Best detangling brushes / combs for dogs; best collars for avoiding tangles

[MercyA]

My Cavalier King Charles Spaniel has grown out her long beautiful coat during our time at home, and the other two members of my family prefer it to her usual puppy cut. I do like the idea of saving money on grooming every six weeks. The trouble is tangles. I try to brush and comb her every day, but her coat is THICK and prone to the kind of knots that sometimes have to be cut out. She is a very good girl, but really does not like me combing out her coat, because sometimes it hurts!

I have a comb with rotating pins (recommended here, thank you!), and it's the best comb I've found for comfort, but I'd like something that can do larger areas and cut down on the time it takes to groom her. Metal pin brushes seem like they'd scratch her skin. Any recommendations?

Also, she invariably gets knots under her collar. She wears a thin nylon collar with a snap buckle. Is there is a kind of collar that would lead to less tangling? I would prefer to avoid leather if at all possible.

Thanks for your help! 

Edited June 6, 2020 by MercyA

[ktgrok]

21 minutes ago, MercyA said:

My Cavalier King Charles Spaniel has grown out her long beautiful coat during our time at home, and the other two members of my family prefer it to her usual puppy cut. I do like the idea of saving money on grooming every six weeks. The trouble is tangles. I try to brush and comb her every day, but her coat is THICK and prone to the kind of knots that sometimes have to be cut out. She is a very good girl, but really does not like me combing out her coat, because sometimes it hurts!

I have a comb with rotating pins (recommended here, thank you!), and it's the best comb I've found for comfort, but I'd like something that can do larger areas and cut down on the time it takes to groom her. Metal pin brushes seem like they'd scratch her skin. Any recommendations?

Also, she invariably gets knots under her collar. She wears a thin nylon collar with a snap buckle. Is there is a kind of collar that would lead to less tangling? I would prefer to avoid leather if at all possible.

Thanks for your help! 

I actually sometimes use a "wet brush" brand detangling brush that belonged to one of my kids. You could try that. But mostly I use a metal pin brush, one that is not scratchy on the skin. I use that to get it all brushed out, then I go back over her with the comb to make sure I got it all. 

To cut out any mats, use a letter opener type thing made for splitting mats. You hook it under the mat, so the plastic is between the blade and the skin, then pull up. You are cutting through it vertically, not side to side.For bigger matts you will have to cut through it multiple times, but it is totally safe. Do NOT USE SCISSORS!!!! Workin gin a vet clinic I can't tell you how many times we had to stitch up a dog that had gotten cut when someone tried to use scissors to cut out a matt.  https://amzn.to/2XDxmKk 

For the collar, was going to say leather. You could try biothane. Anything slick, instead of the nylon which the hairs get caught in. 

[MercyA]

1 hour ago, Ktgrok said:

I actually sometimes use a "wet brush" brand detangling brush that belonged to one of my kids. You could try that.

That is exactly what I use right now, LOL! It's not bad and doesn't bother her as much as the pin brush did. Maybe I need a higher-quality pin brush!

Thanks for all the great advice! 

[ktgrok]

1 minute ago, MercyA said:

That is exactly what I use right now, LOL! It's not bad and doesn't bother her as much as the pin brush did. Maybe I need a higher-quality pin brush!

Thanks for all the great advice! 

There definitely are better and worse ones! Just like with human brushes. The one I have isn't pokey at all. It has the little rubber things on the tips. And it is actually dual sided - one side is a bristle brush, one side is a pin brush. So you can even start with the soft bristles, then go to the pin side, then the comb. I use the soft bristle side on sensitve areas around the head, belly, etc. 

[Laura Corin]

Do you take off the collar at night? That made a big difference to the amount of mats my poodle cross gets. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

I second taking the collar off at night.  The other area where my Springers tended to get mats were on their tummy because of lying on the fur there.  I don't have good suggestions for grooming tools though.  I gave up and gave them puppy cuts for the duration of their lives. 

