# Grooming Rants



## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

So in case you don't know, Cosmo has been going through hell and back with this legg calves perthes disease, and he hasn't let me groom his legs in god knows how long. 

Today, I asked him if he could be brushed, and he laid down (YAY)

So I started making the first line, and I got to his unoperated upon leg, omg matts. All the fur from him shedding his winter coat was matted into the summer coat, and geez. I brought out my fine toothed comb and detangler spray, and went to work, and 3 hours later, we are matt free, but omg my hands are going to fall off. And Cosmo is such a champ, he laid there, silently, and just let me work lol. We have the otherside and a little bit more to go, but it looks so much better. 

You know what the best part is? His second surgery is going to be in early september, and it's ALL GOING TO BE SHAVED OFF. Why didn't I just do that? GAH. Okay rant over lol.


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## doggiepop (Feb 27, 2014)

the mats are from not being brushed. if you brushed him more often do you think he would have mats?



littlesoprano said:


> So in case you don't know, Cosmo has been going through hell and back with this legg calves perthes disease, and he hasn't let me groom his legs in god knows how long.
> 
> Today, I asked him if he could be brushed, and he laid down (YAY)
> 
> ...


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

doggiepop said:


> the mats are from not being brushed. if you brushed him more often do you think he would have mats?


He has been in so much pain he hasn't let me do much more then quick brush overs. I used to do it weekly (full line brushing job), but just touching that area, he'd let out the most terrible yelps and screams. I'm surprised he let me do it today tbh. When I went to move his leg I could hear the bone crunching. So yeah. They can't even do X-Rays on the poor guy without sedating him. Legg Calves Perthes is terrible. He is hurting a lot.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

littlesoprano said:


> He has been in so much pain he hasn't let me do much more then quick brush overs. I used to do it weekly (full line brushing job), but just touching that area, he'd let out the most terrible yelps and screams. I'm surprised he let me do it today tbh. When I went to move his leg I could hear the bone crunching. So yeah.


I hear ya - my stunning, gorgeous, black and white maine **** is matted to hell because she is in constant pain due to her hips. 
I have to 'sneaky brush' her everyday while she's out and about and this occasionally includes shaving her down in certain spots because the mats are so bad. Brushing her hind legs/hips is like I'm torturing her, she cries and growls. Poor babe


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

BostonBullMama said:


> I hear ya - my stunning, gorgeous, black and white maine **** is matted to hell because she is in constant pain due to her hips.
> I have to 'sneaky brush' her everyday while she's out and about and this occasionally includes shaving her down in certain spots because the mats are so bad. Brushing her hind legs/hips is like I'm torturing her, she cries and growls. Poor babe


Aww poor kitty!! I think the only reason why he allowed me to do it this time, is because the operated upon leg is doing AWESOME. Otherwise I just brushed the rest of him and only did minor brush overs on his legs. He was in enough discomfort just laying around. Seeing pets in pain and not being able to do anything, sucks.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

Yea, Trixie has days where she's more tolerant of it, I think because she realises she hurts a little less when the mats aren't pulling at her skin, but overall the poor girl is MISERABLE during a brushing - I am very tempted to shave her down into a lion cut, give her a bath, and start over - she's 9 and doesn't groom herself either. I keep her trimmed mostly (she's got 4+ inches of fur on her and I keep her at 2-3 generally, other than her tail/maine) I'm considering having her fur kept shorter indefinitely.


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

BostonBullMama said:


> Yea, Trixie has days where she's more tolerant of it, I think because she realises she hurts a little less when the mats aren't pulling at her skin, but overall the poor girl is MISERABLE during a brushing - I am very tempted to shave her down into a lion cut, give her a bath, and start over - she's 9 and doesn't groom herself either. I keep her trimmed mostly (she's got 4+ inches of fur on her and I keep her at 2-3 generally, other than her tail/maine) I'm considering having her fur kept shorter indefinitely.


