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Dry- or wet-brushing?

Daisy's Mom

Well-known member
I have a question that's related to jld's post below about mats and tangles, but I didn't want to hijack her thread.

I saw a "Breed All About It" show the other day about Afghan hounds, and it raised an interesting issue about brushing dogs' hair. One of the breeders on the show said that once Afghan show owners learned never to brush their dogs' hair when dry, it quit breaking off and led to the long, beautiful coats they have today. She showed a picture of a champion Afghan from 50 years ago, and it had a MUCH shorter coat than today's dogs. She said that brushing only wet hair and using conditioner made a huge difference. I have also read in one of my Cavalier books never to brush a Cavalier's hair when dry. However, I have also heard never to bathe a tangled Cavalier because it will make the knots worse.

What do you all do? Since all this came up, I have been trying to use some sort of grooming spray to wet Daisy's coat a little bit before brushing, especially when I am using a pin brush. But I don't know that I would want to be spraying her with something every day because it seems like it would build up between baths. When I use the boars' bristle brush, I don't worry about it as much because the bristles are so soft.

Also, what type of conditioner do you use? I generally use Chris Christenson's White on White shampoo or FreshNClean shampoo. I have actually never used a rinse-out conditioner on her (I guess that's really bad of me?) Daisy has a LOT of hair, but it rarely tangles (except for right behind her ears) and it brushes right out when it is wet, so I never really felt I needed a conditioner. I think I'm going to start using one. I often use Chris Christenson's Ice on Ice grooming spray, but to be honest, I can't tell any difference whether I use it or not, so I'm not sure it's doing anything.
 
I have a question that's related to jld's post below about mats and tangles, but I didn't want to hijack her thread.

I saw a "Breed All About It" show the other day about Afghan hounds, and it raised an interesting issue about brushing dogs' hair. One of the breeders on the show said that once Afghan show owners learned never to brush their dogs' hair when dry, it quit breaking off and led to the long, beautiful coats they have today. She showed a picture of a champion Afghan from 50 years ago, and it had a MUCH shorter coat than today's dogs. She said that brushing only wet hair and using conditioner made a huge difference. I have also read in one of my Cavalier books never to brush a Cavalier's hair when dry. However, I have also heard never to bathe a tangled Cavalier because it will make the knots worse.
.

I think the afghan from 50 years ago probably had a short coat because they had not been bred for as much length as todays dogs. A lot of long coated breeds have their hair wrapped in papers now too to prevent breakage , I have seen charlies with their ears literally touching the floor because they are kept wrapped.

My dogs are brushed dry , I find wet hair more difficult to brush & pulls the dog more.tangles can be brushed out when wet if you put conditioner on them.
I dont brush dirty hair.
 
Most breeders I know brush their dogs when dry. Matts do tighten when they are wet and become far more difficult to brush out. Using a good leave-in conditioner that has silicone however can help work out matts. I spritz my dogs with 'The Stuff' to work on matts and it definitely helps.

Hairstylists will argue that brushing your hair when it is wet will break it! Hair is weakest when wet -- so I can't see how brushing a dog when wet would be any better as the composition of hair is basically the same.

I agree with Angela. I am sure the picture from 50 years ago was before long coats were being bred for. Have a look at cavaliers from the 1940s and their coats were more like springer coats. Long CKCS coats are more 'in' at the moment too and they can be bred for.
 
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