had this situation happen to them please advise me on what we pulled out.

Thank you soooo much.

[Jennifer Tramell]

I think if you were hurting her she would have shown some discomfort.  My Webster has a very curly coat and brushing his hair used to be quite a workout.  My hand, arm, and wrist would be tired because it was work to get the brush through his thick coat (and his coat was not long).  We would end up with several brushfuls of hair which I think was his puppy coat.  Webster never minded being brushed and now he likes being brushed.  He is now 2 years old and brushing him is easy - no puppy coat to struggle through. 

Charlotte has a curly yet silky coat.  She is 10 months old and I've never struggled with brushing her.  It is not unusual to pull out little clumps of hair knotted it a tangle.  She doesn't really like being brushed and would give me a dirty look but I don't think it really hurt her.  She started matting 2 months ago and I gave her a short cut so we didn't have to deal with all the brushing. 

If Molly doesn't mind being brushed then I think you have nothing to worry about.  I think some dogs are more sensitive just like people (my daughter thinks she's DYING when I brush the tangles out of her hair!).

[Daelene & Molly]

Thanks Jennifer, I see a light at the end of the tunnel.  I just don't want to hurt her while I am combing or brushing her cuz I envision us in years to comb just chilling on the couch....me, Molly & the comb. :)

[Kyoko]

Molly may be beginning to change her coat..... I remember feeling like there were no ending when Charlie was going through this. She has very curly coat as well, and When she was a puppy, I had her coat pretty long all over. I sectioned her body, and did some parts per day, but then, when the whole body was done, it was time to do it all over again, because she would be matted again.... :-(

On top of that, she did not care to be brushed very much... so it was a struggle.

I agree with Jennifer, and I  think if there were any discomfort, she would had let you know.... I think she is OK!

[Daelene & Molly]

Thanks Kyoko, I really am not looking forward to the mats :(