For everyone who's considering a TM

[ruthcatrin]

Those of us who own them will tell you that most of the year they're REALLY easy to groom. Once a week brush, maybe twice a week for the tail and britches. Bath once every 3-4 months. No big deal......till you get to the spring blowout.

I've been doing a light brush on Apollo daily for the last month, waiting for him to blow his coat. Well, its finally started. Just to be different I took Arty's Furminator to Apollo's front legs today. 20 minutes later, this is what I had:

View attachment 19979

Thats a small size Furminator, but thats ONLY Apollo's front legs, after about 20 minutes (maybe less) of work. And doesn't include what ended up on me and the carpet lol. Time to go dig out the heavy duty brushes!

I'm going to try to save as much of it as I can this year, I'm going to see if I can find someone to turn it into yarn....

 

[tb44]

Ruth do they only blow coat once a year?

 

[ruthcatrin]

Yup, little to no shed the rest of the year too. We'll get the occasional hair off of Apollo the rest of the time, but not even enough to make it worth cleaning the brush out after the weekly brush. But I'm going to be covered in gold fluff for at least a month now...

 

[ruthcatrin]

Oh, and except for legs, lower hips, and lower shoulders, the Furminator (even a long coat one) isn't very useful on them, their coat is SO thick and SO long that the Furminator just can't get deep enough.

 

[tb44]

Maybe you could donate it to a Chinese crested dogs lol. That would be nice though to only deal with it once a year.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Its definetly got its good points lol

 

[tb44]

Does he look 20 lbs lighter when it's all said and done?

 

[angelbears]

Maybe you could donate it to a Chinese crested dogs lol. That would be nice though to only deal with it once a year.

:lolbangtable:

How about making Arty some earmuffs!

 

[ruthcatrin]

He does, its very funny, and looks like he gained at least that much in the fall.

 

[ruthcatrin]

:lolbangtable:

How about making Arty some earmuffs!

lol!!

 

[ruthcatrin]

Still not getting anything off his body. Maybe a BIT more in the brush an a week ago, but not much. But I just got another clump like that off his back legs....

 

[raechiemay]

Do you have one of those metal rakes?

 

[ruthcatrin]

Two different pin brushes, two different rakes, and this new thing (that I can't recall the name of) that some of the other TM folks recommended. We did last year with just the brushes and the rakes though.

 

[ruthcatrin]

One of these: Oster Grooming Tools - Cherrybrook

 

[raechiemay]

Ahh ok. Don't believe I have ever tried one of those. I know when one of my old grooming clients brought me her Newfie the only things that would work on her were the rakes we had. She was so big I had to start at her legs & it would take me 30 minutes for the front legs & 30 minutes for the back. Not sure how a newf's coat compares to a TM's. I always used to beg the lady to brush her at home, even if it was just once a week. And everytime she came in, I'd get the whole "I really didn't have time to do any brushing...sorry". Ugh.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Ugh is right.

Apollo's coat is awesome. Even if I miss a week, which I try to avoid, the only real problems are his britches and tail. But lastyear during blowout he was matting around his collar no matter what I did. I'm hoping the new collar this year will help with that. The rakes worked well last year, but the issue was his ruff that I struggled with. They suggested that, starting on his back and working towards his head. So we'll see.

 

[ruthcatrin]

OH and they said matting around his collar was normal, just keep plugging away lol, which made me feel better!

 

[raechiemay]

Yeah I would guess a collar would cause that. What kind of collar did you get him?

 

[ruthcatrin]

Extra small rolled leather from Schaaf Leather. Its quite a bit smaller around than the usual rolled leather, so crossing fingers! I hated not having his tags on him last spring, but working mats out of his neck sucked.

 

[raechiemay]

That's one thing I used to suggest to owners with thicker coated or double coated dogs. Rolled leather collars (for the most part) seemed to work well by not matting or matting as much around the neck. I remember several instances on dogs that were being shaved & you would've sworn they were wearing fur collars as the matts would shave off in 1-2 pieces.