I rescued a 5 week old Yorkie and being a person who has always had VERY large dogs, this has been a total learning experience. I read everything I could and brushed him every day, even at that age. Because he was so little, I had a very soft natural bristle brush and have been using that. He has enjoyed it, but his coat seemed to just twist around itself, even after brushing. I was wrong. The brush never made it through to the skin and what I thought was twisting around itself, was matts forming. I took a stronger brush and then a comb to him today and I'm so distressed. He is totally matted. I got the matts on his back out OK, working from the ends of his hair to the skin, but his thighs seem to hurt him when I work on them. He never nips me and he even nipped me because I was hurting him. I've stopped working on him today, because I don't want to make grooming an unpleasant situation for him (although I really want to go after those matts...and it's taking all the self control I have not to do it until they're gone) and will just do a little every day until they're gone, but I would love some help with any shortcuts I can have if you have them. I've got some human detangling spray but don't want to use it for fear of making matters worse. I've been using a very good tearless puppy shampoo and conditioner when I bathe him and I've read that I should use conditioner on him before I bathe him. The conditioner I have is way too thick to apply on dry hair, so I'll have to get some conditioning spray tomorrow. Will that help me get the matts out? My immediate concern is getting the matts out before I start addressing anything else. Is there ANYTHING I can apply to his hair at this point to help me get these things out? Thanks. |