My cat at my moms house, we give a lion cut too. She loves it (much cooler). Cosmo matts aren't too bad (they arent right up to the skin, there's about half an inch of fur between the matts). Most of it is just loose fur thats gotten stuck in his troll butt fur. And since he's been learning to swim for therapy purposes, the water hasn't made it any better. I want to bring him in to get professionally groomed, but I just don't trust anyone with the state he is in right now.


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## Foresthund (Jul 17, 2013)

I don't like dealing with snarls. My childhood cat would get them all the time yet it took two people to groom her. She would maul you as soon as you touched here with a brush,so it took a extra person to keep her from biting and latching onto the person doing the grooming. Even my mildest cat has bitten hard enough to break the skin from regular brushing,cats can be scary at times. lol


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Do you have a mat cutter? I know they're kind of a no-no for some people (ie show people) but I like mine. Watson gets one or two little mats between his legs about once a week and I just cut them out rather than fight with them. The little mat cutter device cuts them out cleanly and blends it into the rest of the fur so much better than scissors.

I'm glad Cosmo is feeling better! Is he going to need another surgery or is he done now?


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> Do you have a mat cutter? I know they're kind of a no-no for some people (ie show people) but I like mine. Watson gets one or two little mats between his legs about once a week and I just cut them out rather than fight with them. The little mat cutter device cuts them out cleanly and blends it into the rest of the fur so much better than scissors.
> 
> I'm glad Cosmo is feeling better! Is he going to need another surgery or is he done now?


I do have one, but I only resort to it if it's absolutely necessary. Our local store's "Emu Oil" conditioner which I mix 50/50 with Suave Kid's detangler, are wonderful on matts. (and he smells good after). Most of his matts are from the excessive shedding of his winter coat that I was never able to properly brush out until now, so with a fine toothed comb and a little patience I can work them out.

He is glad he's feeling better too . We still have his other leg to get surgery on, but the doctor wants to wait until he's 100% on his fixed leg. Which I personally think he is, but my bank account isn't ready for it yet lol. He's doing extremely well with it, we have been having zoomies, he can actually squat to poop, and he wants to play alllll day long.


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

Well the little bit above his butt I didn't get too is done. And my oh my he is turning into a blue merle. So much brown on his legs! I am going to attempt to do his face (trim). I chopped off a bunch of ear hair because the rate at which is tangles is ridiculous. It looks okay, but I think it needs to be refined and evened out. I need to do leg fringe too and trim up the fur on his paws too. 










I really like that one's ears so I'll be attempting that.... Master groomer here, so probably won't happen lol. And Cosmo is squirmy when it comes to ears.

EDIT: If anyone has any advice on how to do ears, please tell. I'm good with fringe and paws, but ears I'm terrible lol. His fur grows back ridiculously fast so I'm not too worried about screwing up.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

littlesoprano said:


> And my oh my he is turning into a blue merle. So much brown on his legs!


Just curious, what do you mean by that? Dogs don't turn into blue merles - they are or they aren't. He looks to be blue merle from the pictures in your sig.


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> Just curious, what do you mean by that? Dogs don't turn into blue merles - they are or they aren't. He looks to be blue merle from the pictures in your sig.


Well he was listed as Bi-Blue, but we thought when he was younger we saw some brown coming out of spots. And now that the coat is a longer, he has a bunch of fringe thats tan, and his face/and upper part of his coat have a brown tint too.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

littlesoprano said:


> Well he was listed as Bi-Blue, but we thought when he was younger we saw some brown coming out of spots. And now that the coat is a longer, he has a bunch of fringe thats tan, and his face/and upper part of his coat have a brown tint too.


Merle doesn't have anything to do with tan - it just describes the pattern of grey/black on the coat. The tan points are optional. He's already a blue merle  I don't see tan points on him either - could just be a lightening of his coat due to sun fading/shedding/etc.

