Brush advice

[Lindsey Holt]

Hi all,

Jake is now 4 months old and his coat is getting long...

I have a slicker brush, pin brush and a comb and he hates it, it is like I am ripping out his hair (or at least he acts like it).

Do you experts have any advice, a different brush? What kind?

A different approach?

I included some pictures below so you all can see his coat, plus ooh and ahh at his cuteness.

Thanks!

[Helga, Nimbus, Sierra, Clooney]

He IS adorable! I use the Activet green brush. I think that one would work well for him. Les Poochs is the other name it comes under. That one you can order at the doodle country store. The Activet on Amazon.com.
And line brush. That means you start at the bottom and work your way up. Kind of like if you have tangles in your own hair. Hth.

[Lori, Winnie, Bob and Indie]

Total cuteness!!!

I think you've got the tools that you need- you just need to get the pooch to cooperate! :-) Lots of treats can be really helpful in making it a more tolerable situation.

But, the other thing is that at 4 months old he's old enough to start learning that you mean business when you are brushing him. Assuming you are being gentle with him, letting him act like it's a torture session is going to make grooming very hard. So, my approach with Winnie was to dole out the treats (or have someone else do it) while I was brushing her AND she was acting nicely. The second she tried biting the brush (or whatever), I told her a firm "eh eh," got her to look at me (distracting from the brush) and then we started again. Sometimes I used a rope toy for distraction. 

I second the suggestion to line brush. With a coat like his, you need to make sure that you get all the way down to the skin. I have an Activet brush, too - it's basically like a longer toothed slicker brush. I used it more when Winnie was a puppy with long hair. But, honestly, she never really tolerated it that well and now that I keep her trimmed short, we rarely use it. 

[Laura and Angus]

Our dog who will be 2 years old in July still runs away from us if he has too much energy. In general, though, he doesn't like anything grooming related or that requires him to sit still. That being said, we used the treat method that Lori mentioned by having someone distract with treats or dole out treats for waiting patiently while being brushed.

What also helped us immensely was having our pup get out energy before trying grooming activities. So a run around session in a yard or at the dog park or a super long walk downtown helped to get out some of the energy and he'd wanna lay down and would allow us to brush him. These days our pup goes to daycare 3x weekly, so we usually just wait until a daycare day to do things like brushing and nail clipping that are especially torturous for our crazy monster pup.

[Barbara Brian]

Oh my! What a cutie. Minka didn't like to be brushed when she was little either. She is better now after having gone to the groomer regularly.

[Lukai]

Jake is adorable! & I would have to agree with everyone else-

Kai hates getting brushed! She will be 4 months this week and I think she actually finds the bristles fascinating. She loves to play with the brush & I can tell the only time she will let me brush her is when she's worn out or tired (which sucks because I try to brush her after the shower where she has the most energy!). 

 (Although her coat is extremely soft, it makes it easy to brush her)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Activet - Green for a puppy.  Go to Doodle Country Store - its on-line. Fasten his leash to something so he can't go anywhere.  My husband snuggles with Ned while I brush and comb. Ned hates being brushed but there is no option.

[Haley, Yeti, and Phin]

Hello! Yeti hates to be brushed as well. Completely acts like its the end of the world. I tried tiring him out so he would just lay down ... Didn't work. I tried inticing him with treats ... Didn't work. I tried talking to him in soothing tones ... Didn't work. But tonight I had a break through! Yeti has been getting chewy rings for teething that he loves but everyone on here has suggested bully sticks for chewers. I bought one last weekend and never gave it him so tonight when I brought the brush out I brought the bully stick out as well, and to my surprise, he was more focused on the stick then the brush!!!! It was a miricale :) my boyfriend held the bully stick while yeti chewed on it and I brushed almost his whole body without problems. Perhaps you could try something similar. We decided we're only going to give him a bully stick when he's being brushed as a reward for being a good boy! Good luck and I hope you find something that works for you!