2. Dog Coats and Grooming

COMBINATION COAT: 

These are pets with a combination coat have a very short coat on their face, the fronts of their legs, as well as the area from their hocks and below. They have a longer coat on their body of about 1-1 ½ inches in length. Finally, they have even longer hair or “furnishings” on back sides of their front legs, their rear legs from the point of their rump to their hocks, on their chest, on their undercarriage, on the tail, and on the ears.

Some examples of breeds with a combination coat include Golden Retrievers, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Papillons, long haired Chihuahuas, and Border Collies.

Grooming the Combination Coat

1. Use high velocity dryer to blow out the loose undercoat. You may use a slicker brush to separate the hairs while using the blower. The use of the blower will allow you to see the skin easily and ensure that the skin is not getting irritated or scratched by the brush. 
2. Remove any mats that are too knotted to be brushed out. These are commonly found behind the ears (caused by rubbing the head on the floor) and in areas that there is a lot of friction or in an area that a harness may rub, such as the armpits. Check any areas with longer furnishings for matting. These mats can be removed with electric clippers fitted with a 10 blade. If you believe that the knot is large enough that the shaved area will cause a visible patch of missing hair, the owner should be called and asked permission to remove the mat after explaining how the result will look. If you are going to try to brush out the mat, do not pull on the coat. Go back to the slicker brush because pulling on the coat with any tool is painful for the pet.
3. Brush with a Slicker Brush utilizing the Line Brushing method described above. Continue until the brush can free flow from the base of the part until the end of the coat.
4. Comb the pet with a wide comb, such as Resco #80 (Poodle comb) or a V-rake with 1” or longer teeth. Make sure the comb easily pulls through from the skin to end of the coat. 
5. Bathe and dry the pet.  Ensure the pet is brushed thoroughly again after they are dry.
6. After the pet is dried and had a deshed procedure (if requested), the furnishings or other scissor work can be done. Before scissoring, the pet must be combed from the skin out with the fine side of a finishing comb. This will make the scissor finish as even as possible.

DOUBLE COAT: 

These are pets with a double coat that have a straight, moderate length coat with an abundant soft, downy thick undercoat. The outer layer will be coarse and slightly longer than the undercoat. 

Some examples of breeds with a double coat include Akitas, Huskies, Shiba Inus, German Shepherds, and Corgis.

Grooming the Double Coat

1. Use high velocity dryer to blow out the loose undercoat.  
2. Check pets with longer coats for mats and remove any mats that are too knotted to be brushed out. These are commonly found behind the ears (caused by rubbing the head on the floor) and in areas that there is a lot of friction or in an area that a harness may rub, such as the armpits. Check any areas with longer furnishings for matting. These mats can be removed with electric clippers fitted with a 10 blade. If you believe that the knot is large enough that the shaved area will cause a visible patch of missing hair, the owner should be called and asked permission to remove the mat after explaining how the result will look. If you are going to try to brush out the mat, do not pull on the coat. Go back to the slicker brush because pulling on the coat with any tool is painful for the pet.
3. Refer to steps of dematting the combination coat of the pet has longer hair. 
4. If the pet has shorter hair, you may use the “Wet Rake” method during bathing to remove unwanted undercoat. Use a long, smooth toothed rake or wide comb. Add water to the tub. You can add shampoo or conditioner to the water as well. Turn on the Hydro-Surge and place the rake against the end of the hose nozzle. The water pressure from the hose will run over the top of tool. Hold the hydrosurge with the brush on the end of it close to the pet’s skin. The force of water and product will push undercoat from pet and not damage the outer coat. Focus your brushing close to the skin where the undercoat is located. Keep the water flowing through the rake while you brush for the best results. 

HEAVY COAT: 

These are pets with a heavy coat have a long, thick coat, as well as a silky coat. The face and the front of the legs have a short, smooth coat.

Some examples of breeds with a heavy coat include Newfoundlands, Samoyeds, Great Pyrenees, Pekingese, Pomeranians, and Collies.

Grooming the Heavy Coat 

1. Use the high velocity dryer for undercoat removal. While drying, use caution to not create “Whip Mats.” These will form if the dryer is being used with too much air flow on longer furnishings. This is often an issue on the sides of a pet, the chest area, and the front and rear furnishings. To avoid whip mats, turn down air flow or remove the nozzle (less focused air pressure) when drying these areas. As your skill increases, you may also simply increase the distance between the dryer and the pet to prevent the issue. One trick to help judge what distance to hold the blower is to hold the nozzle the same distance away from the pet as the length of the hair. Whip mats will look like little stringy mats. You can see them start to form as the hair whips in circular movements, tornado style. 
2. Use the rest of the instructions for the combination coat to groom the heavy coat. You can also try the instructions for the wet rake procedure, which often gives nice results. 

SILKY COATS: 

These are pets with a long, soft, and flowing coat.

Some examples of pets with a silky coat include English Setters, Irish Setters, Brittany Spaniels, English Cocker Spaniels, and English Springer Spaniels. 

Grooming the Silky Coat:

1. Longer coats can form mats in areas previously mentioned in the combination coat section. Mats should be removed before the bath following the instructions listed above. 
2. Silky coats do not blow out using a force dryer like is discussed in the section for undercoated pets. 
3. To remove mats, use detangling products (as discussed above). Also use the brush and comb methods listed previously.

NATURAL LONG HAIRED: 

Caution: Stylists or very skilled Groom Techs only should be responsible for this type of coat. This is an advanced skill.

These are pets with long hair that is often single coated. They have long hair over entire body and face. They may also be referred to as the drop-coat. They tend to shed less than some other breeds, but this type of coat is the hardest to demat due to the texture of the hair. The mats that form can be pelted and can form a solid sheet over the dog.  Sheet mats are impossible to brush out and often must be shaved out so the pet can start to grow a new coat. 

To prevent matting, some owners prefer to shorten up the length of the coat. This can be the same length all over (puppy cut) or a shorter breed pattern trim. Still if the pet is not properly brushed and combed out, a short coat may still form mats.  

Some examples of pets with a long-haired coat include Afghan Hounds, Maltese, Shih Tzus, Yorkies, Maltese, Lhasa Apso, Old English Sheepdog, Briards, and Doodles.

Before dematting a long-haired pet, it may help to cut back the coat a little. For example, if an owner wants the hair to be one inch in length after grooming, and the pet has four inches of hair currently, you can “rough cut” the coat with scissors to skim back to about one and a half inches. It doesn’t have to look great, hence the rough cut. At this point, you can follow the instructions above for applying Quadruped and brushing.  

Grooming the Long-Haired Coat:

1. Start with Quadruped and massage the product into the hair down to the skin. 
2. Line brush with slicker brush following the instructions above.
3. Use the wide comb or rake following the instructions above. Be sure that you continue to work until that tool pulls easily from skin the to the tips of the coat.  
4. After bathing, most of these breeds need to be fluff dried with a blower to produce a quality finish. 

If you are unsure how to proceed with a certain type of coat or with mats that have formed on your pet, get help from someone more experienced. Groomers that have been working with pets for a long time are often happy to give advice and lend a hand.