# Sanitary cut?



## Silvicen (Dec 30, 2010)

I have a big black furry mutt boy. He's about 65 lbs and his coat is kinda like a cross between a newfie and a golden retriever with a fairly rough coat. He is my first and only longer coated curly furred baby, the rest are medium length double coated shedders. I brush him out about twice a week. Sometimes when I brush him out I find bits of poo stuck to his fur. Ewwww. I have never done a sanitary cut so what do you recommend I get and do so I stop finding dingleberries and not to have his rear looking butchered like a four year old gave him a haircut. My SO took his GSD to a groomer last year and they trimmed her back there (which she didn't need) and it looked horrible, all choppy and uneven. With a somewhat recent tragic incedent with a freinds dog I can't bring myself to take him to a groomers.
Also sometimes he gets little mats behind his ears and his elbows, what you recommend to deal with them. Sometimes I can work the small matts out with a slicker sometimes I just snip them. Brushing him daily would be nice but realistically I don't see this happening. Everytime I pull out one of thier brushes the whole pack thinks thier name is Me First and I have to brush 6 dogs.

Thank you.


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## Charis (Jul 12, 2009)

My aussie can get the mats behind her ears - we just brush those more often than the rest of her. She also requires a "sanitary cut" that I often have the groomer do because mine looks horrible. I'm not sure where you live but here we have a "self-serve" dog groomer. They provide everything and you do the work. I can do all my dog's grooming (minus the cut) and it is much more affordable. They also have offered to show me how to groom some so maybe I can get them to show me how to do the cut myself. That may be what you need. If you can't do it yourself find a reputable groomer - look at the dogs that are coming and going and see if they look well groomed. Ask what they do with difficult to handle dogs, etc.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Max gets his undercoat pulled out, I show no mercy. Lately it has been with the Mars Coat King#12 but a $2 metal flea comb works really well. It is the loose hairs that cause the mats. Poor baby gets actual plucking too. I think it is less painful to pluck the long old hairs from his pits than use the flea comb. He gets tufty there and I grab the longer 1/2" or so and pull which takes out maybe a dozen hairs a pull. This is Max who doesn't actually shed though, your mileage may vary.

I bought a fairly good pair of thinning shears unless they are blenders, don't remember the difference, which keeps Max from looking choppy when I trim up all his feathers. They cost about $75 and barely touching the straight edge to my finger sliced it open when they were brand new. The $10 sort were completely useless on his thick butt feathers. 

Fold the ear forward, brush out the backs and snip away very carefully brushing out every few snips. I think keeping the blades parallel to the skin is safer but not an expert just intimidated by the things. I also remove most of the hair from the seam between the under ear and back of the neck and under and in front of the ear too just for neatness and it seems to keep his ears from getting greasy between baths.

For the rump - trim the tail hair short enough so it doesn't hit the ground when he is doing the deed. Then I brush his rump hair out well and scissor it from the sitting bone down to the hock in a straight line, leaving about 2" of hair at the sitting bone and 1" at the hock. The back of the knee will have longer hair and that seems to help it look more natural. Once that is fairly even I am brave enough and he is resigned enough to the indignity of it all to get the long stuff between his legs as well. Don't do amy of this all at once, comb through to see how it is going, less is more here. Good shears take out a lot of hair easily and you don't want a bare behind! I am not trying to make a poop chute, getting the hair short enough so it stays the way it grows works really well for Max, it is when it is too long and hangs down that poop is going to get stuck.

When we found Max at the AS he acted like a baby and we were guessing he could be a 3 month old Newfie mix or a 4 month old Golden mix or a 6 month old spaniel mix. Ended up 38 pounds and 19" tall, spaniel mix it is. He is nearly 11 years old and his butt is getting hairier every day, so glad the pros on this board helped me figure out how to deal with his fuzzy butt a couple years ago.


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