As some of you will know Akira hates being brushed , and i mean she really seems to hate it , i have never been able to work out why although she only seemed to start objecting after she was diagnosed with HD , so maybe she thinks its going to hurt her back end or something ?

I have made things worse as i have had a crap couple of months , my mother died at the end of August and i had to clear her house and have been a bit down so the last thing i wanted was to do battle with madam so now we have a bit of a matted girl and i was just wondering if i should just cut out the matts seeing as she really does fight with me when i brush her ,and i would like the job to be as painless as possible .

Since our one trip to the groomers which was a total disaster i have managed to keep on top of her grooming most of the time but as i said it has been a bit neglected over the last wee while so any wise words as to how to go about cutting the matts out , i have a matt splitter which works well enough but trying to get her to stay still long enough to work through matts really is a nighmare , for some reason the fickle wee madam will sit still for Robert to brush her but he cant get the hang of the matt splitter so its evil mummies job :ph43r:

I have tried everything to get her to be a good girl but in typical Pyr fashion she just does not see why she should give in and get brushed , i swear shes worse than a stroppy teenager sometimes . She used to love being brushed but things changed and it is a real battle not just of wills either , i end up tired and sweating buckets after fighting with her , even just doing a wee bit everyday is tough going , i just wish she could enjoy it again like Storm he loves it and lies down all relaxed and happy to get the attention , his coat is a lot easier to brush too , Akira's coat changed after she was speyed and is really hard work , she always looks like shes is having a bad hair day , just like her mum :lol: :lol:

So any tips on how to cut out matts without stabbing her would be good :D

Fiona xx

Fred has a little HD and he is fearful of being moved in the wrong way and watches me carefully, ready to bolt at any sign.

He recently became uncomfortable with grooming and additionally he is very impatient. If he is not getting pet he doesn't want to wait.

He recently became matted for the first time in 8 years as I was very sick recently for months with herniated disks and anaphylactic allergic reactions.

He was not very tolerant to me working on mats. The best way to remove the ones close to his skin were to cut them. And the twisted almost mats on his outer coat we got with the sheers.

I found that if I pet him for the most part and then got a quick nip in periodically he would tolerate it.

He sounds like your dog with his nails and I can only do one nail maybe twice a week, until the job is done.

It also helped to have another person he trusted to just pet him and talk to him and ask him to remain calm.

With his hips I let him lay in a way that is comfortable for him and ONLY work that way and count on him to move and roll over, etc until we get it done.

It took me 3 - 4 hours to fix him up after being sick.

I also found that there is ONE groomer in Houston that he loves; I don't know what their trick is, but will call them Tuesday(they are closed on Mon) and find out how they do it. He adores these women and will let them do anything to him.

I think worst case senario, I would consider giving my boy an ace pill as his problems are all anxiety related; he was a rescue and some habits have never been broken. His anxiety at times is very hard to cope with and he actually has panic attacks over houseflies. I can only imagine that where he escaped from had him pinned in an an area that was filthy.

Hope this helps, but I imagine you have tried it all.

Best thought, pet pet pet and cut one every few days with scissors.

rad

Thanks for replying , i do worry about Akira's hips as she really does throw herself about and fight me when i try to brush her , she wont let Mel hold her or Robert either unfortunately , i have managed to do a wee bit when we have visitors if she gets loads of fuss but to get her sorted i think its going to take forever :(

Either that or some willing volunteers to hold her down while i scalp her :lol: :lol: :lol:

Fiona xx

I have similar problems with Monty. He will let you brush his back and his chest all day but as soon as you go near his bum, he runs.

I have now resorted to cutting the really bad mattes out. I use a curved scissors, which the vet recommended, as this is safer when you have to go close to the skin.

I find with cutting them out, you cannot notice it because there is so much fur anyway.

:D

I think i am going to have to resort to cutting some of them out which i really dont want to do , since her disaster at the groomers Akira's coat is still really uneven and i have visions of a shaved Pyr :(

Fiona xx

I personally would if the mattes are really bad, because I find with Monty the skin underneath the mattes gets really sore if they are not removed. Good luck :D

Is it normal for a Pyr to have more fur..or thicker fur near the base of his tail..kind back..but where tail starts? nev has and its really thick and he too isn't keen on it being brushed?

