I used to give Lola dog cookies (from the bins at petco) to eat while I brushed her, she'd get about 3 and they'd last for the entire grooming. After awhile I was able to stretch the time between cookies and now she doesn't need them.
At around 9 months she started standing really good for me, at 11 months she's almost perfect. My only problems are her trying to sit and sometimes she gives me issues with one front leg.
Also, if you aren't already put him on something to groom him (table, counter, etc.) it was a disaster when I tried to brush Lola on the couch.
My routine is I spray my maden brush with spray conditioner, brush her, and them comb her. Make sure you get down to the skin, all the way around the legs, pick the front leg up to get all the way in there, and get the back of the head/base of the ears really well too. Those are areas I wasn't doing well enough at first.
The way I get the knots out is I try to pull hair out of it from the bottom to get as much hair out of it as possible (using my fingers and the end of a rat tail comb), spray it with conditioner, try to comb it with the rat tail comb from the end to the root, and then I don't have to cut as much, if any at all.
One time Lola's legs got really knotted because I hadn't been getting close enough to the skin, I saturated them in coconut oil and worked them out while she ate cookies on my lap.
For awhile I just cut the knots out, then just did the big ones (I didn't want to scalp her leg, that's when I did the coconut oil), now I can work most of them out but if it's in a sensitive spot I just cut it out. It's more important for the dog to like grooming than having a perfect coat. |