[Pawz4me]

IMO brushes are useless for detangling. Or much of anything, really. The only time my dogs are touched with a brush is when I'm blowing them out after bathing and need to get their coats fluffed for clipping. (Note my dogs don't shed any to speak of, so I don't need to use a brush for that.)

A good Greyhound comb is a work horse. I prefer Chris Christensen and Bass grooming tools for most things, but I've found that there's not a tremendous difference in Greyhound combs. A plain old Andis should work just about as well for a lot less money.

You also want to use a good detangling spray. I'm old school and like The Stuff (be careful if you're spraying around hard flooring--it will make them very slick!) but most grooming sprays work relatively well. You can even buy a product meant for kids, or put a small amount of your own conditioner in a spray bottle with warm water and shake it well before each use. Never brush or comb a dry coat if you want to maintain it in good condition. If nothing else you can mist with plain water. But never dry if you want to keep it looking good.

Use a conditioner after bathing. And then spray with detangler, too.

You can use scissors to help remove matting if you're extremely careful. Put the fine toothed end of your Greyhound comb between the mat and the dog's skin, so that it serves as a barrier. But again--careful!

Look at some line combing/brushing videos. It's a very easy technique to learn and it's really the only effective way to get down close to the skin where mats start (especially on a thick coated dog) so you can catch them early while they're still just tangles and not yet full blown mats. A lot of those videos will probably show the dog laying (lying?--it's early and I always have trouble with that anyway!) on its side, but you can do it fairly effectively with the dog standing.

If you use a pin brush and you want to maintain a good coat DO NOT use the ones with tips on them. Those will ruin the coat. Go to Cherrybrook and look at the pin brushes. Those are the ones groomers and dog show people use. I doubt you'll find a single one with tips. Now if you're not overly interested in coat quality (like if you clip regularly) then it's fine to use the ones with tips. But for dog who's going to be kept in a long coat--well, I'd want a good quality coat, too. Not a split ended, frizzy coat, and that's what you'll eventually have if you use a pin brush with tips. I prefer Chris Christensen or Bass wooden pin brushes because they don't cause static. I have a small and a large, but again--the only time I use them is for blow drying. I'm not so sure they'd be very good for de-matting. A good quality metal pin brush won't be scratchy, but a cheap one more than likely will be.

Rolled leather collars are generally the best for preventing matting. I don't know if rolled collars are made from any other material or not. I don't recall seeing one, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. My dogs go naked at home, but I don't have any young kids here (no worries of leaving the door open), no door dashers and I'm on a fairly quiet street.

[ktgrok]

why do the tips on the pins (mind just has a rubber coating type thing on the ends) damage the hair? I have a golden-wolf-dog-doodle who looks like she was made out of leftover muppet parts, so what her coat looks like is not important, a she's going to look ridiculous no matter what, but I am curious. When I had long hair I always used a pin brush with tips and my hair was always commented on by stylists for being very healthy (I assume because I didn't use heat on it much). 

[Pawz4me]

3 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

why do the tips on the pins (mind just has a rubber coating type thing on the ends) damage the hair? I have a golden-wolf-dog-doodle who looks like she was made out of leftover muppet parts, so what her coat looks like is not important, a she's going to look ridiculous no matter what, but I am curious. When I had long hair I always used a pin brush with tips and my hair was always commented on by stylists for being very healthy (I assume because I didn't use heat on it much). 

I don't really know. And I know it sounds counter-intuitive. But if you hang out on message boards with professional groomers and/or dog show folks they all say the same thing. I think a lot of the groomers use whichever type for their dog clients who are clipped regularly, which is no doubt the vast majority. But for dogs who are kept in coat, or their own dogs who are kept in coat, or the dogs they do competition grooming on they insist on the brushes without tips. And it's a topic than can set dog show people into a tizzy.

[matrips]

Love this for our dog!