Would you bother with a S/O on a 13 y/o chows?

[DAPER DAWG]

Oh my I didn't take the dog in but the owner told my co-worker he would like the dog about an inch a/o. It had a lot of packed undercoat and was pelted solid on the rear, privates, under the chest and tummy.

Do you usually bathe with shampoo and conditioner first and then brush out and hv even if pelted on the underbelly and privates.

Does anyone even do snap ons on any chows?

The fur looked really choppy I did a 0 s/o with the grain. Would it be better to use a longer comb against the grain for a smoother look?

I had to shave the tummy,chest and parts of the rear w/ #7f and 10 in spots.

Brushed out some matts in the neck and thighs before the bath. Shampooed real well mixed with rough out and used undercoat rake and brush in bath ( best I could) then hv'd undercoat after the bath and brushed out again.

I told the guy that I didn't believe this was the best type of haircut for his dog in the future. She kept finding the end of the table and jumped up in the air and flew right off once and she hated having her legs picked up at all and would chew wildly on my grooming loop.

Part of the problem is I have a table whose grooming arm is stuck and the dog couldn't be properly secured to not reach the end of the table.

Her tummy was soo... pelted that I could barely get a #10 blade through it
and she got a little clipper irritation in one spot because she went crazy when you picked up her legs thank goodness she just attacked my loop.

Is it possible to do a partial wet shave on just the pelted areas to help lessen the chance of clipper irritation?

Does anyone ever use a #30 or #40 on privates when their pelted to the skin or would that have more a chance of irritation.

The dog just got too stressed out and I really couldn't even finish scissoring the body or get anywhere near her legs.

It was one of those where I spent tons of time and energy and I thought it was the worst haircut I ever did. The owner was pleased and gave me a generous tip but that didn't make me feel any better.

My recommended haircut for this particular dog would be a shaved chest and belly to prevent pelting and irritation in the future with a simple bath, brush and trim of butt and tummy or a smoothie.

Scary to say this is only the second chow I've had to do in 4 years and I didn't have to do the thick undercoated dogs at the other places I worked so it was a whole new experience for me.

[RightlookPets]

Matted Old Chow

[QUOTE=DAPER DAWG;50965]Oh my I didn't take the dog in but the owner told my co-worker he would like the dog about an inch a/o. It had a lot of packed undercoat and was pelted solid on the rear, privates, under the chest and tummy.

My feeling is that if the dog is old and neglected, like this one is, I would shave it down rather than torture it trying to deshed.

If it's young I might deshed but charge a lot. That kind of coat works well this way: Take a force dryer and blow apart the mats (while the dog is dry). Use a mat splitter on the bad parts. Shave underbelly and sanitary. Wash and condition the dog. Force dry again. Use an undercoat rake and furminator to deshed. Brush with a slicker. Then one last force dry. This way the force dryer does all the work.

[Helly]

I probably would shampoo, HV, rinse, apply DeMat or ReFurbish, HV, rinse, wet shave out the worst mats on tummy and bumm, HV again. And think I'd probably use a 3 blade rather than a snap on. HV again...it's amazing how much undercoat you can "stand up" after you run a blade over the coat. Then clip again. A lot of work, I know. I'd charge accordingly.

But, with a 13 year old dog, if it's freaking out that badly, I'd probably send it home and refer them to a vet's office that does grooming. I don't need to deal with a dead or dying dog on the table.

[MinnyPinny]

I had a similar issue with a Pom. I dematted it in Feb, by first getting it really soapy and then HV followed by a rinse and I soaked it in conditioner, and then HV again. Then, rinse, and HV once more. The HV to dry was the one where the undercoat mats finally turned loose and flew off. However, the same dog came yesterday and he was in worse condition than ever. I tried the above, but these mats just weren't coming loose. The undercoat was too matted with the topcoat. So, after all the attempts, I just went over him with a #4 all over. So, I guess my effort wasn't totally wasted since I got a #4 thru the coat...otherwise I'm sure this little guy would need a #10.

[Poodlefluff]

I would never use a guide blade on a matted chow, I would probably never use one on a non-matted chow for that matter. You will work your butt off for nothing. I tell people that I will use a 3 3/4 blade or anything shorter, but it has to be able to go through the hair. Most of the time if I rough a dog in with a 3 I can then finish it with a longer guide blade. When I go to dry it the undercoat will come out easier. But if it were matted with undercoat and 13 I wouldn't bother I would just shave it. Maybe a lion clip. Another tip is to WACK half the hair off with scissors, then bath and dry, this will help you get a lot of undercoat out as well.

[rapuzzled]

Since the dog was older if it were me I would probably just take it shorter. What I usually do on those dogs is just skim the top coat off before the bath then use the bath and force dry to work a lot of the undercoat loose. Then instead of using a snap on I'd probably use a 3 or 4. The owner needs to know that if they want a longer cut then they need to be willing to invest money or work into it. Generally when I struggle through to leave a coat longer, the dog will just get that way again, and the owner just doesn't learn.

[DAPER DAWG]

Poodlepuff - Only the tummy and privates were really pelted her back was fine , the sides and chest were just loaded with undercoat. I thought it would come out a lot easier than it did.

A hard lesson learned. I never tried a s/o on a chow before it didn't look that great IMO. I definitely wouldn't do it again on an old dog (and probably not on a chow at all) I didn't think it would be as labor intensive and hard on the dog as it was.

She wasn't really awful just hated having her legs touched and seemed sort of senile and kept forgetting where the end of the table was. I did tell him that wasn't happening again.

I was originally going to do a 3 3/4 but my co-worker thought the guy might of found that too short. I know it looks really cute on poms.

[scullysmom]

Sometimes with really pelted dogs (we did this in frigid MN a lot) we will scissor down a dog matted b-4 the bath. Grab an old set of 10' and go to town, the more curl to a coat the closer you can rough scissor it. With a double coat of coarse hydro surge it, then again in conditioner. The conditioner really gets a lot of the coat out. I have seen dogs neglected enough (or sensitive enough) to need the bellies shelled out. Most people will not see it or care, they just want their pet to look nicer and feel better. We do groom a lot of chows being it NC, and they usually look nice in a o guard or 1, but it must be back brushed really well. Hopes this helps, and sorry if it is old news!!