His coat sounds quite similar to Tilly's although she's a working Cocker. She's also a rescue and was neutered and had been clipped right back to the skin when I got her. I let her coat grow in and then got her a more 'Cocker' looking clip, keeping the feathering on her ears, chest, legs, tail etc. She had got very shaggy over the winter though as I hadn't had her clipped for ages and when we were at Helen's I attacked her with the Coat King and I was amazed at how well it worked on her. For a spayed, has-been-clipped solid liver her coat is surprisingly nice under the cotton-wool fuzz that grows on her back, legs and sides and the CK really gets all that out on her.