Hello! Grooming question here.
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Hello! Grooming question here.
I'm new to this group but have three rescue dogs. My first rescue is a Border Collie mix that I rescued in 2007, Oreo. My second rescue is a lab mix, Lucky, we added to our home two years ago. And just this week we just brought home Lilly. I believe she is a Lab/Akita mix. She was outside most of the last few months. Her hair is short but very dense like the Akita/Shiba/KiaKen type breeds. Luckily, I have a rake and she doesn't seem scared of that. But deep down in her base coat she has small mated sections. The rake doesn't seem to be helping with those. She is scared of the comb that I use on the other two dogs. So until I've earned some more of her trust I don't want to just go crazy on the mats with the comb. My other two were scared of the brush and comb at first but I worked with them until now they push and shove each other to go first when I get it out. But that takes time. The mated areas seem to be itchy on Lilly. So I would like to take care of them soon. Any suggestions for unmatting an Akita type hair when the dog is new to your home and scared of the comb?
Re: Hello! Grooming question here.
What I would do is continue using the rake, but with one hand part the fur and hold it back, so you can use the rake but get to the roots of the hair. If this doesn't make sense let me know and I can take some pictures demonstrating this. 
The other option would be getting her bathed and dried by a groomer - or at least using a force dryer, which pushes water off of the coat instead of evaporating it, and is also able to loosen mats up and move them away from the skin so they're easier to brush out - but I don't know if you have a good, patient, kind groomer near you - I couldn't find one I trusted in my area. However, if she's not comfortable with the comb, a force dryer would probably be even more scary.
If the mats are thick and don't brush out, you may have to get a mat splitter or use an envelope opener (this kind) to break them up. It's really easy to accidentally cut a dog's skin if you try to scissor mats out, so I do not recommend that route.
The other option would be getting her bathed and dried by a groomer - or at least using a force dryer, which pushes water off of the coat instead of evaporating it, and is also able to loosen mats up and move them away from the skin so they're easier to brush out - but I don't know if you have a good, patient, kind groomer near you - I couldn't find one I trusted in my area. However, if she's not comfortable with the comb, a force dryer would probably be even more scary.
If the mats are thick and don't brush out, you may have to get a mat splitter or use an envelope opener (this kind) to break them up. It's really easy to accidentally cut a dog's skin if you try to scissor mats out, so I do not recommend that route.
Delta, standard poodle, born 6/30/14
