# Clumpy coat!



## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

Dexter has always had a nice coat. He needed regular brushing, but it was easy to maintain.

Because of two skunk attacks within 8 days, I put a lot of various harsh products on him. I have to wash him often with the hose to get rid of the smell and some shampoo people gave to me had horrible results.

His fur is pretty much clumpy. All over the place. I assume it makes him uncomfortable, since he doesn't want me to brush him since.

Any advice? I've tried human conditioner, which helped a bit. He also seem to accept the brushing more when he's wet. I also tried to cut random clumps to help out here and there.

Shaving is not an option. Any detangling product I could order? Or home made recipe you guys would recommend?


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

Sounds like its matts. You can comb them out if they are small ones, or if they are larger, and are uncomfortable for him when you try to comb them out, I would recommend you take him to a professional groomer to have him groomed and properly brushed out. They may have to thinning shear some matts out, or shave some out if they are very tight to the skin. Bathing a dog and not brushing and combing thoroughly immediately after dry will cause matts to form. There is a possiblity what you are talking about it clumps of shedding coat, but those should easily be brushed out. Sounds like the repeated baths, have caused matts, and since they are all over, I would recommend you find a professional to help you.


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## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

I think they are to a point where they got uncomfortable. I've been brushing after the bath, but not enough, apparently. The chemical products probably didn't help. Part of it is clumps of shedding coat for sure and I brush him several times a day for as long as he can tolerate. But not all of it is manageable.

Sadly for me, I don't have a groomer within doable distance (doable = less than 9 hours of driving). I may ask the help of someone Dexter trusts. Maybe we can use a clipper on the worse spots. He'll look like a total idiot (pictures shall happen), but he'll be more comfortable.

Shaving him entirely is not an option, since the temperatures already drop below freezing.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

What sort of brush are you using? Maybe you could find something that takes out dead fur better. I liked the shedding rake a lot on Sassy's short dense double coat. It might even be able to reduce the size of the mats if gently stoked through the coat. It looks like a tiny version of the metal garden rake, short very pointy teeth on a straight bar mounted at right angle to the handle. You just run it over the coat and let the weight get the teeth down as far as is comfortable, you aren't pulling out mats with it.


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## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

I use both of these:






If you have something better to recommend, I'm extremely open to suggestions.


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## mom24doggies (Mar 25, 2011)

What kind of dog is Dexter? Depending on his coat type, I would recommend a slicker brush rather than a pin brush. Any dog with medium-long hair needs a good brushing with a slicker. The pin brush is for Maltese and Shihs with hair down to the floor. Basically anything with super long hair that you want to minimize damage on. I don't get the impression that Dexter is one of those.  I also recommend a good doggie conditioner. That stuff can work wonders for the coat and skin. You can also try brushing his coat while it's wet with conditioner on it. I do that with matted dogs, or dogs that have packed undercoat. It really helps. The water and conditioner lubricate the coat, helping the hairs to just slide over each other.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

The comb is great, the brush is unfortunately only good for a massage. The pin side is meant to detangle long coats, like full coated shih tzu's with 6 inches of hair, etc. Anything on your dog in the pic that you get out is just the surface. (and the otherside is completly useless on any breed)Get a slicker brush, brush with that, keep using the comb, and if you have to resort to shears to cut the matts out, put the comb between the matt and the skin, and cut above the comb. It is very dangerous using scissors on matted hair, as the matts can be so close to the skin, and when you pull up on the matt, skin comes with it and you can cut a hole in the skin SO easily trying to get matts out. It may benefit you also at this point for this particular issue, to get a matt splitter, and see if that doesn't help you as well. It can slide between the matt and the skin, and has blade on it, that can slice the matt apart, then be brushed or combed out. Good luck, go slow, and be careful.


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## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

mom24doggies said:


> What kind of dog is Dexter? Depending on his coat type, I would recommend a slicker brush rather than a pin brush. Any dog with medium-long hair needs a good brushing with a slicker. The pin brush is for Maltese and Shihs with hair down to the floor. Basically anything with super long hair that you want to minimize damage on. I don't get the impression that Dexter is one of those.  I also recommend a good doggie conditioner. That stuff can work wonders for the coat and skin. You can also try brushing his coat while it's wet with conditioner on it. I do that with matted dogs, or dogs that have packed undercoat. It really helps. The water and conditioner lubricate the coat, helping the hairs to just slide over each other.