From what I see online, bi-blue is just how sheltie people refer to a blue merle without tan points. Still merle though.


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> Merle doesn't have anything to do with tan - it just describes the pattern of grey/black on the coat. The tan points are optional. He's already a blue merle  I don't see tan points on him either - could just be a lightening of his coat due to sun fading/shedding/etc.
> 
> From what I see online, bi-blue is just how sheltie people refer to a blue merle without tan points. Still merle though.


Ah lol. Well he has brown armpits . And on the top of his hind legs near his paws he has brown too. It's weird. I just finished fixing up his ear area but I still need to trim it, especially his actual ears. He has one hair that sticks up that makes him look like alfalfa. I need a good pair of trimming scissors. Do you have any you recommend?

I literally use kitchen scissors or these mini ones I have, and they aren't nearly sharp enough to make nice clean cuts. They are fine for feet and butt, but for ears it takes a while. 

I like how you did Watson's ears a lot btw.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

You can usually find a cheap pair of hair cutting scissors at places like walmart. They tend to do the trick.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

I think investing in nicer shears is money well spent. I've spent too much money on cheap grooming stuff that didn't last long. I think both my strait shears and thinning shears were about $60-750. Both are Dubl Duck brand, I believe, which is good but not top of the line like Geib. PetEdge.com has a whole variety. 

For strait shears I like my 7.5" pair. For thinning shears, the more teeth, the less hair they take off. So lots of teeth are good for blending, less teeth is good for taking out a lot of bulk. 

Thanks for the compliment on Watson's ears! Welshie people always tell me I should have taken off more hair, but I like how I do them. Not sure if it would work for a sheltie, but I back brush the hair with a slicker, then stick the shears in (in the direction the hair grows, so shears held vertical for ears) and make some cuts. Then I brush it back down to remove that hair and see how it looks, then back brush again and cut out some more. For finer blending, I get a small-ish comb and sort of back comb the hair while snipping with the thinning shears opposite to the way the hair grows. It's hard to explain ... basically use the comb to lift the hair while you are cutting to get a nice blend where the ears attach to the head, for example. It just takes some practice, but I'm sure something similar would work for sheltie ears.

Have you found a grooming guide online? Some welshie people posted grooming walk throughs that I still refer to.


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> I think investing in nicer shears is money well spent. I've spent too much money on cheap grooming stuff that didn't last long. I think both my strait shears and thinning shears were about $60-750. Both are Dubl Duck brand, I believe, which is good but not top of the line like Geib. PetEdge.com has a whole variety.
> 
> For strait shears I like my 7.5" pair. For thinning shears, the more teeth, the less hair they take off. So lots of teeth are good for blending, less teeth is good for taking out a lot of bulk.
> 
> ...


I have found a few, but most just aren't as detailed as I'd like, and ears scare me. 








Thats the last picture I have and it's what his ears look like right now for the most part. I did have to take scissors to the fur around his ears cause it was a mess.

I'm tempted to see if I can't find a local sheltie breeder (mine is quite far away), and see if he/she wouldn't help me out with his ears. I do notice most tend to have the hairs on the ears themselves fairly well trimmed, and well his are not lol.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

You could pretty easily get a lot of the hair off his ears with the method I described - back brush, thin a bit with shears, brush normal to see how it looks, repeat. It's the blending into the head that gets tricky, but it's not too noticeable if you don't do it well at first.


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> You could pretty easily get a lot of the hair off his ears with the method I described - back brush, thin a bit with shears, brush normal to see how it looks, repeat. It's the blending into the head that gets tricky, but it's not too noticeable if you don't do it well at first.


Yeah I think I'll try that out. It's basically how I do the fur on the top of his feet. He's going to look like a clown when I'm done lol.

