A Dirty Weekend

My cover girl, Delilah doesn’t always look this good. Like any self respecting cocker she loves a rummage in the undergrowth. Ditches & mucky puddles are her idea of doggy heaven! Since living in Wakering we’ve found it’s superb dog-walking country but unfortunately booby trapped with plenty of opportunities for a dog to get down & dirty en route.

So how do you keep the coat of a long haired, heavy coated dog in shape?

Well when we return from one of our local walks, we are more often than not bringing this home:

If she is really dirty she gets a sponge bath using clean, luke warm water on her legs & underbelly where the worst of the dirt collects but if she has just been running through wet grass we don’t bother. She is then blotted dry with a towel. We don’t bath her using shampoo or use dryers, we only use these every 6-8 weeks max as we don’t want to strip the natural oils from her coat & skin.

Before I learned how to trim her coat properly, it used to take an achingly long time for her coat to dry. Not healthy, comfortable or convenient to have a wet dog hanging around the house, either for the dog or the owner. Now, although Delilah’s coat looks very full & heavy, it is scissor trimmed & thinned out regularly which allows the coat to ‘breath’.  I also cut it short in strategic areas which are not immediately visible and where friction can cause mats. This is much better for hot weather too.

Once her coat has dried naturally it is time for our walking compost heap to get a thorough brush out. I begin by brushing her all over with a slicker brush, starting on one back leg and working methodically around the whole dog. I then repeat the whole process with a wide tooth metal comb and then one final time with a fine comb. The aim is to de-tangle the coat completely, at the same time removing anything lurking within – mud, seeds, twigs, leaves, creepy crawlies (I’ve even had to eject slugs).

Don’t assume that running a brush over the dog’s jacket will be enough to keep on top of mats and the debris that usually cause them. You need to brush your dog all over and get all the way down to the skin.

Do be as gentle as you can. Dogs have very sensitive skin and if you tug too hard they will protest and resist – wouldn’t you?

With a very stubborn tangle you can break it down with the slicker brush first. Then with the comb start de-tangling from the hair ends and work gradually towards the root – it will help to hold the hair between your fingers & thumb so that you are not tugging on the roots as you work. Another method is to use the comb lengthways and tease the mat into small sections which you can work on one piece at a time.

Do also be aware that some areas are particularly sensitive – under the tail, armpits & groin for example.

This may all sound like a great deal of work but the secret is to brush your dog out regularly so that dead hair & debris are removed before tangles & mats have the chance to build up.  On a tangle-free coat ten minutes a day will often be all you need to achieve this. But on bad hair days, I won’t lie, there have been evenings when we have spent literally hours removing seeds from Delilah’s coat because if these burrow into the feet or ears (for example) painful infections can occur. This morning hubby removed a thorn from just below her eye!  Luckily this is not an everyday thing.

If you don’t think you can commit to keeping your long haired dog in a full coat, opt for a shorter more practical pet clip and you should find the daily routine much easier!