How do mats take place? What can we do to avoid them? And the best ways to we get them out?
Left in its natural state, the hair in our dog’s coat gets little tangles just from regular, everyday activity. Just rolling and rooting around causes tangles!
Scratching also develops tangles. For health factors, the cause of persistent itching and scratching have to be identified and solved. Another substantial advantage of eliminating the have to scratch will be less tangles!
Another tangle maker is doggie clothing. Whether the dog “duds” are used for fun (charming outfits), or function (coats and sweaters), a quick brush job is in order after “undressing” our furry buddies. This will eliminate tangles developed as the hair rubbed against the clothes.
Unless these little tangles are brushed out, they get snarled together. Dead, shedding hair gets added to the snarls, making them larger and thicker.
Dead, shedding hair is a problem for all long haired types. Nevertheless, it is much more of a concern for the types with under-coats. Some breeds such as the Bichon Frise, the Bolognese, and the Havenese are double layered; that is these 3 Bichon breeds have both a leading coat and an under-coat. By contrast, the Coton de Tulears, Lowchens, and Maltese are single covered types, since they have no under-coat.
To re-cap: regular brushing is very important for avoiding matting for a number of factors. It eliminates tangles. It also eliminates the dead, shedding hair that includes to the snarls.
Without regular grooming tangles grow into mats. Mats are merely dense clusters of snarls and dead hair.
So while simple combing and brushing can avoid mats, these treatments are not effective for eliminating mats.
Unfortunately wetting mats with water tighens them. So cleaning your little pet prior to eliminating the mats first, only make things even worse. This likewise uses to tangles; if they aren’t brushed out first, bathing makes them bigger and tighter.
Severe matting has additional issues. As hair farther from the original tangle ends up being part of the mat, the skin beneath can be pulled. This can be incredibly painful! Skin irritations as well as ulcerated skin can result from the constant pulling.
Mats are most likely to form in these locations: behind the ears, under the collar, beneath the front legs (the “underarm location”), in the groin area, between the hind legs, and on the backs of the hind legs. Routine grooming ought to always consist of focus on these areas, with the best strategy being to obtain little tangles out prior to they turn into mats.
Unfortunately, there are no “magic” formulas for eliminating well-developed mats. For greatly matted conditions that include mats larger than an adult thumb, it’s most likely advisable to seek advice from a professional groomer.
The great news is that there are some “tricks” for working on mats that can assist one make the many of the time while minimizing discomfort and the loss of hair for your little pal.
Now that we understand how mats develop, where they are probably to appear, and how to prevent them we’ll learn some of the “tricks” for conquering them.
We’ll begin with the easiest of these “tricks” that involve a minimum of unique grooming tools: a slicker brush, a metal comb, and your fingers.
First mentally keep in mind where the mats are. Select and work with a little location at a time. It can be valuable to have some small deals with on hand to occasionally reward your little one for accepting this grooming scenario.
Keep de-matting sessions short. Provide your little friend regular breaks to play and have some fun with you. It’s better to have several 10-minute sessions than work for a strong hour.
To start the “mat attach,” carefully brush around the mat to obtain loose, dead hair from the coat. “Slicker brushes” work well for this as they are created to be easy on the coat while helping to remove tangles, dead hair, and excess undercoat.
Next, pull the mat apart with your fingers. This procedure assists to loosen the matted hair. This pulling action must be from the center of the mat outwards so that your hands pull from the opposite directions. Take care not to do any retreating from your little buddy’s body as this would be quite unpleasant.
After pulling the mat in opposite instructions with from the left and from the right, alter your pulling angle. Now pull the mat in opposite instructions from above and below. Once again, keep in mind not to pull any hair far from the body since this would hurt!
Frequently mats can be pulled a part a number of times simply by working at them with your fingers. The smaller sized that they can be divided, the more reliable a metal comb and slicker brush are likely to be.
After separating the mat as much as possible with our fingers, utilize a metal comb. With one hand, hold the mat really near to your little pal’s skin to prevent agonizing pulling. Start by carefully combing very near to the external end of the mat. If combing successfully works to untangle the end of the mat, really slowly comb closer and closer to the body.
