# How easily does your poodle matt?



## poodlecrazy#1 (Jul 2, 2013)

spotsonofbun said:


> So im still in 'saving and waiting' mode but I have a few questions until the time im prepared for a tpoo.
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The biggest issue I see is many owners don't know how to brush properly. It's not as simple as taking a brush to the dog a brushing On my way! You would your own hair. You have to split the hair down to the skin brush it and then comb it to make sure you didn't miss any mats or tangles. If this would help your mother when brushing feel free to show her it. Also the dog doesn't necessarily have to be laying down to line brush it just helps to see what you are doing. 

http://youtu.be/oJoWfStDQbI

Proper brushing is even more important with a poodle that has a proper coat. The hair is going to be thicker and curlier and mat up quicker. My three have mostly improper coats. I can/have gone weeks without taking a brush or comb to Branna (she has the worse coat) and she maybe had one mat around a high friction area. She is in a very long trim growing out to a show trim. Now Killa will mat up if I don't brush her but hers seems more due to hair loss than a proper coat. (She has skin issues that makes her loose hair a lot)

Any areas of friction will get matted and get mats quicker. Friction areas can be anything under clothing,collars, in armpits and where the dog sits or lays down a lot. 

Traditional show cuts with a proper coat take a lot of maintenance. They have to be brushed every day if not multiple times a day, as well as the longer more fragile areas put up in bands or wraps. Also care has to be taken not to damage the hair so brushing is different. 

My dogs never went through proper coat change so I can't really comment on that one. 

I live in the desert so I can't really give any advice on dealing with snow

Correct texture of a poodle coat is going to be curly and crisp. It should hold any shape it is put in. The curlier the coat the more it will mat. I would say yes a proper coat will mat more than an improper one unless you have, like you mentioned before a cotton type coat. 

If coat is something that is important to you then yes go for a dog with a proper coat and look at breeders with dogs that have proper costs. if not I'm sure there are other aspect/ characteristics that are important. As a groomer proper coat is very important to me especially because I might compete in grooming competitions with the dog. So that is going to be on my priority list. But it does not come before health and temperament of course. And I am willing to wait as long as it takes to find the perfect dog. Hope this helped answer a few of your questions.


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

I don't line brush Abbey, only because I didnt know I should be. She has a very curly coat, but I brush & then comb her everyday without exception. She gets the odd little snarl (wouldn't call it a Matt) sometimes but that's it so far, but then she hasn't gone through coat change yet (not looking forward to that). I brush her dry, should I be spraying her with something first?


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

1. hypothetically If you would not brush at all how long would it take for matts to appear? (please mention the length of the cut) I don't know I brush and comb daily no matter what

2. If your poodle wears any type of clothing are the tangles and matts when you take it off? tangles

4. How long did coat change last? Since my last three of last six poodle were adults, and my first puppy Baby had improper coat. That doesn't count my current puppies Beatrice who has a proper poodle coat at almost a year started her coat change at 9 months and Miss Pia Maria is 5 1/2 months still has a thick puppy coat, soooo I've heard in Tpoos the coat change can last up to 24 months. Bea is the first poodle I had to resort to using conditioner (thanks Mahlon). I find snarls behind her ears every other day despite daily grooming. 

5. Those in cold climates how is it maintaining the coat with snow and clothing? I keep my girls clipped to 3/4" to 7/8" and layer clothing when we go out. Depending how messy they are bathed every 2-3 weeks

6. what is the correct texture of a poodle coat and does that affect how easily they matt? Coarse, dense and curly is proper and like poodlecrazy says line brushing is key in longer coats, I just keep my girls trimmed on the short side. Since I do all my grooming so when I feeling the girls are started to get natty I take a little off the top. So far that has kept Beatrices matting to a minimum.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Caddy said:


> I don't line brush Abbey, only because I didnt know I should be. She has a very curly coat, but I brush & then comb her everyday without exception. She gets the odd little snarl (wouldn't call it a Matt) sometimes but that's it so far, but then she hasn't gone through coat change yet (not looking forward to that). I brush her dry, should I be spraying her with something first?



