# Straightening a wavy/curly coat?



## Dogsignalfire (Nov 17, 2015)

_Here goes a noob question-_ I have no experience in grooming or anything of the sort at all. 

I'm wondering how to do a general straightening on a coat like this, or just making it look neater overall? This is Rara, a MAS... her fur is probably a couple inches long, and sticks up all over the place over her back and chest. Even the feathering on her ears is ragged and scratchy, because Lancer bites them off when playing. :| 

And honestly, she wasn't this scruffy when she was younger (before Lancer), so I'm 99% sure that her constant scruffiness is Lancer's fault.

I'd just like some general ways and tips to get her more picture perfect temporarily. I only have these photos for better reference.

Once upon a time, Rara's coat looked like how it does in my signature. LOL... pic taken way before Lancer arrived.



















(this is Lancer's huge martingale LOL)


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## CptJack (Jun 3, 2012)

Kylie's coat is similar. 

I can get it looking pretty good via a good bath and blow out - as in pulling fur straight as I blow dry it after a bath, but it goes back to the wavy stuff the first time it gets wet. I LIKE the way it looks all straightened out and neat, but that's just not how it lays naturally so. Okay.

But for photos? Bath her and dry her hair while brushing it down and it'll stay for a while. 

(Though also coats change after being spayed and with age so either one could be responsible for the raggedy and wave, too.)


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

The way her coat is now is probably more related to age and being spayed (if she's spayed). That's pretty typical.

I would bathe her, partially dry her with the direction of the hair, then put a towel over her and pin it at her chest and belly. That's what the spaniel people do to help the coat dry flat. You can even buy little lycra suits for them to wear. Something like a coat king can also help debulk and get it lying the same way, though you can overdo it with a coat king.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

I'd pull or trim the ear hair for one thing. Cannot stand that greasy super soft fluff behind the ears. It mats easily and doesn't go with the rest of the coat. Brush it out and pull the longest half dozen hairs at a time until she objects or it gets harder to pull. Old hair doesn't hurt to pull out at all. Bucky, a fear biter who didn't tolerate handling, now has golden retriever type ears where he came with a major combover with hair a couple inches longer than the ear leather, all done by brushing up and pulling the longest hairs. And generally supplying bits of cheese for cooperating of course! The hair was only long at the top half of the ears, he wasn't meant to have spaniel ears. You would think it would take forever but even a dozen pulls makes a huge difference in appearance.

Max had a coat worse than that. It's great for ruffling up. When he was a baby dog I could control it by using a stripper and a grooming stone later I used a MCK to remove excessive coat. A shedding rake didn't work at all for some reason, neither did a Furminator or those imitation MCK found at the pet store. And I bought and sold 18 tooth MCK, only the 12 tooth ones worked. 

I tried pulling Max's hair straight and had little luck, the wave was so strong that even sopping wet it curled up. Strangely what worked was blowing and pulling the hair backward so it all stood up then when it defluffed it was more evenly wavy. This actually seems the way to go with a MAS, fluffy is fine where spaniels are supposed to be sleek.

Using a Mars Coat King to debulk helped tremendously and if you see a particularly prominent wave you can pluck hairs from outside of it to help it lay flat. That works but Max had about 20 linear feet of wave which would take a couple hours to pluck to lay flat.


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## Dogsignalfire (Nov 17, 2015)

CptJack said:


> Kylie's coat is similar.
> 
> I can get it looking pretty good via a good bath and blow out - as in pulling fur straight as I blow dry it after a bath, but it goes back to the wavy stuff the first time it gets wet. I LIKE the way it looks all straightened out and neat, but that's just not how it lays naturally so. Okay.
> 
> ...





elrohwen said:


> The way her coat is now is probably more related to age and being spayed (if she's spayed). That's pretty typical.
> 
> I would bathe her, partially dry her with the direction of the hair, then put a towel over her and pin it at her chest and belly. That's what the spaniel people do to help the coat dry flat. You can even buy little lycra suits for them to wear. Something like a coat king can also help debulk and get it lying the same way, though you can overdo it with a coat king.


Interesting, I actually had no idea that age (or at least, age as young as 5 years old) would make a difference yet. Or that neutering would only take an effect on coat years later? Rara was neutered at 1 year old.

And thanks, I'll try that- as long as I can hold her still for a few minutes, before she pulls the towel off haaha. :I

I googled "lycra suits for dogs" and laughed... I'l look into these too.

I'm looking up the coat king. It looks like the structure is similar to a furminator?




Kathyy said:


> I'd pull or trim the ear hair for one thing. Cannot stand that greasy super soft fluff behind the ears. It mats easily and doesn't go with the rest of the coat. Brush it out and pull the longest half dozen hairs at a time until she objects or it gets harder to pull. Old hair doesn't hurt to pull out at all. Bucky, a fear biter who didn't tolerate handling, now has golden retriever type ears where he came with a major combover with hair a couple inches longer than the ear leather, all done by brushing up and pulling the longest hairs. And generally supplying bits of cheese for cooperating of course! The hair was only long at the top half of the ears, he wasn't meant to have spaniel ears. You would think it would take forever but even a dozen pulls makes a huge difference in appearance.
> 
> Max had a coat worse than that. It's great for ruffling up. When he was a baby dog I could control it by using a stripper and a grooming stone later I used a MCK to remove excessive coat. A shedding rake didn't work at all for some reason, neither did a Furminator or those imitation MCK found at the pet store. And I bought and sold 18 tooth MCK, only the 12 tooth ones worked.
> 
> ...


Thanks! I'll look into the 12 tooth coat kings. Rara actually hardly has any undercoat though. It's practically all just smooth and silky top coat that curls ridiculously. It only lies flat when sopping wet. Do you guys think the coat king would still be useful here? (if not, I can always just use it on Lancer and his thick fluffy LOL)

Interesting- you mean pulling the hair up backwards against the grain (weird use of words but hope it's understandable) and blow drying from behind?


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

The coat king isn't like a furmintor really. If anything it's like a mat breaker with longer hooked teeth. It will cut coat if you go against the direction it grows, but sometimes that's what you want. A furmintor is basically a clipper blade on a handle.

This site will tell you which size might be best. I use a 16 tooth on mine (which is the same spacing as the 20, just a smaller head since I tend to do small areas). Not sure what would be best on her. Maybe the same thing? It's unfortunately that they're not cheap enough to buy the whole set and try them all, but you could just return one if it obviously wasn't getting out any coat or something.
http://www.groomersmall.com/coat_kings.htm

You can also get thinning shears and stick them up under the curl and snip, then brush out, then snip, then brush out until it lies flat. But that's more for one or two stubborn areas. You can't do that across a whole coat.


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## MysticRealm (May 30, 2007)

Good bath, HV blow dry (or regular blow dryer while brushing to straighten hair, remove dead undercoat, then some shaping.


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