The scraggly tufts of hair right behind the ears are really prone to matting.
What is my biggest complaint about keeping golden retrievers?
Well, it’s got to be the hair behind the ears.
It’s really the hair behind the ears and below them just a bit. You know, where it hangs in scraggly tufts, where it can catch ear wax and ear cleaning solution.
Well, what usually happens is that those scraggly tufts collect the ear wax and the cleaning solutions and mix with the undercoat as the dog is shedding. That mixture of substances tends to create the worst– absolute worst– kind of mats. They mat from the skin up the hair, which means you can’t cut these mats out. (Well, you can, but you will cut the skin.)
The solutions to this problem are straightforward. Trim the scraggly tufts regularly.
It’s very hard to prevent these mats by brushing alone. At least that’s been my experience.
If you get one of these mats, soak it in a mat-loosening solution and then brush it out. It’s a hard process, because these mats are very tight, sort of like hippie dreadlocks.
Let me repeat my previous warning: DO NOT CUT THESE MATS!
It’s a design flaw in the golden retriever, but it’s one you need to know about. I’m certain these exist in setters and flat-coated retrievers. I bet the problem is even worse in spaniels and show, because the ears are much longer, as is the hair behind the ears.
You mean those fine hairs behind the ears that trap everything? I recall those from my years of owning shelties. If I didn’t check often, there would be a mat right next to the skin that had to be very carefully teased out, much to my dog’s discomfort and dismay.
Get yourself a pair of clippers and clip the hair off behind the ear (the ‘cup’ part) and below the opening of the ear. Can’t see if from most angles and makes grooming easier, more air gets to the ear canal.
I trim it with thinning shears.
Poodles have the same hairy problem. I wish they were among the areas to be shaved, but alas, no.
With the Cockers Whether English American or even Boykin. They are trimmed down and always kept that way…. so we never experience this problem, Although I can see how it can happen. Behind the ears with a proper cut….never see this problem.
With the Flatties and Chatties. Nope, never been a problem. I personally think its has something to do with the different texture of the hair. FCR are softer and lush. Our neighbor’s Field Goldens are rough and course in the hair. And we don’t spend all the time primping and preening our dogs before a show. We literally wait for our call and pat the dust off and get in there. Presented as the dog should be, looking like it just came from the field. And to the chagrin of those that wasted all morning with a comb and a blow dryer…. we even win. LOL.
Goldens have a lot more undercoat. My really straight-coated golden didn’t get these as badly as the more wavy-one did.
I’m sure this isn’t “the” way to do it, but I try to remember to tease through that part on my flattie with, of all things, a flea comb, whenever I happen to trim her nails; pulls out the dead hair without a dematting comb or worrying about keeping both sides even. I’m sure a strategic trim with a thinning shears wouldn’t hurt, but I haven’t cared enough to bother trying to find the right size yet.
I have yet to find an honest-to-goodness mat, so I don’t doubt they’re easier than a golden.
She’s pretty much as wash and wear as the Lab.
I think this must be bred out in the golden retriever. It’s annoying.
Maybe that was why the wave was bred out of the flat-coat.
But the proper wavy-coat on a golden has some basis in functional conformation.
A flat-coat friend of mine that is a bit pickier about ears and who also deals with spay-coat (sort of an undercoat fluff) uses a rather small de-matting tool BEFORE there’s a mat, to take out the dead hair and “undercoat” a little more aggressively. Just pulls it through once or twice to clean up that area whenever she runs another comb or brush through her dog.
Again, this may not be “the” way to do it, but if it’s driving you nuts it might be worth a try. If you get it “wrong” it will surely grow back… :)
Heaven only knows what trying to breed out ear fluff may lead to!
I also use a thinning shears. The only problem I have is that I usually don’t do it often enough but when I do it’s 1 or 2 times a week with the thinning shears, very quick, a few cuts, and don’t pay too much attention to what it looks like. I have a far bigger problem with my springer spaniel.
Some of my Flatcoats have had it worse than others but most all have the problem. The mildest form is the tiny mats that can be dealt with and the most severe is the mats-the-size-of-your-hand that go down to the skin. I shave those out. Gets my vote for “design flaw”!
The worst I’ve ever seen was in a golden that had a very wavy coat, and it had the long “show” coat. She also had a vestigial water spaniel topnot. That dog would mat very easily.
Well with 5 kids who all want to take turns brushing their dogs everyday, perhaps we have an advantage. But we literally never experience this. Now I’m looking forward to it happening just to say I know what you’re talking about.
Maybe that’s why your dogs don’t seem to shed very much. I’ve never had a golden that didn’t blow coat like a husky.
Not at all…. if we take the way we do things and apply it to the Goldens we’ve had or the Labs…….. Even after a vigorous brushing day after day….. You couldn’t pet either dog without hair coming off in your hand. Time and again with the FCR even after days of no kids willing to brush them. A wipe of your hand across their back does not result in hair all over your hand. With the exception of the bitches when they blow their coat from coming into season. and even that is pretty minimal.
i don’t like razors so i always use hair clippers to cut my hair `’;