Long haired farm dogs - coat management?

I don’t have any grooming advice, but she’s beautiful! Any idea what she is?

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A friend had a young bernedoodle not yet spayed. Her nextdoor neighbor had an intact GSD. And whoops, surprise, 8 puppies later. :woman_facepalming: :rofl:

I sent off an Embark sample because I was curious about the genetic testing for diseases and traits.

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Poopsicles here.

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Ha, poopsicles here too.

I have 2 PWDs and am a big believer in the clipping. They live mostly in lion clips but I buzz them altogether in dead burdock season (around March/April) and summer. That’s a very cute fluffball and it’ll be interesting to see what you end up with for an adult coat. Not sure if this is true with all breeds but PWDs transition to adult coats at around 10-11 months (my year old pup still has puppy coat) so you may get lucky and get a slicker adult coat.

Otherwise, sigh, happy brushing. They do learn to tolerate it - I just make sure to keep it friendly when they’re young. Brushy snuggles rather than aiming for perfection. It pays off in the long run.

I laugh out loud when I watch the Westminster Dog Show and hear the (often) ridiculous “history” of each breed. They always say the Old English Sheepdog is this very old English breed that was used for minding sheep, or as a “drover’s dog” HA! There surely were some shaggy herding dogs in England in the old days, but the OES was developed as a show dog in the early 20th century. Think of the rain in Britain, think of the brambles, etc. Can you imagine how an OES, or any dog with a massive double coat, would fare in the old days, before grooming tables and electric clippers?? That dog would be so wet and so full of mats and burrs, with so much poo crusted in the hair on its behind…it would be useless to any farmer. To make matters worse, if your dog and my dog are any example, these double-coated breeds may well HATE to be brushed.

It looks like you have an OES-type dog there, and I would clip, clip, clip! You can do it yourself with a horse clippers and they end up looking like a poodle (which is what they really mostly are IMO)

A couple groomers have told me not to clip her until her adult coat comes in. I’m not entirely sure their reasoning.

I suspect she will stay pretty fluffy, although we’ll see!

Huh! The PWD people I know say exactly the opposite because it mats like crazy during the transition. I suspect it’s breed specific though and defer to the groomers. :slight_smile:

:rofl:

The probably let them mat on purpose and turn into dreds.

I will say, my dog does not feel the cold. The other day she was asking the go out and lounge on the deck in the single digit temps, hair blowing in the strong wind, happy as can be. She tried to jump in the pond this morning, but alas, it was frozen solid (thank goodness).

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A matted dog is in pain 24/7, so I guess that grouchy beast would be great at keeping predators away from the sheep :laughing:

With an OES, which your dog strongly resembles in that photo, the adult double coat mats like crazy. You have to comb them every single day, Some will get used to it eventually, if you’re lucky. I was also told not to clip the puppy coat, but I can’t remember the reasoning behind that. Maybe it’s more for show dogs? Regardless, I’d keep brushing, get a Mars Coat King for sure, then in spring do a “puppy clip” or something along those lines

What a wonderful mix, she is going to be the greatest dog ever (except for the hair lol)!

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Is there something really different about this undercoat rake vs. others?

She hates the undercoat rake. She’ll be hiding under a table at just the sight of it.

She tolerates daily grooming with this:

And this:

But it involves endless treats, chew toys, and even a lick mat for longer sessions. Even with all that she squirms and tries to wriggle away the entire time. It’s not like she is an unhandled/untrained dog. She just gets so sensitive about running something through her hair.

We clip Runa under the belly and her legs, we use a metal comb with rolling teeth like this

It still works on hair knots and debris but It doesn’t pull much

My dog hates any kind of comb. Mars Coat King is a different type of tool. It’s the only thing that works for my dog

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I have one of those for removing dead hair and my dogs hate when it catches a knot - it cuts them but pulls. It’s great for removing dead hair though.

She hates hates hates that style. I have 2, and she runs and hide if she sees it in my hand.

I use them on the cats.

Do you have a grooming routine that involves immobilizing her somehow?

When I had long haired dogs, it was either getting them up on the grooming table, or laying them down on their side on the ground. Removing the ability to leave, and making it an “event,” helps.

Even now, with my short haired dog, very specific “we do this now” immobilizing helps with grooming stuff she doesn’t necessarily like. To trim her nails, she’s in a specific position on her bed, and she gets treats at certain times. It’s absolutely not her fav, but having a very specific routine helps a lot.

With the amount of hair you’ve got here, and the amount of care you need in one way or the other (be it combing or clipping!) teaching her to stand quietly on a table or lie quietly seems useful.

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I sometimes use a leash to restrain her, but I mostly just have her lie down.

I think my question has been misinterpreted, though. It wasn’t, “how do I groom my dog?” I’ve got that down. Me sharing she doesn’t enjoy it wasn’t because we don’t do it. Grooming is a non-negotiable. I said that because a lot of time people recommend brushes equivalent to a medival torture device or they are just like “groom nonstop.” Neither of those are going to fly in this situation.

So I was asking specifically about tools or products that make life easier when you have a long-haired burr magnet. Like, I would ShowSheen the crap out of my horses when they were in fields with burrs. I’ve tried that with equivalent dog products and it doesn’t seem to work, but maybe I haven’t found the right one…

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Hey, I get you, and I don’t think anyone here has interpreted your question in a way where they believe you’re not grooming her.

But I do think you’re facing that a long haired dog, especially a doodle type, is just a really tough farm dog, and there aren’t any secret tricks to making that coat easy.

You’re really looking at:

Daily grooming
Very regular clipping her down
Very regular thinning/shortening of the coat with very regular grooming

She probably won’t like any of that. It sounds like you already know she doesn’t! There’s a solid reason why groomers are refusing doodles, especially large ones, with increasing frequency. They’re tough! The hair is tough. They’re often unhappy to be groomed.

So with no tricks or “hacks”…it’s just how do you want to handle it, ykwim? She probably won’t be willing about any of it. You may not enjoy (because dollars, or effort) several options. So it’s just…what’s the least worst option for you?

I switched breeds a couple decades ago because I got tired of grooming long coats. Now I dress them in the cold and deal with Bartleby’s “I’d prefer not to” when it’s wet (or cold) but they get bathed like idk once a year in the barn and the extent of our grooming angst is learning to tolerate nails once a week. And teaching them to tolerate what they don’t like IS absolutely part of “learning how to dog,” but there are ways to make that easier on them.

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It’s hard because eventually you do need to wash the product out or it will attract dirt and make them more susceptible to tangling.

I have used Chris Christiansen Ice on Ice. I prefer Magic Touch instead; for showing my Brittanys I use Formula 2 but you might like the Formula 1 better so it’s not as heavy.

It’s not perfect, but makes the coat slippery. Ideally - spray when they don’t have burrs and let it dry. Then if they get burrs they will come out more easily. And/or spray after they get burrs, let it dry and comb out.

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She’s 9 months old. She’s going to stay wiggly and protest for a while yet. You just have to keep at it with the counter conditioning and maybe in a year or two she will protest more civilly.

It’s a tough coat to maintain and not the easiest age either.

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