s3mp3rr3formanda
New member
Hello!
We have two full size doodles - a 70lb labradoodle and a 40lb border doodle (still a pup). My labradoodle is a 1st gen (50/50) low/no shed w/ soft hair that rarely mats. However, my border doodle (BD) is an F2B w/ curly hair and a sort of undercoat from the border collie side. She has the softest hair I’ve ever felt on any dog but she’s more prone to mats than my other doodle, or even than either of the two Bichons I had previously.
I have a couple of slicker brushes that we’ve had forever. One is too soft to do much of anything and the other is just OK but it doesn’t really seem to help much on our BD. I got the little Safari 4.5” ss comb and I love it for getting the mats out once they’ve developed. I also have a mat cutter but it doesn’t work as well on her because the ends are curled and you can’t get into the mat on her very well as they are generally close to her skin. There is a Safari mat cutter (no brand loyalty here, just saw this tool on Amazon) with much straighter fingers that I think would work better. However, I’m wondering what tool you would recommend to actually prevent the mats in the first place. I was thinking about a single or double long tooth undercoat or grooming rake. One of those where the pins actually swivel 360 degrees in order to move through the hair/fur better. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NGM3QRN/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_6?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 or perhaps this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083TSC64/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A3RQXMQ86H0J6I&psc=1. If you know of anything else that will work better, I’m completely open to ideas. I know it’s probably not quite as simple of an answer as if she had standard border collie or standard poodle hair but since she has a combo of both, I could really use some suggestions. My local pet store is normally great on these types of things but were totally at a loss to give me any guidance on what tool(s) would be best for this. It seems to me I need something that will get all the way down to her skin (comfortably, obviously) or else the mats will continue to form. They seem to most form in the hair closest to her skin. Any help, advice, or guidance would be really appreciated and extremely useful. Thanks so much in advance!
We have two full size doodles - a 70lb labradoodle and a 40lb border doodle (still a pup). My labradoodle is a 1st gen (50/50) low/no shed w/ soft hair that rarely mats. However, my border doodle (BD) is an F2B w/ curly hair and a sort of undercoat from the border collie side. She has the softest hair I’ve ever felt on any dog but she’s more prone to mats than my other doodle, or even than either of the two Bichons I had previously.
I have a couple of slicker brushes that we’ve had forever. One is too soft to do much of anything and the other is just OK but it doesn’t really seem to help much on our BD. I got the little Safari 4.5” ss comb and I love it for getting the mats out once they’ve developed. I also have a mat cutter but it doesn’t work as well on her because the ends are curled and you can’t get into the mat on her very well as they are generally close to her skin. There is a Safari mat cutter (no brand loyalty here, just saw this tool on Amazon) with much straighter fingers that I think would work better. However, I’m wondering what tool you would recommend to actually prevent the mats in the first place. I was thinking about a single or double long tooth undercoat or grooming rake. One of those where the pins actually swivel 360 degrees in order to move through the hair/fur better. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NGM3QRN/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_6?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 or perhaps this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083TSC64/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A3RQXMQ86H0J6I&psc=1. If you know of anything else that will work better, I’m completely open to ideas. I know it’s probably not quite as simple of an answer as if she had standard border collie or standard poodle hair but since she has a combo of both, I could really use some suggestions. My local pet store is normally great on these types of things but were totally at a loss to give me any guidance on what tool(s) would be best for this. It seems to me I need something that will get all the way down to her skin (comfortably, obviously) or else the mats will continue to form. They seem to most form in the hair closest to her skin. Any help, advice, or guidance would be really appreciated and extremely useful. Thanks so much in advance!
