Caring for coarse coat

[CarolCorley]

I have a 21-month-old whom I'm hoping to show but I'm having coat problems. He has with a nice coarse coat and we have sandy Florida soil. What I'm finding is that the hair is breaking off, so no chops yet, and when I comb him out, I am getting rid of too much undercoat. I have a lot of tools, but should I be brushing him to condition the coat, and if so, what kind of brush? Is there a better way to keep the undercoat from matting that will allow him to develop a good full coat?
Also, I have been advised to bathe him weekly but I hesitate to because we (along with the rest of the State of Florida) fought a hard battle against fleas this year and I'm afraid to wash off the Advantix (Frontline quit working.)
Thanks,
Carol

[Sue]

You're going to need to condition the coat to prevent breakage Carol, whether you are bathing weekly or not (personally I would not unless the dog is in the ring week after week). There is an old adage that "clean hair grows faster," but all that bathing also dries the dog's hair and skin and can cause problems too.

Best Shot Products have some nice conditioners, some to use after bathing, and a spritz on, leave-in condition called Ultra-Vitalizing spray. I also use a lot of their One Shot rinse (like the purple stuff, but I like it a lot better). Check their "Specials" page on their web site. The #3 combination is a killer deal.

Cheers,
Sue

[DrDenise]

Carol,

If you do not want to bathe the entire body (which is time consuming), bathe the beard and furnishings, condition with a deep conditioner, such as Biogroom's Super Cream. Use a greyhound comb in the coat while the conditioner is in place, to take out any mats in the coat. Blow the hair dry while backcombing with a poodle comb. You can spritz the rest of the coat with something like Sue suggested, or Plush Puppy, and backcomb the remainder of the coat. I rarely use brushes on my dogs coats, mostly comb them to remove mats. I only use stripping knives on a clean and combed coat, and will use a combination of stripping and shears (thinning and straight, depending on what I am doing), then go back over with my knife to remove edges from the shears and to strip out any excess undercoat that is dead or needs removing. Brushes will not get to the skin easily, and the coat will mat more and end up with you removing more.

The greyhound comb is a must!

Denise