tangles on hiney

[angiemcclain]

hi everyone, Indy is starting to get lots of tangles on her hind end, i brush her the best i can everyday and she HATES it!! I got a bottle of detangling conditioner (spray) but it doesn't seem to help at all. Help! she's only 12 weeks on saturday, so she's too young for a professional grooming. Has anybody ever tried any of those herbal type sedatives for dogs? I just don't want to hurt my baby!!

Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

[Cash]

Does she like those raw hide chew sticks?  Cash loves them and I can do just about anything to him while he's eating one of them.  That's how I've clipped his nails, combed his hair, given him hair cuts, etc.  I don't think I'd try a sedative, but that's just me.  I was nervous cutting cash myself but I had to when he was younger as he got poop stuck in his hair.. Once you start it's not so bad if you wanted to try to trim her a bit with a clipper until she's old enough to take to the groomer.

[angiemcclain]

she loves the chews, i'll try that.. thanks!

[Cash]

I hope it works, I no longer need to use the chew sticks as a bribe.  He has gotten used to me messing with him now.    Also Cash is a heavy sleeper.. more so when he was younger than now.  I would brush him quite a bit when he was sleeping too.

[Ann]

Hi
Sometimes if you can't get the knots out it is better just to cut them out. I don't have clippers but I use a blunt nose pair of scissors. I would still use the detangler or a conditioner as their hair does seem to be very dry and will tangle very easily.

[teddybear]

I have never cut Teddy myself and I just give Teddy this one dog toy that he chews on when I brush him, etc. He sometimes uses different dog bones, squeaky toys, basically anything he has because he has a big bucket of toys filled to the top and he plays with all of them. He usually uses just his regular bone or rope toy and that works out really well for us so pretty much what Cash does.

[Bailey]

I usually comb bailey's hair while she's sleeping or at least sleepy...if not she tries to bite the comb

[dabrillz]

 My Ava was the same way and I opted to have her shaved down and start from scratch. I have been grooming daily since then and it seems to be easier and she now will tolerate it.

[Ozzy]

Ozzy gives me a hard time with brushing and grooming in general.  I started going in short bouts with LOTS of praise ... just like when he sits, comes, etc.  He was actually getting to the point where he enjoyed and it once we really get going he's just fine.
A chew always helps too.
We're going to get him cut all the way on Saturday.  We've had him for 3 weeks now and there are just some mats in there that we cannot possibly deal with.  Hopefully once he's cut down we can deal with his grooming ourselves.

Does everyone brush their shorkie every day?  I think Oz has the shih tzu hair (double coat).

How about ears?  How often do you find you have to clean them?

We trimmed his "hiney" after we had him for a few days and it looks like we're going to have to do it again.  We just use a shaver and trim the whole area.  It doesn't seem to bother him too much.  I think the brushing bothers him more that the shaving.

[Jigger]

We try to cut the hairs around Jiggers bum short.  I know when I go get him professionally groomed I will ask for them to cut a "poo path".  So nothing gets stuck.  We've had a few problems when  he had diarrhea problems and it wasn't pleasent.  For now I find it it easier to comb out tangles when he's wet.

[Mai Tai]

We used to brush Mai Tai religiously everyday, but now that we have Mojito too, we only brush Mai Tai about once a week and it is much more difficult as mats seem to develop quickly when neglected.  Mo won't let us  near him with a comb, but for some reason his little Yorkie hair does not mat as easily as Mai Tai's shih-tzu coat.  We always as for a sanitary cut for the butt when we get them groomed but often have to go at them with the scissors when something is stuck.  Isn't this all very pleasant? 

[LBBUGS13]

I have do the same with Kuma, again today, because of the mess that seems to be stuck in the poo area all the time.  My husband holds him and I get the scissors out, so far he seems to have more of the Yorkie hair and doesn't matt  ... yet.  Course we are having some issues with the whole poo thing, because I think he ate some carpet fuzz or lint and it is making it difficult for him to go sometimes.  If he is still having problems, I am going to have to call the vet. 

[Lisa]

I was brushing Zoe every day, but somehow I quit, and now I'm a little embarrased to go to the groomer!  Zoe is a total tangled mop right now.  We're waaay past conditioner here!  I don't want to get her shaved until it warms up, and we still have snow on the ground.  Oh well, she's kind of cute like a little shaggy teddy bear. 

[Mai Tai]

Lisa, poor Mo was a tangled mess too when we first got him in August and I could not shave him as he was very weak and sick for the first month or so that we had him.  His mats were so bad, he did have to be shaved.  I don't keep up with Mai Tai's grooming as much as I should because I am so busy, but my groomer and vet tell me that the mats actually hurt them.  It seems that as the matted hair grows, it is tangled up in other hair and it starts to pull at their skin.  Also, they get like little burst blood vessels under the mat when they get really bad.  Until I heard that, I had no idea how unhealthy mats could be, so I am just passing on info I learned.  Even knowing this, I still let Mai Tai get a little matted this week and just spent over an hour combing him.  I really mean to do it everyday, but somehow it goes on the back burner.  I have to get a little more organized. 

[KIKIMYLOVEBUG]

Kiki gets matts too around bum and under legs. I acctually tried brushin them out while wet after bath, but after I blow dry her, she gets them again, so instead, I make sure she is really dry before I sit her in my lap and take time with it. I used puppy brush, but if it steel and looks quite painful, so I took my husbands comb. It works as charm, as it is soft and bendable. When I get to the matt, I will brush ends of it and work to inside. if it is really bad, then I usually get ti awway from the skin enough that I can grasp it beween fingers and hold it tight so it is not oulling in her skin while I wigorusly brush it out. She seems happy, and will sit for 1 hour in my lap. We do this every 2-3 days and after baths.