Once you finally acquire your little bundle of joy, everything seems perfect. Then reality sets in and the grooming begins. Grooming your new addition is truly easy to manage for the first 7 months. A wonderful grooming book is by Brigette Jesperson. She is truly a master groomer as well as a wonderful breeder of Cotons.
Grooming your puppy should be fun and enjoyable for both of you. Try to make this a special time each day: watch your favorite TV show with you baby on your lap. Although it isn’t needed daily, doing this now will make sure that when the coat change happens, your puppy will be use to the routine.
When your puppy reaches the dreaded 7-8 month coat change, your life will become a little stressed until all the puppy coat is gone (this usually will happen around 15-16 months old). Some people will opt to have the puppy cut down into a “puppy cut”; if you take this route, make sure that your groomer uses a comb on the clipper to cut the puppy down to about 3″ in length. If they use just a clipper, the coat typically never comes back in as thick as it was. Cutting the coat down will make your life easier. If you stay on your routine of brushing him/her out for about 15 min. a day and follow the tips (*) below, then you should not encounter too many problems.
*Start at the tail or at the head of your dog and work your way down and across or up and across. Once you encounter a difficult mat area, pull the mats apart with our fingers and then brush the ends down to the skin. The small tines of the comb will help pull apart the mats. If the mat is to severe, use a thinning scissor and cut vertical into the mat to help loosen it without taking out the entire area. Start the application again with pulling the mat apart with your fingers until you can easily brush the mat free area. The worst body parts typically are at the shoulders, behind the ears, under the legs and armpits, base of the tail and hip area. DO NOT FORGET THE FEET. Always brush out the mats before washing or they will become like felt and will take double the time to remove. I use a finishing spray like Crown Royal #1 or Gerard/Pellham Whispering Mist before grooming. It helps the coat to be moistened. I also use Les Poochs creme rinse diluted 50/50 with distilled water as a dematting spray before washing the dog (as I brush out the dog with the creme rinse is still applied before washing them). This gives added softness to the coat. I also use Les Poochs creme rinse diluted with distilled water at a ratio of 25% creme rinse to 75% distilled water for a leave in conditioner/grooming spray.
GROOMING TOOLS:
(1) Dematter Greyhound Comb, a small finisher comb or flea comb, and a poodle comb
(2) Pin Brush (no knobs on the end). Chris Christensen or Madden have wonderful ones (25mm-27m size)
(3) Les Poochs’ brushes-I use the lime green tip (4) Bass Hybrid Brush-it utilizes both boars hair and pin brush in this wet/dry brush (5) Finishing Sprays that will help the mats release
These are just suggestions. Always ask your groomer for tips. Only trim around the feet and under pads. Taking your puppy to the groomer early on will get your puppy socialized to the tools your groomer will use. The puppy will need his/her nails trimmed every 2/3 wks. Please make sure when blow drying your puppy/dog to use a cool setting and to completely dry to the roots. We always back brush our puppies/dogs while drying them. They will mat at the roots if not completely dried.