Well I finally actually found an ear video I like. This womans line brushing video is terrific.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkwLtuDT_1Q&list=PLUJiaHAni3x0m7hJaG6hhy0-CSPin4edN&index=4


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

littlesoprano said:


> Yeah I think I'll try that out. It's basically how I do the fur on the top of his feet. He's going to look like a clown when I'm done lol.


I didn't think of that, but yeah, it really is about the same as the feet.


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> I didn't think of that, but yeah, it really is about the same as the feet.


What do you use as far conditioner? 

I normally just use "Chow Hound All Natural Emu Oil Ultra Moisturizing" conditioner spray, but now that I've run out I want to see what other people use. I plan on giving Cosmo a real good bath before I start to do his ears and also finish up the fringe on his legs, but for once I'm out of conditioner. I don't blow dry him at all, just a towel dry, and go right to line brushing. 

So much fur ahhh


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

Silly question, but I'm looking at Dubl Duck's Shears on Amazon.... what do all the numbers mean? Like Dubl Duck Carbon Steel Small Pet Fillipino 88B Straight Shears with Plastic Coated Handles, 8-1/4-Inch; Dubl Duck Stainless Steel Small Pet Ultra Gold 46-Tooth Thinning Shears with Gold Handles, 6-1/2-Inch. Is the 88 equivalent to 88 teeth?


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

I don't use much conditioner. I'm currently using Chris Christensen's After U Bathe and it's ok.

I have The Stuff but don't use it much. I have Cherrybrook's waterless shampoo - it's more for cleaning, but it helps brush him too.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

More teeth on thinning shears equals finer trimming. 46 should be good for your purposes

For straight shears they are talking about the length. I use 7.5" and I like them. A little smaller would be fine for you too.

I don't know what the 88 is - probably not teeth. I haven't seen any with that many, but it's possible. 

I would check PetEdge first and find some that you like in your price range, then you can always price shop on Amazon later. They have some other good brands too.


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

Have you ever used Ice on Ice?


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Nope. It's on my list to try, but I hardly use The Stuff so I don't need to buy more. I use tons of the waterless shampoo though.


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> Nope. It's on my list to try, but I hardly use The Stuff so I don't need to buy more. I use tons of the waterless shampoo though.


We do have some no-name Meijer's brand waterless shampoo, but it's more for camping, and it does do the job pretty well. I will have to try The Stuff though. 

Well Grooming shenanigans are over for now until I can get my hands on decent thinning shears. I figure ears don't look too bad for now.... boy oh boy though is the fur that got shaved off on his leg growing in fast. And trollier then before! 

This was the, can I give you a bath now expression? He's done for today LOL. 


















And this is one of the random tan points he's been developing lately. When he was a puppy it was BARELY there, and it's definitely starting to be more pronounced. Might be the sun's doing though.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

What a sweet face! I just love him. His fur looks beautiful and soft and groomed too. Very nice.


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

elrohwen said:


> What a sweet face! I just love him. His fur looks beautiful and soft and groomed too. Very nice.


Thank you! I still need to do his back feet, but he was done when I got there. I've been on off grooming him most of the day, and yesterday too. Trooper lol. Though the bully sticks at the end of the day are worth it to him


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## littlesoprano (Sep 21, 2013)

Today was bath day 

His whites are all nice and clean, and he smells nice and fresh hehe. 

I let him have his post-bath fun and have now finished one half of his line brushing. I go through each line until I can get the fine toothed portion of the comb to go through with no effort, and then slowly put it all back down in the same fashion. It takes a long time but it's worth it. I also like how it allows me to check over his skin without the fur in the way. He looks so scrawny when he's wet, it's too funny lol. I never realize just how much fur he really has on him. And it's only getting longer. I let him take a fairly long break inbetween the two sides so he isn't antsy while I am brushing. The more relaxed he is, the more thorough of a job I can do. The end result is definitely worth all the time 

Totally not looking forward to doing his tail though. It has the most crazy-rough fur. Takes forever, and he hates it lol. So I save it for last haha.


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