Thanks Rachel , i think i need more than luck , a few strong men would come in handy i think , shame i dont know any :lol: :lol:

Yes Rob our Pyr's do have rather fluffy backsides , i am so glad Storm likes being brushed as he has a lot more fluffy bits than Akira and if he hated being brushed i would have no chance of doing it as he is so big :rolleyes:

Fiona xx

Yeah Monty's fur is really thick around his bum - that is where he gets the most matts - and he is very senstive about me brushing there!! :D

Daz doesnt mind being groomed he gets a normal groom with rotating teeth every 3 days for an hour and a good 2 hr groom with a Furminator once every 2 weeks which really does help remove any loose hair which causes the matts.
I`m sure I have mentioned this before I found that putting a soft muzzle on Daz used to calm him down and he actually stood there calm like as if he was playing musical statues :blink: as he got used to being brushed we now dont use it anymore(and can even brush his delicate parts).I know it sounds horrible using a muzzle and Daz in no way is aggressive whilst brushing but it stopped him getting scatty and running around like he had a fly up his arse :huh: :huh: .We did the same with our Rottweiler Sam when he was a pup and it did the same to him made him just stand there.This really has worked with Daz and Sam and the best bit is after a nice juicy treat waiting for him i looked at the muzzle as a training aid and it is gentle as its made of soft vinyl not the horrible big plastic things and is purely used for grooming only and made life so much easier.

Troy has no problem getting brushed. He doesn't enjoy it, but tolerates it... same with nail clipping.

It is mainly hubby that does the brushing, but occasionally I will give Troy a once over and I will cut out any mats that I find, which are usually around the ears and in the fluffy knickers area. Though since hubby has been using a rake to thin the thick undercoat a bit, his coat seems to be better.

Vera

PS. Fiona, you could always try a bit of clicker training with Akira to accept her brushing better. ;)

I never thought of clicker training Vera , thanks .

I have had a go at her this morning , she is worse than i thought and i feel bad for neglecting her grooming but no point moaning about it i will just have to persevere and hopefully she will be back to her bad hair day self , probably not for a week or two though :(

Her coat has always been difficult especially since she was speyed , it really is wooley and matts so easily now i will have to keep on top of it as it is not fair on her to be in such a mess , the matts seem to be easy enough to tease out with my fingers which is a good thing but she does have a few at her ears which i might have to cut , mind you saying that she will let me do that bit while sitting nicely it just seeme to be the back end and underneath that she objects to strongly , oh the joys of of Pyr's :lol: :lol:

Fiona xx

I managed to have another go at her this afternoon and she actually behaved for once :D usually if i give her a chew she totally ignores it but today she seemed quite happy to have a nibble while keeping a close eye on what i was doing . Instead of using the brush i used a spray bottle with some conditioner and my fingers and a comb to seperate the matts and managed to work on her for about 25 minutes until she started getting bored .

I think i have turned grooming into a battle of wills , so will just have to go back to slow and easy for a while .

I am off to investigate a Furminator :lol: :lol: It sounds painful :rolleyes:

alanelf do you have a pic of the kind of muzzle you use with Daz?

Fiona xx

Hi Fiona
This is the muzzle i used to get Daz and sam used to being groomed
http://www.nextag.co.uk/mikki-muzzle/zzukz...D5844BB3CB31006

http://www.furminator.com/testbed/indexnew.html

The Furminator is a great piece of grooming kit (got mine cheap on ebay arrived from china in 4 days and it is genuine furminator).However it wont help with the matts but once they are out it is totally suprising how well it does remove all loose hair and prevents rematting(watch the video on the site it really does remove that much hair my neighbour uses it on their dog too.As Pyrs have so much hair we did Daz for 10 mins to start with and made it a bit longer as we continued until we could do him in one go with out any fuss.The benefits are amazing no matts and at least 80% less hair on the carpets.we can now furminate him without the muzzle but we do give him a couple of chews whilst being groomed and he tolerates it well.I do recommend using a normal dog comb to take out any slight tangles first before using the furminator and i dont use it on the front of the legs as it is very boney and when i did it first time it made him bit sore so i use normal brush for legs.I hope this helps Fiona

I forgot to mention the hair that is being removed is the loose hair only it does not pull out any of the hair that is still attached i can vouch for that. I say this as before i purchased the Furminator i read on a site that it rips the hair out this is not the case at all and once Daz is brushed with it he looks handsome and fluffy will try ang get a photo up straight after he has been furminated next.
alan

Thanks Alan , i had a look at them but i cant do online payments and all the ebay sellers use paypal , so will have to think up another option :(

Fiona xx

Hi after I was told of the furminator I looked into them and they really are good!!!

