Combs for dogs: variety of types and features of choice

Making a four-legged friend will undoubtedly have to take care of many aspects of his content. A sufficient amount of time must be devoted to caring for the dog's coat, or rather brushing it. Let us consider in more detail the basic principles of this process, as well as the features of the choice of suitable combs for a particular type of wool cover.

A dog's coat consists of two parts - the coat and the undercoat. The coat forms the appearance of the dog, protects the dog from aggressive environmental factors: sunlight, wind, a certain amount of moisture and slight mechanical stress, and the undercoat helps dogs to keep their body heat in cold climates.

Thus, dogs have two components of their cover, the proportions of the ratios of these covers differ from breed to breed, which allows some dogs to endure winter nights in an open field, while others are severely limited in their capabilities and forces them to tremble even in a light autumn wind. Dogs have their own characteristics of grooming. They are often clean animals; they cannot cope with entangled villi or formed mats on their own.

It is recommended to brush your pet's coat with a comb or other tools quite often, comb out the loose undercoat and remove parasites from the coat. The frequency of such procedures is dictated by which breed group your dog belongs to - long-haired, short-haired or smooth-haired.

The easiest way is to brush smooth-haired dogs. Their undercoat is practically not pronounced, and the woolen hair is so short that tangling is practically impossible. Short-haired dogs already have some undercoat, and the coat itself can get tangled in the presence of dirt, for example.

You can use a variety of tools to brush your furry pet.

Several varieties are used for combing wool.

• Furminator. This tool is similar to a men's safety razor, only slightly larger and has a row of durable metal teeth instead of a blade. This tool, in addition to ease of use and reliability, can also offer comfort for the pet - dogs like the procedure for combing this way. The main task of the furminator is to remove old undercoat, so this tool is not applicable to those dogs that do not have one. Depending on the length of the pet's coat, it is worth choosing a furminator with more or less long teeth, and it is also necessary to take into account the size of the animal when choosing.

The furminator also needs some care, for example, it needs to be thoroughly rinsed after each procedure, and if the device is clogged, you can simply clean it with your own hands, without using any other tools.

• Slicker. This item for grooming dogs' hair is a kind of analogue of a furminator, but less perfect and versatile for combing a downy undercoat. The slicker has very long metal teeth and is suitable only for dogs with a very pronounced undercoat, and for short-haired animals, the combing process will cause discomfort. When choosing a slicker, it is necessary to correlate the size of the dog, the severity of the hairline and the length of the teeth. It is also important to have balls of plastic, rubber or metal at the ends of these teeth, which will help prevent scratching of the animal's body.

• Crest It is necessary to complete combing after a slicker and to smooth out the hair of dogs of such breeds as Samoyeds, Husky, Spitz and other representatives with thick downy hair. The fact is that after the slicker, a certain amount of uncombed undercoat still remains, even if this amount is small, but it can form into tangles and complicate the combing of the dog in the future, this is due to the use of the comb. In general, it can eliminate not only the remnants of the separated undercoat, but also these very tangles.

• Massage brush. Varieties of this object by design are with a handle and with a strap for the hand, and the bristles in the brush can be both natural and artificial. If the artificial bristles are made of metal rather than plastic, then it is desirable that the ends of the teeth are safe for the skin of the animal.The main function of the massage brush is not so much to comb out the dog's hair as to style it and give it a well-groomed look with parallel massage of the skin.

• Mitten. This instrument is precisely a mitten, on which there are rubber teeth on the inner surface, similar to the teeth on a massage brush, only shorter. It should be used for smooth-haired and short-haired dogs, as the mittens have difficulties with processing long-haired hair. The use does not seem difficult, since it is enough to simply stroke the dog in the direction of coat growth, and the dogs themselves are more than favorable to such a procedure, which allows it to be done daily and to mutual pleasure.