My breeder says that you should always mist with water to prevent breakage.
Timi is going through coat change now, and since her hair is long, I can see how if she was not bathed twice a week and brushed out once or twice a day she would be totally felted.bshe probably has enough hair that I could trim it down to all adult, but I would rather not.


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

By the way, in my experience the more correct the coat, the more it mats. Not saying that you should go to a bad breeder to get an improper coat, but you might want to think about a cream or apricot, who tend to have softer, more puppy like coat.


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## AngelAviary (Aug 12, 2014)

My Stella is in a modified lamb cut. It is long. She is given a bath every 2 weeks and is brushed daily. She went through coat change starting at 10 months (thankfully she was done showing so I could clip her down a bit shorter to help with that) and is almost done at 16 months now. She has a pretty good coat, harsher on the body and softer on the legs/head. 
As others have said proper! brushing and often is the trick. My groomer tells me dirty hair matts quicker and you should brush up and comb down when you are grooming. That way you will find all the tangles that turn in to matts. And remember short hair can matt too so even if you keep your pup trimmed short, it is important to brush. Any type of friction (with clothes or body parts) will cause matts faster. And you should always brush with some type of diluted conditioner sprayed on the coat. You never brush dry hair. It will cause breakage. I use various products, still trying to find the one I like best. I use a pin brush on most of the body and follow up with a comb. I never use a slicker brush on her topknot/neck area.


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## princesspenny (Feb 16, 2015)

AngelAviary said:


> My Stella is in a modified lamb cut. It is long. She is given a bath every 2 weeks and is brushed daily. She went through coat change starting at 10 months (thankfully she was done showing so I could clip her down a bit shorter to help with that) and is almost done at 16 months now. She has a pretty good coat, harsher on the body and softer on the legs/head.
> As others have said proper! brushing and often is the trick. My groomer tells me dirty hair matts quicker and you should brush up and comb down when you are grooming. That way you will find all the tangles that turn in to matts. And remember short hair can matt too so even if you keep your pup trimmed short, it is important to brush. Any type of friction (with clothes or body parts) will cause matts faster. And you should always brush with some type of diluted conditioner sprayed on the coat. You never brush dry hair. It will cause breakage. I use various products, still trying to find the one I like best. I use a pin brush on most of the body and follow up with a comb. I never use a slicker brush on her topknot/neck area.



umm, I LOVE stellas clip, that is exactly how i want to keep penny, is she scissored to that length? and then with the long banded topknot- perfection.


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## Luce (Mar 4, 2013)

Luce is a 2 year old mini Apricot and her coat is soft. I am not sure about the coat change if it happened, is happening, or will happen. It is lighter (color) and curlier then when she was a puppy but not tight curls. Almost crimped - this picture was in Feb., her hair was about 3 inches long!

Brushing - sigh - I started out so good when she was a pup, crap started and things got bad. I don't brush her every day, yes I know I should, I should also eat less chocolate Back to the dog, She will matt behind the ears, an in other high friction areas, but I can go a couple of days and the won't be bad, more like tangles. I also picked up a dematting comb in case I slack off. I've tried all types of lengths and a couple of styles. Of course a sort utility cut is the easiest to care for. For a while I tried to keep it long all over and it is very time consuming and difficult. Currently she is in a modified conti and I LOVE it!! She is fluffy with less maintenance, th longest hair is about 2 inches. In a perfect world where I brush her the correct way every day (I'm working on it) I think it would take 20-30 minutes.

She doesn't wear clothes long enough to create matts. If she wear anything it is just for the length of a walk - no more then 30 minutes.

Even though I am not in a northern climate, we do get snow - it sticks to her coat!! Little snow balls ARGGHHH!!

