# HELP!!! Papillon hair matting?!



## nikblanas (Aug 2, 2011)

OK, so I have a 2 year old female papillon and I keep her pretty well groomed! She gets brushed & bathed on a regular basis, but for whatever reason she gets this matting under/behind her ears lately!!!! Does anyone have any advice on what I can do to get it out and/or prevent this from happening. It got so bad recently that my husband had to cut the matting out and now she has naked spots where her hair is growing back... :help:


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

Do you use conditioner on her? Paps need to be bathed first with shampoo and then a separate conditioner. If brushed once a week or so, they should rarely mat.


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## Sighthounds4me (Nov 7, 2010)

On my guys, I use a leave-on spray conditioner. That helps loosen/lubricate the knots, allowing them to separate more easily. Then use a fine Greyhound comb, followed by a flea comb. The finer, the better!

To prevent them, there really is not much you can do, short of conditioning with a rinse-out and a leave-on and combing regularly.


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

Leave-in conditioner isn't really recommended for papillons because it weighs the fringe down and can leave a residue. Unless the hair is in really awful shape, normal conditioning should suffice. I leave conditioner on for three to five minutes before rinsing thoroughly.


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## Sighthounds4me (Nov 7, 2010)

Crantastic said:


> Leave-in conditioner isn't really recommended for papillons because it weighs the fringe down and can leave a residue. Unless the hair is in really awful shape, normal conditioning should suffice. I leave conditioner on for three to five minutes before rinsing thoroughly.


Well, now, that makes sense! I did not think of that!


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## nikblanas (Aug 2, 2011)

Thank you guys! I do not use conditioner everytime I give her a bath, so I will try that and try to leave it in a little longer! I might have to invest in a new comb as well! =) She HATES bath time haha, so I usually try to be as quick as possible. She has never really had matting issues before, just recently and only behind the ears!


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## zeronightfarm (Jun 15, 2011)

If you put a bit of conditioner in a spray bottol mixed with distilled water, and spray it on 24 HOURS! before you give her a bath it will really help.


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## Fuzzybutts (Jul 21, 2011)

My guy loves brushing, so I just hit his ears and tails every few days. Only prob we have had with mats is where his balls used to be as I certainly am not gonna use a slicker brush there... and I do NOT suggest pulling mats out of THERE! LOL


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

With the ears you really need a nice conditioner and a fine tooth comb. I use spray in conditioner some but it leaves their hair pretty oily it seems. 

The easiest thing to do though is to cut out the mats if they're getting bad and just let the fringe grow again and keep up eith the brushing from the get go.


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

Try a pin brush as well; it won't rip the fringe as much as a comb can, and then the fringe will be in better shape and won't tangle as much.


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## osdbmom (Feb 15, 2011)

Im going to have to try conditioner.....what brand do you guys recommend? Im having an awful time with zoey (pap/poodle). She is brushed often, bathed weekly, groomers every 6 weeks or so. i bought a dematting comb and although it takes two or three of us to get the job done, we faithfully comb out all the mats every couple days. Its like she gets up in the morning and has more!! It is so frustrating....the worst spots are in the "armpits" and under her neck and belly. I know that skin must be sensitive and I feel so bad using the dematter in those areas. Ive also done, for very big mats, slicing it lengthwise and combing it out that way. She is getting to a point that she runs from the brush, and she used to love getting brushed


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

I've used a bunch of different ones made for dogs (mostly from Wal-Mart and the like; we didn't have a good pet supply store here until recently), and the only one I didn't like was Tropiclean. The others all gave Crystal a nice, shiny, tangle-free coat. I don't think brand matters too much, really.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

osdbmom said:


> Im going to have to try conditioner.....what brand do you guys recommend? Im having an awful time with zoey (pap/poodle). She is brushed often, bathed weekly, groomers every 6 weeks or so. i bought a dematting comb and although it takes two or three of us to get the job done, we faithfully comb out all the mats every couple days. Its like she gets up in the morning and has more!! It is so frustrating....the worst spots are in the "armpits" and under her neck and belly. I know that skin must be sensitive and I feel so bad using the dematter in those areas. Ive also done, for very big mats, slicing it lengthwise and combing it out that way. She is getting to a point that she runs from the brush, and she used to love getting brushed


This is why groomers won't keep dematting dogs over and over. Its painful, and they don't like it. It makes them hate the grooming process, and hate us groomers. Do your dog a favor, and clip her shorter, or brush her more often BEFORE there are matts. Have the groomer shave the armpits out with a 10. I shave all armpits on haircut dogs. There is no need for hair there, it just gets matted because of the friction, and is painful to be brushed out. You can't see the armpits are shaved when it is done correctly. Also, make sure the collar she wears is a rolled leather collar, as it will minimize the neck matting as much as possible, but its still going to matt more there when a collar is worn. Sometimes just going one step shorter at the groomers makes a world of difference for matting dogs at 6 week grooms. There is no sense putting your pet thru dematting all the time. Let her enjoy being brushed instead.


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