• Rake Is not the same tool used in gardening. In this case, we are talking about an object in which the teeth are not rigidly fixed, but freely, and make rotational movements, which has a positive effect on the efficiency of combing out downy hair. It is undesirable to use this variety for combing out breeds of dogs that do not have an undercoat, as the wool can wrap around them, which will cause discomfort to the animal. Therefore, the use of a rotary tine rake is most suitable for combing Malamutes, Caucasian Shepherd Dogs and other breeds with a thick undercoat.

• To remove fleas, the main tool is a comb with very fine teeth, between which there are so small gaps that fleas are easily removed from the wool by mechanical means. Again, the comb should be proportional to the dog's hairline, as a small comb will not help treat the coat of a large dog, and a large one will injure a small one. You should not use this scrubber on a regular basis, as it will damage the entire undercoat, both loose and alive.

• For haircuts use combs, hand and electric hairbrushes, which are inherently close to hair clippers. The hand comb is used to separate hair into strands and also to trim the edges when cutting, which is very convenient for dogs of so-called "hairdressing breeds", for example, Yorkshire Terriers, which are very good at fine, graceful hairstyles.

• Metal comb is not the main tool in a haircut. She is strictly paired with scissors or a typewriter. It does not comb through the coat, it only helps to separate the strands, allowing them to be trimmed. If the dog has an undercoat, the tooth should go more often, if not, then less often, so as not to damage the outer hair.

• Trimmer combs very similar to dog clippers. They are divided into such varieties as pendulum, battery, rotary and vibration. Rotary ones are used in grooming dogs with very thick hair, rechargeable ones - for grooming all other breeds. The rest are either difficult to use or provide insufficient power. Each such comb is equipped with replaceable attachments for different hair lengths and the abundance of hair. Trimmers are good for those animals that need to be trimmed frequently. They are ideal for those owners who want to take care of their pet's appearance themselves, as they are easy to use and do not require special skills, although you still have to get used to it.

• For trimming, you can use stripping, which is a series of blades mounted on a bar perpendicular to the handle. They remove loose hair, moreover, mainly in schnauzers and other representatives of wire-haired breeds. Stripping can only be combined with trimming, since frequent stripping can damage the dog's live coat and cause injury.

• For grooming use combs-knitting needles, which are a kind of comb with a very narrow handle - part with teeth you can comb wool, and you can wind strands on the handle or make a parting with it. They also use a groomer, a special tool similar to stripping. This tool is great for trimming matted coats and thinning undercoats.

• Another grooming tool is koltunorez, similar to a groomer, but with long blades directed perpendicular to the plane of the handle. The instrument is very sharp, so it is advisable not to use it without experience with it. And it is definitely not recommended to use it for regular wool processing.

When choosing a tool for combing your pet, you need to be guided by some rules.

• First of all, don't skimp. It is very important to buy a quality item that does not damage the skin and hair of the animal. By buying a good tool, you provide reliability, comfort and safety for your pet, as well as convenience for yourself.
• For dogs with long coats, it is important to select instruments of proportional length, with longer teeth. For large, long-haired breeds, the presence of a massive undercoat is more characteristic, therefore it is important for them to choose the right tools for caring for it. Short-haired and smooth-haired dogs do not have such an acute problem with caring for the undercoat, so one item can be dispensed with.
• Also, pay attention to the experience of other dog breeders. Perhaps breeders who regularly participate in exhibitions with pets can help you, because appearance is important there, so these kind of experienced dog breeders definitely know how to care for the coat and what devices to use.

It is very important to use the tools correctly so as not to injure your pet. In the process of processing wool, the following conditions must be met:

• when using tools with a sharp surface and cutting teeth, it is necessary to securely fix the dog so that it does not get hurt by awkward movements;
• it is necessary to comb the animal in the direction of hair growth, since the actions of the comb in the other direction will bring great discomfort to your pet;
• Many groomers and breeders recommend brushing with wet or slightly damp coat, which is considered a safer and easier process;
• when combing tangled places, you should not make sudden movements, it is necessary to smoothly comb the tangled wool, gently holding it with your palm;
• you should be especially careful when combing the hair in the area of ​​the paws, since there the cover is less abundant and practically does not have an undercoat.

How to choose a comb for dogs, see below.