Pondering Juneau's coat.

Aly, Reggie and Smokey have gotten mats too......it's not a big deal. What really bothers me is when they look right at you and say "My dog is not matted." Most dogs come in with a couple of little mats, no problem, it's hard to brush the dog as much as you'd like (I don't do it every day like I should, Smokey has several mats because he'll bite me if I try to brush him...grumpy old dog. I keep Reggie's fur short just for the matting problem).

It seems that for the majority, the people who say their dog "Is not matted at all" have dogs with horrible mats, and the one's who say "Yeah, there's a couple of mats" have just that...a couple of mats, no big deal.

And then there's the lady who said "But I wash my dog twice a week!" (yeah, but she didn't brush the dog before of after...washing it only makes it worse lol)

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Originally posted by jenluckenbach
But the fur on the feet can lead to problems if left long. If it mats it would be just like walking with stones in your shoes. And even if it does not mat it does accumulate dirt and debris, so this is an area we automatically clip. And too much hair there will hold moisture and can lead to foot problems (equivilent of athelete's foot).

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If you like the shaggy look of the paw, just trim the bottoms and leave the tops fuzzy. The main reason for keeping the fur on the bottom of the feet trimmed is two fold. Jen mentioned one. The other is a dog perspires from the pads of their feet and tongue. It just makes it easier for them to cool off if they don't have all that extra hair on the bottom of their feet to deal with. So you prevent athlete's feet and you provide an easier way for the dog to cool off to prevent heat stroke. Ever notice a dog going for all the mud puddles when you go for a walk?? This is how they cool off!

jenn writes:

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AND....Brush them THOUGHOULY!!!!!!! the "average" pet owner doesn't have a CLUE what it takes to keep a really long (and especially a really long AND curly) coat in proper condition.

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I'd say that's probably a true statement. I really loved the look
of the Rough Coated Collie and they didn't look that hard to
groom. I mean they didn't look to the level of like an Old English
Sheepdog or Lhasa Apso, so I thought how hard could they be.
I was thinking a simple brush through maybe once a week.
I was all set to get one, until a groomer friend described
to me how to properly brush a Rough Coat weekly, to prevent
mats. I promptly changed my mind to a Smooth Coated
Collie.

And mighty glad I did, especially after reading some of the posts
on a yahoo Collie message board of people having matting
problems with their Collies.

Par...