Stringy Coat--Need Advice! =)
 

Hi All,

I have a grooming question that hopefully I can get some help with. When my dogs hair is fully groomed for show, I notice that after a few minutes on walking the ends of his coat look stringy. Also, it begins happening around the tan on his neck. It doesnt have that perfectly flat-lying, mirrored shinny look to it unless it immediately brushed. Looking at other dogs, I dont see this happening. Their coats stay beautiful even after walking around.

Is there something I am not doing right with the grooming or something I can put in his hair to stop this from happening?

Any advice is greatly appreciated! I am still rather new at this and just want to get it right! :)

Here is the background:

His coat is oiled and wrapped 100% of the time he is not in the ring (with the exception of multiple day dog shows--in that case I skip the oil).

His coat is about a half inch from the ground so it is not yet dragging.

On show days, I wash him the morning of the show, using baby-powder to pull out the excess oil and repeatedly washing him 3-4 times with Plush Puppy shampoo (the green one) followed by Plush Puppy conditioner.

I have different grooming tools--separate ones for "oil" and "show" ones. I blow dry him (with an ionic dryer) using the "show" grooming tools.

I flat iron his coat in segments, beginning with his belly area and working my way up on either side.

I use the Crown Royal static spray very sparingly on the coat prior to the show to eliminate the fly-aways. However, I have noticed the stringiness still happens with or without the use of this product. Other than that I do not put any other product in his hair.

He has the appropriate silky coat.

This may have nothing to do with it but around 7-8mos of age he went through a phase his breeders call "puppy frizz" where he had a little case of the fly-aways. I had to put a little heavier product in his hair and it looked fine. He out grew the puppy frizz and the coat that grew in layed flat and I no longer needed the product in his hair. I am wondering if this is maybe attributing to the stringiness of the ends??

Thank you so much for your advice!!!

When I do the coat on show days I use Coat Handlers and I do not put a conditionar on his coat that can cause stringy ends. I also take my show dogs out of oil a day or two before show day and I don't use a heavy oil on my dogs. I use Summerwinds Protect a Coat because it's not a heavy oil and a clarifying shampoo is all that is required. Sounds to me your not getting all the oil out of his coat and then on top of that the conditionar is weighing the coat down. This is what I'm thinking :)
Donna Bird
Brooklynn's Yorkshire Terriers