HELP! Sarah has dreadlocks...

[Tonya]

I don't know what went wrong! I washed Sarah, and then set her free. I normally let her airdry for about half an hour before I brush her. She always rubs herself all over the carpet after a bath, but this time she got TONS of dreadlocks! Her body is full of knots. I started trying to brush through them, but they are really bad...the type you normally cut out.

What should I do to try and get them out? I'm not touching her until I get advice because I don't want to make it worse.

[Jods]

WOW don't have any advice, but yikes good luck! Maybe put beads on the end and tell people you did it on purpose sorry LOL

[Kfamr]

If it's really bad to the point you can't brush them out yourself, i'd take her to be professionally groomed.

[caseysmom]

Can you use a good conditioner on dogs?

[Jods]

You might have to call a groomers tomorrow, but the only thing is I bet its booked since its christmas eve... If so then I'd go down to a pet shop and get a type of shampoo/cream rinse for long haired dogs they usually take the tangles out like one for poodles or something. I'd hate for you to have to cut them all out... Awhhh poor you what fun on Christmas Eve.

[GoldenRetrLuver]

Did you brush her out before you bathed her? Did she have any matts before you gave her a bath? Water can really tighten up matts and make them almost impossible to brush out.

If you can't brush her out, I'd take her to a professional groomer.

[caseysmom]

You could play bob marley music and just go with it!

[Tonya]

Hehe, yeah, we might just go with the rasta man look. I'd brushed her out before as usual. The only thing I can think of is that I used a different brand of dog shampoo. Or she was especially excited and rubbed on the carpet in circles instead of her smooth straight motions.

I normally take her to the groomer every 3 weeks. They've always just cut her mats out though. (Which also leads to another issue...mats on her collar line.) So, I'll have to insist that they comb them out. But the other thing is it's Christmas weekend.

Tomorrow morning, I'll go and try to find a really good conditioner. If I even get them out, it's going to take hours.

[sabies]

Good luck! Sorry I don't have any helpful advice .

[micki76]

DON'T re-wet them. Brush them out DRY. If you re-wet them, even with conditioner, they'll just tighten up. If they're tight and you can't brush them out, do you know how to cut them to losen them so that you can brush them out? You pull the matted section out and hold it at "attention" and then put the sissors into the mat and cut in the direction of the hair.

I took some pics using a toy. I thought this was easier to understand than my horrible explanation.

The right way:


The wrong way:


Once you cut through them, brush them out. Just don't wet them again. It'll only to make much worse.

[Tonya]

Thank you very much, Micki! I will try that tomorrow. Now that she's a little drier, they don't seem as bad. She must have had knots that my brush or my hands didn't catch before the bath. Her fur isn't all that great...It knots much more and is much higher maintenance then most poms that I've met.

[Prue]

I agree with everyone who said not to wet the knots, but maybe you could try some of that "Spray on, Leave in" conditioner that's made for people? Then later you could try and brush the knots out.

Good luck!

[jenluckenbach]

So, I'll have to insist that they comb them out

Some knots are NOT comb-able no matter how hard you insist.

Clipping through the knot (as shown in the picture) is absolutely correct. The brush SMALL sections at a time (think "inch by inch will be a cinch, yard by yard will be hard"). Use a 'picking' motion versus trying long smooth brush strokes. Start with a wire slicker brush and work your way to a comb.

[Tonya]

Haha, it looks cute today. The tips are all smooth, the knots are where it isn't visible, so she kinda looks like a little duckling. She's got all these smooth spikes of hair going in different directions. I called the groomer, they aren't doing any cutting today, just bathing and they close at 2pm. So they can't take Sarah in.

I started working on her, but she won't stay still. I'll have Mike help me when he gets home from work. Thank you for all the advice!

[wolf_Q]

She probably had some thick undercoat before you bathed her and then it turned to matts after she got wet...water always tightens the fur and can turn it into matts. Poms are definitely quite a bit of maintenence and their fur is so thick/long that it's hard to tell if you've brushed down to the skin. When you brush her (before the bath) lift up her fur in sections and make sure you are getting all the way to the skin. I'd use a slicker for that and use an undercoat rake or comb after to make sure you got it all.

You may try a really stiff slicker brush (just be careful as it will brush burn easily) or one of those matting tools/rakes with the razor edges (be careful with that too, I've sliced my hands with those ) They make detangling sprays just for pets too that do help some.

There's some good advice here, good luck getting them out...cutting them apart first will definitely help.