# Help me understand those @#$%^& mats in Poodle coats



## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

Yes the evil of the coat change, some poodles have it worse than others. Weekly bathes with leave in conditioner helped me with my girl Beatrice, her coat change was in the dead of a cold winter.


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## Moni (May 8, 2018)

that's the other thing - not looking forward to shaving off all his hair just as it is getting colder....


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

I have Buck’s legs and torso, short. He has the fluffy ears, blended topknot and poof tail, so I only had to deal with those during coat change. Plenty poodley, without mat stress. You could do a modified German, so you wouldn’t even have to deal with the ears. Nice masculine groom.


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## chinchillafuzzy (Feb 11, 2017)

Yep, coat change. I thought my girl would have to be shaved down for sure (and she was growing a full show coat!!) Here are the things I did, maybe something will help. Not saying any of these are the “right” way to do it - they are just what I did.

Dematt as well as you can before the bath. Use liberal amounts of corn starch on the Matt’s and use a slicker to brush it out. Corn starch can be drying but do it only right before the bath and don’t try to blow dry it out - causes a ton of static. Just put them in the tub right after you get the Matt’s out and it will rinse out easily. After bath and dry use leaving in spray, slicker and then metal comb on every square inch.

A bath every 7 days at the longest. If they are 100% dematted after the bath I would usually go about 3 days before spraying, brushing and combing again. So at least one full brush out in between baths.

I didn’t rinse conditioner out completely in the tub. Most of the way, but not all the way. This helped.

Avoid petting or touching any of the longer hair areas unless you want to brush and comb right after.

Yes it is a huge pain!!! I wish you a lot of luck!!!


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

Good news is after the coat changes, things should get so much better. It did for me and I never keep Lucky’s foot and torso hair longer than .5”. 


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

If you have a true matt comb be EXTREMELY careful with it. Waay too easy to cut your boy with one of those. I don't own one for that reason.

I took Poppy very short on body and legs, leaving ears, topknot and tail fluffy.

Life is too short and too uncomfortable when trying to demat a puppy.

You have received great advice. Hair grows back quickly once coat change is over. Cut the hair short and enjoy your time together. You have many years following coat change to grow poofy coat and play with it.

Here is Poppy during her coat change.


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## BellaSpoo (May 20, 2018)

I shaved Bella very short. It’s still hot here and won’t start getting slightly cooler until November or later. We don’t get below freezing until like January most years lol 
I would comb her for an hour or more every day and turn around and she was matted again. She’s sensitive too and seems like it hurts her when I’m trying to comb her out so I figured shaving her short and starting over was the best way to go about things 
I hope everything works out well and you don’t have to shave him! Bella looks kinda funny but she’s so much more comfortable


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## Moni (May 8, 2018)

@Viking Queen - Don't I know it that the darn mat comb is dangerous - of course I didn't cut my poodle but I sure sliced myself on those blades - top of the thumb - ouch! That is all another consideration I have - yes with a lot of super long grooming session I may be able to save some of his do but at the expense of making him hate grooming sessions from here on...Maybe wiser to make it easier on both of us and he will look a little goofy with German ears for a bit but much more manageable and grooming stays fun for both us!


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

Moni said:


> @Viking Queen - Don't I know it that the darn mat comb is dangerous - of course I didn't cut my poodle but I sure sliced myself on those blades - top of the thumb - ouch! That is all another consideration I have - yes with a lot of super long grooming session I may be able to save some of his do but at the expense of making him hate grooming sessions from here on...Maybe wiser to make it easier on both of us and he will look a little goofy with German ears for a bit but much more manageable and grooming stays fun for both us!


Here is a picture of my old girl, Iris, in short ears. We went short during her coat change and I liked it so much we kept them short for all 14 yrs of her life. Iris was 10 yrs old in this picture.


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

I shaved my Leonard's ears down because of coat change


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## Mufar42 (Jan 1, 2017)

I've been keeping Renn a bit shorter, one he isn't behaving as well for the groomer, gets tired standing there and want to keep jumping down other. I actually like it. He till has fluffy ears but I had to have the groomer thin them as they mat easily overnight. He will get a naked cut during coat change if it gets bad and starts matting. How I will hate that but I'll do whatever I have to do.


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## Moni (May 8, 2018)

Viking Queen said:


> Here is a picture of my old girl, Iris, in short ears. We went short during her coat change and I liked it so much we kept them short for all 14 yrs of her life. Iris was 10 yrs old in this picture.


I do love that look on her! I think some really pull that German ear off really well. I have seen it work extremely well especially on black dogs... If I go that route I will post a before and after...


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## Moni (May 8, 2018)

Hair came off - loads of it. Still a bit in shock and will need another session tomorrow to tidy things up. Couple of aha moments: finally understood the purpose of scissoring! The clippers are nice but sometimes they really make a mess. Matts were worse than I originally thought - can so relate to groomers who have to take off way more than the owners imagined because once you start you want to clean up your dog all over. Even though we enjoy grooming and I thought 10 minutes combing a day - was sufficient I was shocked how matted he truly was. Now I have a bit of a naked chicken but it is really cute to see his little ears. Maybe after tomorrow's session I will take a few pics...


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

Zoe survived coat change due to plenty of conditioner. Here she is at the Amarillo shows September 14-16. You can see she has a very full coat - in fact, Betty had to scissor off lots of hair, mostly on her sides, but even some on her back because it was too long.