Another word of care: combing depth needs to also be done progressively. Prevent attempting to comb through the whole thickness of the mat at when. That sort of pulling translates into major pain! Rather, work with a light touch.
Follow-up combing with gentle strokes of the slicker brush.
It may be essential to recycle through this 3 action process once again if the mat smaller sized, however still not gone.
In summary, there is a basic sequence for effectively conquering standard mats:
* Pull the mat a part in opposite instructions with your fingers to make it smaller and more workable. * Hold the mat next to the skin with one hand and deal with the mat with a metal comb, utilizing your other hand.
* Brush the hair gently with a slicker brush.
So far we’ve covered how mats develop, the best ways to prevent them, and ways to “dominate” basic mats.
Lots of thicker mats need more than just your fingers, a metal comb, and a slicker brush. There are several tools that are handy when taking on these bigger, more stubborn mats.
Here we’ll describe these “mat splitting” tools. Although they are created to obtain at the root of the problem, keep in mind to always begin by brushing around these tougher mats. This will get out any loose, dead hair that can make complex the job.
Mat rakes, or mat combs, have a row of extensively spaced “teeth.” These “teeth” are really razor sharp stainless-steel blades. They have blunted security tips on the ends of each blade.
Mat rakes are designed to slowly “saw” through each mat. The advised strategy is to start working at the outer end of the mat. (This is completion farthest from the skin). Then, working with a light touch, gradually utilize the mat rake closer to the inner part of the mat (nearer the body of the canine).
After utilizing a mat rake or mat comb on the most superficial level of the mat, brush gently to obtain rid of any loose or dead hair. Next, pull the mat in opposite instructions with your fingers again to see if can be worked a part by hand.
Repeat this procedure, but gradually, work a little much deeper into the mat with the mat rake or mat comb. Each time one pieces through a layer of hair in the mat, subsequent with brushing, then finger pulling. When utilizing any of these tools, take special care to hold the mat beside the dog’s skin with your opposite hand to avoid painful pulling.
Mat splitters are a single-bladed tool created to gradually slice through mats. Again, safety measures should be taken not to pull or poke that tender skin!
When using a mat splitter, keep in mind to work from the external end extremely slowly in towards the skin. Also work lightly, very slowly slicing deeper into the matted hair, layer by layer. Carefully brush the mat after each cut is made. As a few hairs are cut at a time, the mat will ideally loosen enough to permit some successful brushing and finger pulling. By advancing in this method, the objective is to “end up” the job without any more loss of hair than needed.
The coat-king is a multipurpose tool. It has a row of curved, blunted teeth. There are razor-sharp blades in between these teeth.
While mat-kings are created for dematting long haired dogs, they are also intended for removing undercoats. Undercoat stripping is not advised for canines of any variety! So care must be required to use a really light touch with this tool so as not to remove more hair than essential.
Sometimes mats are too big and thick for basic tools to “dominate.” (This is typically the case with “rescued pets).
At this moment, an expert groomer is required. Shaving will most likely be essential to obtain rid of these mats.
After shaving, the hair remaining will be extremely brief and lie next to the skin. Grooming is, nevertheless, extremely important throughout this time when the hair is growing back.
Take a couple of minutes each day to carefully stroke your canine all over with a really soft-bristled child brush. This will achieve 3 significant things. Initially it will accustom your little buddy to pain-free, quick brushing. Second of all, as the hair grows, it will easily avoid small tangles from ever turning into mats. Lastly it will help the 2-legged part of this “partnership” enter into a routine that will easily prevent mats from ever developing once again.
Our little buddies depend on us for their well-being and care. We owe it to them to be the very best care-givers possible. Hopefully this info on conquering mats will assist you and enrich the lives of those little souls in your care.
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source http://creativedogtrainingonline.com/toy-dog-breed-category/how-to-dominate-the-matting-problem-in-long-haired-dogs/
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