I never heard before about brushing her with a misted coat!! I just remember reading NOT to brush when wet and only brush when dry - hmmm - I'll have to try the conditioner in the water mist technique. When I do brush her her hair straightens out a bit and is very soft like a powder puff.


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## AngelAviary (Aug 12, 2014)

Hi princesspenny. Thank you for the praise of Stellas coat. I too have learned to really like the clip. She is now being scissored to keep the shape of the clip. At first she was done using a clipper blade comb to shorten the body. She has never had her neck/top knot hair trimmed. Her legs where also scissored a tiny bit to blend in with the body at the top. My groomer knows I wish to grow out her coat a bit more so she says never cut the hair that takes the longest to grow back: the legs, back of the neck and the head/ears. That way they stay long and her body grows in to match. 
Luce, I was always told to mist the coat when brushing, never do it dry. Right now I am using my own leave in conditioner Infusium 23 (spell?) diluted in half with water to mist. Ive also used a diluted "The Stuff" (didn't like much, didn't really work for matts for me), and Ive also tried Best Shot's Ultra Vitalizing mist, I have mixed feelings about it. Im using their shampoo/conditioner right now too. Lots of members use Ice on Ice by Chris Christensen with good results. They all help with tangles/matts too.


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## princesspenny (Feb 16, 2015)

I hope you dont mind me saving that pic so i can show a groomer-do you know what length her body was originally clipped at?


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## AngelAviary (Aug 12, 2014)

Hi princesspenny, no I dont mind you show your groomer Stellas photo. Im pretty sure her show puppy cut was about 4-5in long on her body, a tiny bit longer on the neck/legs. She was trimmed down to about 1in on the body (i didnt measure it at the time). Her coat is now close to 3in on the body. I will be very interested in seeing your girl in her hair cut!


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## FireStorm (Nov 9, 2013)

Hans has a really dense coat, and I feel like it really wants to cord or something. We bathe once a week, and then the amount of brushing depends on how long his coat is. Right now he is shaved really short because it is already hot so it doesn't take too much brushing...but when it is longer it needs daily brushing, especially because he wears a harness when he is at work and because he likes to swim. The best thing I found was to use a detangler. I use Ice on Ice, and just brush when I'm watching tv. also, even when his coat was longer, I shaved his armpits really short, since that area seemed to be the most prone to matting. I think it was mostly from the harness.


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## princesspenny (Feb 16, 2015)

AngelAviary said:


> My Stella is in a modified lamb cut. It is long. She is given a bath every 2 weeks and is brushed daily. She went through coat change starting at 10 months (thankfully she was done showing so I could clip her down a bit shorter to help with that) and is almost done at 16 months now. She has a pretty good coat, harsher on the body and softer on the legs/head.
> As others have said proper! brushing and often is the trick. My groomer tells me dirty hair matts quicker and you should brush up and comb down when you are grooming. That way you will find all the tangles that turn in to matts. And remember short hair can matt too so even if you keep your pup trimmed short, it is important to brush. Any type of friction (with clothes or body parts) will cause matts faster. And you should always brush with some type of diluted conditioner sprayed on the coat. You never brush dry hair. It will cause breakage. I use various products, still trying to find the one I like best. I use a pin brush on most of the body and follow up with a comb. I never use a slicker brush on her topknot/neck area.





AngelAviary said:


> Hi princesspenny, no I dont mind you show your groomer Stellas photo. Im pretty sure her show puppy cut was about 4-5in long on her body, a tiny bit longer on the neck/legs. She was trimmed down to about 1in on the body (i didnt measure it at the time). Her coat is now close to 3in on the body. I will be very interested in seeing your girl in her hair cut!



I sure will, shes only 12 weeks so it will be awhile..lol, but when i decided to buy a poodle that was my dream hair cut that i had in mind for my dog. When i google poodle images i an drawn to and love those full banded topknots with a longer but not too long body- pretty much that image of stella so its nice to have a pic to go off for the future.


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