He's either a qimmiq or one messy mix of breeeds.

His hair, I'd classified as extra long. All over. With a wooly undercoat.




I've tried my own conditioner on Dexter a few times and brushed him while wet (he reacts less). It barely helped


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## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

Graco22 said:


> The comb is great, the brush is unfortunately only good for a massage. The pin side is meant to detangle long coats, like full coated shih tzu's with 6 inches of hair, etc. Anything on your dog in the pic that you get out is just the surface. (and the otherside is completly useless on any breed)Get a slicker brush, brush with that, keep using the comb, and if you have to resort to shears to cut the matts out, put the comb between the matt and the skin, and cut above the comb. It is very dangerous using scissors on matted hair, as the matts can be so close to the skin, and when you pull up on the matt, skin comes with it and you can cut a hole in the skin SO easily trying to get matts out. It may benefit you also at this point for this particular issue, to get a matt splitter, and see if that doesn't help you as well. It can slide between the matt and the skin, and has blade on it, that can slice the matt apart, then be brushed or combed out. Good luck, go slow, and be careful.


Do you have any brand or style to recommend?

And thanks for the help, guys. Poor Dexter...


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## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

And you can see the damage a bit here. Mostly the end of his back (the worse spot) and his thighs




I'm borrowing a clipper tomorrow. Hopefully, I only have to shave the end of his back. This should look glorious.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

I would consider his coat a medium coat, with longer furnishings. You need to throw away the doublesided brush..lol Completely useless on this coat. You need a HARD slicker..My favorite is the Tuff on Tangles from Petedge online...but you can find one in the petstores too...Feel the metal tines before you buy it..they should feel hard and firm, with little to no springyness. Don't worry about how sharp they are, you can fix that when you get home by brushing concrete or asphault for a minute. When you brush, you have to separate the hair in layers as you brush, and brush down to the skin, working in small sections all over the dog, until every square inch is brushed out and you can part the hair with your hand and see clearly skin. Then you need an undercoat rake..NO blades...just a rake. They look like a metal comb with a handle in the middle of the comb. After brushing, you can rake the coat and get the rest of the undercoat out. A metal greyhound come with coarse teeth will work also, and you can use a comb to tease some of the clumps out. I would also get a conditioning spray, my favorite is Crown Royale #3, but anything will work. If you want to try to get as many matts out without cutting them, try putting some cornstarch on the areas with matts..use alot..and rub it into the coat with your hands, and use your hands to pull apart the matts. That works well on certain matts. No more baths until you get the matts all out. Bathing just tightens the matts up closer to the skin, and more of a packed wad of hair you cannot separate. Get the matts out before you get him wet.


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## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

Thank you for your recommendations, Graco.

I'll buy those for his regular grooming. Sadly, his mats were too bad to order online and wait 2-3 weeks to get the products.

I've decided it was in Dexter's best interest to look ridiculous and shave the really bad spots. I'll really just need to do his lower back and thighs to save him from hot spots.



This was session number 1.

We might start a new fashion, who knows!


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

Well, its just hair.  Because he is a doublecoat, its going to take awhile to grow back, and may be patchy and uneven in its growth. But it will come back in time. I am sure he feels more comfortable.


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## mom24doggies (Mar 25, 2011)

Aww, poor Dexter. He has a reverse mohawk now.  My mom accidentally did that to one of my brothers once...but that's a whole different story.  Hey at least hair grows right?! Make sure you brush those areas regularly. I've found that keeping the undercoat well brushed out helps the coat to grow back normally. I once shaved my double coated dog down just to see if I could make it grow back without any issues. I furminated it (wouldn't recommend that for Dexter, it will break his coat) weekly for a while and it grew back exactly the same as it did before...no patchiness or uneven growth.


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## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

I still need to do his thighs, which might be trickier.

