Yorkie coat condition
 

Hi,

I was just hoping for some advice on keeping our 10 month old yorkie's coat in top condition. I bathe her 1-2x a week and spend a good deal of time brushing out her coat, making sure to work out any knots etc. but within half a day her coat starts to lose its glossy look and hangs down like rats' tails! A quick brush gets rid of this for a while but it always creeps back...very frustrating.

Maybe this is just the cost of having a high maintenance pup (I've always had low maintenance collies and lurchers before so this is quite a change!)?

Does anyone have any advice on better ways to keep the glossy look for longer, or maybe this is just as a result of her going from pup to adult?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated...

Thanks in advance,

Tom.

Welcome to YorkieTalk!

Your pups coat will change over the next few months with maturity.
What shampoo are you using And do you use a leave in type conditioner when you brush? Are you leaving it in a long coat?

Different products work for different types of coats. I remember my girls coat was more difficult to care for when she was younger, but much easier now.

I use Coat Handler products mostly, but also Vellus, and SHOW. Not sure about their availability in the UK.

Hopefully one of our UK members will come forth and give some added advise.

Thanks for the info! We are trying the long coat at the moment, hence the rat tails! As a result I was looking longingly at the "pup cuts" I've seen - they seem much easier to manage :-)

I must admit to just using generic dog shampoo, which I thought I would try before giving in and paying more for the specialist products, but it looks like now is the time to try - I will see if any of those brands are available over here...

Hopefully it will get easier when she reaches adulthood - kids are such hard work! :-)

Thanks again for the help, very much appreciated!

Welcome to Yorkie Talk. I agree with Yorkiemini that the coat tends to improve with age. Max looked greasy or like a crazy Muppet his first year.

Good hair products will help maintain shine and improve draping, discourage tangling. A healthy diet is very important too.

Water quality can affect the coat. Our water quality went downhill a couple years ago and both dogs and humans are suffering dry, dull hair. We had to change the products we use to help counteract the effects.

Hi,

Sounds like better shampoo and conditioner will clearly help. Diet is a tricky one, our yorkie is incredibly fussy and we are still working our way through various products to see which she likes. The family we bought her from recommended one brand which she only touches if she is famished...onwards and upwards though! :-)

Thanks,

Tom.

Welcome to YT! As you are working thorough the food thing, also try lots of veggies and cereals. Our girls love carrots, broccoli, apples, cheerios and all sorts of stuff. We thought we had a picky eater at first too.

Having always had collies and lurchers over my 40 years who will eat the bowl as well if you let them this is quite a change for me!

I'm used to having a walking kitchen waste recycler for a dog..veggies, hmm ok I can try that too! :-)

Pure Paws line is available in the UK (I think). Not a bad line. Vellus I thought was international too. Now many of the expensive shampoos come in concentrated forms and you are meant to dilute them for your dog. Say 1-10 that is one ounce of shampoo to 10 ounces of water.

If you have hard water in your region *and pardon my language* but it is abeetch on the coat especially a growing puppy coat. But Yorkies can look like a holy mess 10 minutes after brushing out. One key is to sigh and just say hey 10 minutes once a day is not too bad - if you do this daily you should not get many if any *nasty* tangles or matts.

Now you must rinse then rinse then rinse some more to make sure all shampoo is out of the coat. Next leave a conditioner in for 10 minutes I wrap my Yorkie and hold him in a heated towel while this happens. Anymore than once a wk washing is too much unless something unusual has happened. Then rinse almost all but not all of the conditioner. Brush n blowdry the coat on cool air.

Water lots of it for drinking - I have water container in his crate and one always full in the kitchen. Food that is good for him etc. Proper exercise all these go into the making of an extremely glossy coat that is a hallmark of the proper Yorkie silk coat - how-ever some coats are not pure silk more cottoney etc and you won;t get that hallmark shine of the Yorkies show coat.

I like most of the products mentioned earlier although I have never used show handler on my Yorkies although I do know of some exhibitors that do.

Thanky gemy, really useful info, I will see if I can track down Vellus or Pure Paws...she drinks plenty of water so I dont that is an issue, but food I can see being a work in progress! :-)

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but can not diluting the shampoo dull the hair? I tend to use a pretty good amount of shampoo on Joni and go back for more when needed. Maybe I've too much lather going on and am stripping oils out? She's just so stinky it seems to warrant more not less. Currently using Bio Groom products but considering going back to Paul Mitchell to avoid parabens. But very open to suggestion.