From June through September I used a "leave-in" conditioner every time she was bathed and also used Chris Christenson's Ice on Ice in a spray bottle every time I brushed (and I did not brush every day). Her coat stayed very thick. The tiny mats that formed at the skin came out easily when brushed. I had dreaded coat change because her coat is not very harsh, but it has been very easy. I don't know if she is still changing - I'll have to ask Betty.


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## Moni (May 8, 2018)

Johanna - what is the brand of the leave in conditioner you used?


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## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

Moni said:


> Johanna - what is the brand of the leave in conditioner you used?


I used BioGroom Super Cream conditioner.


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## Charlie's Person (Dec 9, 2018)

twyla said:


> Yes the evil of the coat change, some poodles have it worse than others. Weekly bathes with leave in conditioner helped me with my girl Beatrice, her coat change was in the dead of a cold winter.


Hi there, I'm a novice standard poodle owner. What is "coat change?"

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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

Charlie's Person said:


> Hi there, I'm a novice standard poodle owner. What is "coat change?"
> 
> Sent from my STV100-3 using Tapatalk


Coat change happens at about 7-8 months and is when the adult coat comes in to replace the puppy coat. Because they are poodles and don't shed out the puppy coat the new adult coat and remaining puppy coat intertwine and mat in the blink of an eye. You must make sure that you brush thoroughly every single day and comb with a metal comb TO THE SKIN. My Poppy went through coat change from about 8 months to 15 months. Most of us shave the dog very short during that time. It is kinder to both the dog and the human. You can full line brush and comb to the skin and in minutes mats will be forming again. Coat chang can be either very time consuming and very uncomfortable for the dog or it can be easy and not uncomfortable, just depending on how well the human handles the situation.


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

I didn’t know what coat change was either! The fur becomes crisper, coarser, not that soft puppy coat. I took the easy way out with a short groom, because I needed every spare moment for training and playing That hasn’t changed!


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## JenandSage (Mar 9, 2018)

Still no need to shave puppy fur! Saffron is still a breeze to brush. She even let me shave her nose although I had to chase her around the kitchen a little.
I did get some new clippers and blade combs and set up a bit of a grooming table in the garage but I can’t face going out in this weather. I have a heater and light in there but it’s pretty cold and damp(
I have just been doing some trimming in the kitchen and vacuuming after. 
Here she is with my first shaved nose!


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## Moni (May 8, 2018)

JenandSage said:


> Still no need to shave puppy fur! Saffron is still a breeze to brush. She even let me shave her nose although I had to chase her around the kitchen a little.
> I did get some new clippers and blade combs and set up a bit of a grooming table in the garage but I can’t face going out in this weather. I have a heater and light in there but it’s pretty cold and damp(
> I have just been doing some trimming in the kitchen and vacuuming after.
> Here she is with my first shaved nose!


Very nice! You did a great job!
Coat change still raging here - he is quite a bit shorter than I would like. I bathe him religiously every seven days - I may be overdoing it with the leave in conditioner a bit (he seems to get dirtier where I put more conditioner) - but I am learning. Seeing his cute ears is worth it but as soon as I can I will let his coat get longer again. I like the Afghan hound look - with a shaved face - long ears and pants with a shaved body. But it will be a lot of time before we can get back to that..


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## Mufar42 (Jan 1, 2017)

You did a wonderful job on Saffron.


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## Charlie's Person (Dec 9, 2018)

JenandSage said:


> Still no need to shave puppy fur! Saffron is still a breeze to brush. She even let me shave her nose although I had to chase her around the kitchen a little.
> I did get some new clippers and blade combs and set up a bit of a grooming table in the garage but I can’t face going out in this weather. I have a heater and light in there but it’s pretty cold and damp(
> I have just been doing some trimming in the kitchen and vacuuming after.
> Here she is with my first shaved nose!


Gorgeous pup!

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## Charlie's Person (Dec 9, 2018)

Viking Queen said:


> Coat change happens at about 7-8 months and is when the adult coat comes in to replace the puppy coat. Because they are poodles and don't shed out the puppy coat the new adult coat and remaining puppy coat intertwine and mat in the blink of an eye. You must make sure that you brush thoroughly every single day and comb with a metal comb TO THE SKIN. My Poppy went through coat change from about 8 months to 15 months. Most of us shave the dog very short during that time. It is kinder to both the dog and the human. You can full line brush and comb to the skin and in minutes mats will be forming again. Coat chang can be either very time consuming and very uncomfortable for the dog or it can be easy and not uncomfortable, just depending on how well the human handles the situation.


Really appreciate this 

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## Charlie's Person (Dec 9, 2018)

Johanna said:


> I used BioGroom Super Cream conditioner.


Thank you so much. Suddenly have an 18 month old poodle with matts 

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## Charlie's Person (Dec 9, 2018)

chinchillafuzzy said:


> Yep, coat change. I thought my girl would have to be shaved down for sure (and she was growing a full show coat!!) Here are the things I did, maybe something will help. Not saying any of these are the “right” way to do it - they are just what I did.
> 
> Dematt as well as you can before the bath. Use liberal amounts of corn starch on the Matt’s and use a slicker to brush it out. Corn starch can be drying but do it only right before the bath and don’t try to blow dry it out - causes a ton of static. Just put them in the tub right after you get the Matt’s out and it will rinse out easily. After bath and dry use leaving in spray, slicker and then metal comb on every square inch.
> 
> ...


Much appreciate this information. 

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