Grooming different coats

The smooth coat

The smooth coat is probably the easiest one to maintain and the most annoying doghairs you can find. They are often described as needles cause they burrow theirselves into the skin and it is pretty painful. They also stick to the furniture which can be difficult to clean out.

The grooming stone I recommended in the previous post will help shed this type of coat really well.

The medium coat

By medium coat I mean australian shepherd, border collie, spitzes and some other "not really long/not really short" coat.

The tools I recommend for this type of coat is the mars coat king and furminator. If you got those two you are pretty well set. Start with the coat king and finish with the furminator. use a regular brush or slicker brush for the furnishings (like the ones on the back of the thighs), tail and behind ears to keep it mat and tangle free. Finish up with a comb to make sure you caught it all. Combs pull mats pretty hard so if your dog mats up in the heavier areas, get some good dematting spray and maybe a matcutter tool. The more often you comb and brush the less work you have to put into those bad mats cause they won't have time to build up.

The long coat

Chinese crested powder puff, maltese, cocker spaniel, afghan hound, yorkshire terrier, bearded collie and so on. if you're gonna keep this dog full coated you got a lot of work ahead of you.

Regular baths, only combing and brushing when coat is damp, blowdry completely dry and maybe even put the hair up if you are showing to protect the coat from being unnecessary tearing and wearing. If the dog starts matting on day four, you do a bath on day three, I heard an american cocker spaniel breeder say on youtube. It was very wise. A clean coat mats less.

Your breeder will help you in what items you need, cause it will be a whole lot depending on what breed you have.

The curly coat

Poodle, bichon frisé, lagotto romagnolo, and spanish waterdog type of coat.

This coat is pretty high maintenance. There are a lot of do's and don'ts if you are going to show. But regular baths and brushing is a definate must. The longer coat the more care it needs so if you don't want to put too much time and effort into it, keep it short.

There are also american waterdog, curly coated retriever etc which I honestly don't have enough personal experience about to know for sure what care they need since their coat are meant to be oily to repell water. If you got one of these, your breeder can help you.

The wirey coat

Schnauzer, terrier, wirecoated dachshund, german wirehaired pointer, etc.

Now, I will say something that probably will not make much sense at first, but I will explain. The more time and effort you put into this kind of coat, the less work you have to do. 

Eh, what? You probably just said. The thing is, the hard work is to get the coat into shape and not let the undercoat take over the coat. Once this is done, you will have a very easily maintained dog. Especially if you roll the coat (which means you keep a strict regular schedule where you strip a certain amount every X weeks to keep the coat in several layers) because then you only need to handstrip the dog a little every so often instead of for hours when the dog is a mop and then have a naked dog for about a month. Not only that, but a wirey coat does not mat like soft coat does. Not only that, a wirey coat pretty much never requires a bath! Only when the dog actually stink after rolling into something or so.

No baths? Wth? Yeah, cause you strip the coat out every so often that you simply just get rid of the dirt regularly. And some dirt just simply fall off when it dries or can easily be brushed out.

But my dog is just a pet, can't I just clipper it down instead? Yes, you can. But clippering you do for your own convenience, not for the dog. A clippered coat will only be undercoat, so it will be like a winter jacket in the summer that won't breathe the skin, and like a winter coat in the winter that cannot keep the heat to stay next to the body. It is for the dog a worthless protection. A shortclipped coat is right next to the skin, so when it gets heated by the sun, it is almost burning the dog right to the skin. A dog's skin is more sensitive than the human skin since the human skin is more protective than skin that is protected by coat. But when the dog has two layers the sun is shining on the top coat, while the isolating undercoat (which hasn't taken over the entire coat when it's combed out reguarly to get the top coat going) lets the skin breathe and regulate the heat a bit better, or keep the heat during winter.

The wirey coat is also water repellant so when the dog gets wet it will dry so much faster than if it is clippered cause that coat just sucks up water and dirt like no tomorrow - and it can mat and tangle.

There are grooming courses to enroll yourself and your dog in to learn how to do this.

You will need: brushes, comb, undercoat rakes (I rake with stripping knives, mars coat king can be used on pets cause it can cut some of the hairs and it is unwanted in showcoats). The grooming stone recommended in the previous post is great when the coat is too short to rake with regular rakes. You can strip with either stripping knives (that can cut the coat if you do it wrong), stripping stones (love them), rubber gloves or just your fingers.  Always keep skin tight when raking and stripping and always pull the direction that the hair grows.

This page is priceless when it comes to grooming a schnauzer. http://britmorschnauzers.com/groom.html
That link goes to clippering the schnauzer, if you scroll down you see handstripping and rolling the coat as well.

The corded coat

Puli, corded poodle, komondor.

The only real work with this type of coat is to split the dreads as they are forming all the way down to the skin. When bathed, make sure the dog is COMPLETELY dry or the dreads can start to really stink.

The hairless skincare

Hairless khala, chinese crested hairless, mexican hairless, peruvian hairless.

No hair, no coatcare, easiest care ever! You might think. That is not true. The hairless breeds needs skincare. In the teenager stage they get blackheads and pimples just like people and there are endless of things people have figured out that works best for their dog to keep the zits away and keep the skin smooth. They need regular baths, moisturizers, and sunblock, especially on pink skin. Use only products that are child friendly and low on alcohols and perfume since the skin is about as sensitive as a child's skin when it comes to products.

Bathing a dog and caring for your tools will be brought up next. But I feel this post is long enough for now. :)