Am I using the Coat King correctly?

[Ailsa]

Dear All

After reading the advice on grooming, I recently purchased a Coat King. My wee Twix is a huge bundle of fluff - most of the pictures I see of supposedly hairy dogs are what I would liketo get Twix to look like!!! Imagine a chocolate coloured afghan!

Anyway, I have been using a comb with rubber band, and it did clear out a bit of the hair, but I thought I would give the Coat King a go. It stripped out the hair beautifully, but instead of finding a smooth cocker underneath as I had hoped, the hair that is left is quite wavy and sticks up in all directions. She looks a bit as if I have attacked her with the garden shears! I continued using the Coat King on her back until the hair stopped coming out - as indicated on another thread - but she still looks like a wee scruffy tink.

Any suggestions? She is 7 months old by the way.

[CraftySam]

I think each cockers coat differs. Barneys coat on his back is fairly short and thick. AnnieM's Jade's coat is longer and finer on her back than Barney's and she says Amber's (who is gold like Barney) coat is very much like Jade's.
So it maybe that Twix's coat is wavy. Is she show or working line?

Something we were told on our grooming workshop is not to dry their backs with a hairdryer. I believe some people put a towel over their dogs back, or chop an old pair of leggings or tights up, slip it onto the dogs body (cut holes for legs where needed) while it drys. I'm not sure on th details of that one!! But it may well help it to dry flat.

It might be that her coat will grow a bit and stop sticking up.

My black Lab has a very curly/wavey back, nothing like it should be as a pure Lab. Nothing I've done has flattened it so I've had to accept thats how it is. 

[Ailsa]

Is she show or working line?

Thanks for that. She is show, not working, but definitely not pristine enough for showing!! I love her fluffiness to bits, just wanted to tidy her up a bit because she gets very hot, and brings home half the countryside with her when we have been for a walk! I tried hand stripping, but the hair was not coming out easily and I was getting lots of bemused looks from Twix. It may be that her coat is just not quite ready for it and will calm down a bit when she is older.

I liked the image of popping a dog into an old pair of tights. I can barely put tights on myself without a huge struggle with Twix, so I'd like to see what it would be like getting tights onto her!!

[Jane S]

I liked the image of popping a dog into an old pair of tights. I can barely put tights on myself without a huge struggle with Twix, so I'd like to see what it would be like getting tights onto her!!

These days a lot of show people use made to measure, stretchy "coats" for keeping wavy coats flat after bathing & drying. I have one which I use now and again on difficult coats but generally I just dry with a hair dryer as normal, even on the back. The trick is to make sure the coat is completely dry - if there's the slightest bit of damp left in the coat then that's what will cause hair to stick up the wrong way as soon as the dog lies down

PS If anyone is interested in the stretchy coats, HERE is the website for one popular with Cocker owners.

[AnnieM]

Oooh, that looks like a fab idea, as I have a pair of very poor travellers, these would be ideal to put on them whilst travelling to a show, it would stop them drooling all over themselves, whilst flattening their coats at the same time. 

[CraftySam]

I liked the image of popping a dog into an old pair of tights. I can barely put tights on myself without a huge struggle with Twix, so I'd like to see what it would be like getting tights onto her!!

These days a lot of show people use made to measure, stretchy "coats" for keeping wavy coats flat after bathing & drying. I have one which I use now and again on difficult coats but generally I just dry with a hair dryer as normal, even on the back. The trick is to make sure the coat is completely dry - if there's the slightest bit of damp left in the coat then that's what will cause hair to stick up the wrong way as soon as the dog lies down

PS If anyone is interested in the stretchy coats, HERE is the website for one popular with Cocker owners.

They do look fab.  I'm very tempted to get one for Sapphi, my Lab. I'd given up on her ever having a curl free back. 

Jane, do they work on really curly coats do you know? And would the coat stay flat until wet, or would the curls come back over time?

[Jane S]

Jane, do they work on really curly coats do you know? And would the coat stay flat until wet, or would the curls come back over time?

I haven't tried one on a really curly coat to be honest - just one with kinks where you don't want kinks There is a pic on that site of a Flat Coat who looks to have a pretty wild coat which suggests it would work on a very wavy coat but I'm not sure really. I find the effect can last quite a few days but as soon as there's some damp weather, the kinks come back.

[sarah25]

Yes they do work on curly coats 
We have a Golden Ret that we did show.And she had a bit of a curly back anyway when we took it of her she looked like a diffrent dog!

[CraftySam]

Thanks Jane and Sarah.