Matts, knots, tangles, whatever you want to call them, they are an annoyance. Matts can be painful for dogs and can even be dangerous to remove. The good news is there are things that can be done to help avoid a potential bad situation.

Dogs that have longer coats that continually grow, like Maltese and Poodles and dogs that have longer double coats like golden retrievers and border collies need to be brushed at home. Dogs that have short hair like labs or cattle dogs rarely get matted but still need to be brushed.

The brush should be a slicker brush or something similar with stiff bristles. When using a slicker brush, you should brush the dog all over always going with the direction of the hair growth. Make sure not to keep going over the same spot, because you could potentially brush burn your dog’s skin. (Brush burn is just like carpet burn, the dog will be ok, but might be sore).

When brushing be sure to focus on friction points, these include between the front legs, behind the ears, and the back legs.

In addition to brushing don’t forget to comb, a metal wide toothed comb will do the trick. Always comb in the direction of the hair growth, starting with the comb all the way down to the skin.

Swimming, baths and even wet grass can cause matting due to moisture. Make sure to dry your dog, then brush and comb out the coat whenever they get wet.

If you want to stay on top of matting and don’t have time to brush and comb your dog at home you can always bring your dog in for a bath, brush and blow dry in between groomings/hair cuts. We can do Bath/Brush/Blowdry combos while your dog is with us at doggy daycare or as a walk-in service Monday to Saturdays between 9 am and 3 pm.