Shaving his back though...it was worse than I thought. It was so close to the skin, the clipper had issues getting through. I prefer the ridiculous look


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## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

Graco22 said:


> I would consider his coat a medium coat, with longer furnishings. You need to throw away the doublesided brush..lol Completely useless on this coat. You need a HARD slicker..My favorite is the Tuff on Tangles from Petedge online...but you can find one in the petstores too...Feel the metal tines before you buy it..they should feel hard and firm, with little to no springyness. Don't worry about how sharp they are, you can fix that when you get home by brushing concrete or asphault for a minute. When you brush, you have to separate the hair in layers as you brush, and brush down to the skin, working in small sections all over the dog, until every square inch is brushed out and you can part the hair with your hand and see clearly skin. Then you need an undercoat rake..NO blades...just a rake. They look like a metal comb with a handle in the middle of the comb. After brushing, you can rake the coat and get the rest of the undercoat out. A metal greyhound come with coarse teeth will work also, and you can use a comb to tease some of the clumps out. I would also get a conditioning spray, my favorite is Crown Royale #3, but anything will work. If you want to try to get as many matts out without cutting them, try putting some cornstarch on the areas with matts..use alot..and rub it into the coat with your hands, and use your hands to pull apart the matts. That works well on certain matts. No more baths until you get the matts all out. Bathing just tightens the matts up closer to the skin, and more of a packed wad of hair you cannot separate. Get the matts out before you get him wet.


I'm trying to order the recommanded hard slicker and rake on petedge, but I'm not sure which one to pick. I can't find your Tuff on Tangles either. Can you recommend me something off their site?


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

If you can order from Ryan's, instead of Petedge I would recommend them..they don't have those ridiculous minimum order charges and mess up orders way less often. Petedge is a nightmare, but unfortunately, they have almost everything..I like Ryan's better..Sorry, I had the name off on the brushes..its Tuffer Than Tangles..they changed the name awhile back...Here is a link to those slickers at Ryans. Petedge doesn't have them.

http://www.ryanspet.com/tuffer-than-tangles-slicker-brush-regular-medium-pz-TK256023.html

Heres the best rake at Ryans for your dog's coat.

http://www.ryanspet.com/tuffer-than-tangles-slicker-brush-regular-medium-pz-TK256023.html

If you can't order thru Ryans for whatever reason, I would get these from Petedge.


http://www.petedge.com/product/Groo...bCategoryId/478/pc/190/c/214/sc/276/46651.uts

And since Petedge has gotten rid of almost every brand but their own "Master Grooming Tools" junk, I can't even find a rake I could feel good telling you to get on their website..so i would go with a comb instead, )any size, but probly the larger or medium one. 

http://www.petedge.com/product/Groo...bCategoryId/479/pc/190/c/214/sc/276/56660.uts


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## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

Graco22 said:


> If you can order from Ryan's, instead of Petedge I would recommend them..they don't have those ridiculous minimum order charges and mess up orders way less often. Petedge is a nightmare, but unfortunately, they have almost everything..I like Ryan's better..Sorry, I had the name off on the brushes..its Tuffer Than Tangles..they changed the name awhile back...Here is a link to those slickers at Ryans. Petedge doesn't have them.
> 
> http://www.ryanspet.com/tuffer-than-tangles-slicker-brush-regular-medium-pz-TK256023.html
> 
> ...


You gave the link for the Tuffer Than Tangles brush twice instead of the rake! I've looked at all the rakes, and I definitely feel lost. If you regive me the link for the rake, I'll trust your opinion.

MAJOR thank you.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

I'm sorry...here is the correct link to the rake thru Rysans. 

http://www.ryanspet.com/long-tooth-undercoat-rake-w-wood-handle-coarse-pz-CSB1022.html


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## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

A 100 times thank you.

(but yeah they wanted 31$ in shipping and handling charges? I'll use the pictures off your recommendation and find another site!)


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## Zoopie (Feb 22, 2010)

I received my order today. Already brushed Dex for 20 minutes and wow....Big thank you for your help. It's amazing what comes out of the coat with the right tools!


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

Zoopie said:


> I received my order today. Already brushed Dex for 20 minutes and wow....Big thank you for your help. It's amazing what comes out of the coat with the right tools!


 Yay! Glad you are seeing the difference.


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