Sadly there about £20-£25 each last time I looked so I still havent got one.

Fiona..i can help out if need be as I can make/receive paypal..so could get one for you..am sure we could sort out a way you can get the money into my bank. Just a thought.
Rob :)

when i got mine from ebay i paid £16 for it inc delivery and that was for the biggest one which also has a replaceable blade.

Thanks Rob that very kind of you , and i will keep that in mind if i see them at a more reasonable price or after Christmas is passed , money is a wee bit tight at the moment sadly , i seem to have went well over budget this month again oops :lol: :lol:

I will keep looking Alan and hopefully i might find a bargain too and by the time i do Madam might be matt free :rolleyes: Well i can dream cant i ? :D

Fiona xx

I feel kinda guilty posting this but am going to anyway. My dog does not let me clip his nails, but he needed it so badly and I could not get him into a groomer here and our old one was booked for 2 weeks. After reading this thread I got serious and decided to tackle them. (He lets other people trim them) Just ONCE I got cut ONE too close and ever since then...no more.

After washing him, I really wanted to do his nails because they were wet and I was hoping they would be a bit easier and they were...but we struggled.

I held onto his foot and would not let go, I did not hurt him when doing this and if he twisted around where it would hurt him, I let go and then grabbed it again at a different angle so it would not hurt. During this entire time, he began to cry and kinda scream, he's never done this before. He was crying and screaming horribly, but I just held his foot and did not cut his nails. All the while I thought 'what if he bites me'? What a mess that will be, because we were nose tip to nose tip. Finally, he settled down and I cut one nail...then all of a sudden he just stopped the crying and wailing and let me cut them :o I was so surprised and shocked. I have never seen him behave that way, because I have never pushed him to that point. But, I didn't want to walk him without giving them a cut.

It will be interesting to see what happens next time.

I felt so bad though...he was making the most pathetic sounds. When we finished, he came and laid down with me and I spent about 30 minutes petting him and telling him what a good boy he was and then he went and crashed, as if the emotional trauma was just too much :P .

I had just had enough and wanted those nails done :angry: I am a bad mommy I guess.

I thought at the time, damn if he bites me, it will be my fault and there is no way in hell I am going to punish him - I am so glad he didn't ;)

yikes
rad
I would not recommend doing this though; I probably shouldn't have pushed him, I really had no idea if it would work and from the noises he made, any sane person would have backed off :wacko:

No, you are not a bad mummy... I do occasionally use this method too on our dogs... mainly if they are just too busy or too impatient to be groomed etc. though I would probably not have done it in your case, because he had reason to be frightened of it and was really scared...

I did the same with Troy's paws and clipping nails... I just calmly held on to the paw until he stopped pulling it away (like you, making sure I didn't hurt him in any way). Worked nicely. He still pulls paws away a couple of times now, but stops it pretty quickly.

Here's a nice video how to clicker train dogs to accept grooming/clipping nails:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgEwiH8CeUE

very cool thanks so much; I am checking it out! Would be so nice if there was some way to have this part of grooming not be traumatizing for Fred.

I really HAD to trim those nails though, it was not healthy.


Thanks for the 'not a bad mommy' ! Sometimes, it is good to hear it from another mommy ;) .

rad

Hi Everyone-

Rad- I agree that you're not a bad mommy :) You did it for the right reasons and he wasn't hurt.

Fiona- I am so sorry to hear about your mother. I wish you a much better year ahead, and a wonderful holiday season.
Once you get the mats out, may I suggest looking for a brush mitt? I fostered a Husky that would NOT let me brush (or touch) his bottom. So, I would gently pet his back and every 4-5 strokes I would pet his bottom. Gently, quickly, and before he had time to react I wasn't doing it anymore :) It took about a week of 1/2 hour sessions until I could pet his bottom and get no reaction at all. He still would not tolerate a brush though, only my hand. So I found a brush mitt made for long haired dogs with undercoats, and he thought I was just petting him! It did a fantastic job, and he didn't get matts anymore! He still had a bit of extra hair there-always, because the mitt is not as good as a brush, but it did allow me to keep from stressing him, and keep matts from forming. Also, I am sure you probably already know this, but Omega-3 Fish Oil supplements work wonders for the coat. Within a month you will notice that the fur is supple and soft, does not tangle as easily, and does not fall out as much. This vitamin works on all dogs (and humans) and is also helpful for allergies (lessens inflamation). Maybe something to look into?

Trish