I too have a Yorkie with a thick, cottony coat. After tons of different shampoos, conditioners, combing sprays and two different brushes, here's what I find to be working best for me.
Wash with BioGroom Protein and Lanolin Shampoo. This seems to "calm down" the hair. Almost like silicone does to naturaly curly hair on people? I then follow with BioGrooms Silky Shine Conditioner. The reason I like this combo is it seems to "prevent" the matting throughought the week (between baths). Sophie will still get some, but not nearly as bad. Then daily I use Four Paws Soft and Silky Coat Conditioner. I spray her down with that. A light coating on the top and a bit heavier at her armpits where the matting seems to be the worst. Then I massage it into the coat for a few secs. I then use a pin brush. I did have a slicker brush cause that's what the groomer recommended, but it tugged and pulled so hard that Sophie would yelp. No matter how gentle I was. I use the pin bursh and start at the bottom of her hair and work my way up, holding the hair in my hand so that if I pull a bit, it's not pulling her skin. The second best thing I did was buy myself a small grooming table. I got a really awesome grooming table with arm/tie from PetEdge.com for $34. Prior to this I would put Sophie in the sink and she'd squirm and try and jump out. Unless I fed her Cheerios hand over fist. As soon as I put her in the grooming tie she immediately went still. The table is circular, so the base actually spins and you can turn her around to get all angles. It is truly the best $34 I spent. I'm sure different things work better for different coats, but if you look at Sophie's pics, you will see that she has a very thick, cottony coat. Good luck as I spent tons of money on different products till I found the combo that worked for me. It's not 100% full-proof but it does cut down the grooming time for me immensely! |