Dog Grooming Tips for the Torso

Video Transcript

"So working on the torso of the dog, the main part of the dog is the trunk, body going from behind the front leg to front of the back leg and we want to do one section of the dog at a time. So we would be going from the top line, the back down to the chest. Areas of common matting are areas of friction and that would be here in the groin area and with the coated male dog, we are going to have urine problems on the coat here. Other area of friction is going to be right behind the elbow. So we can start off with giving the coat a light spray and I am going to be choosing to work with the slicker brush. You can either start at the top and work on sections and work down or you can start in front of the dog and work in sections up. I am standing behind the dog right now so I am going to be starting from the back. So I am going to go at the top line, pull the hair that should be coming down this way and just working the brush through. Again, you are working in sections at a time so that when you come to a problem area you are not ripping the brush through. We want to maintain the long coat but get out the matted under coat. Now I can show you that if I took this comb and tried to comb through here, I would get stuck. That is because the coat is actually matted underneath here. Okay, I don't know if you can see it but it is matted, so I can't just take that comb and comb through. So what I am doing is I am taking my slicker brush and I am gradually working it through. This is a very very sensitive area. When you pull the individual hairs in this area, it is very uncomfortable for the dog. So when you are working through this matted area, you want to hold the hair down so I am holding the hair down with one hand and I am brushing through. Once I get one section done, I go to the next section so I am actually moving my brush lower down, right here where the leg meets the body. Again, it is always an area of friction so we've got some chance of knotting going on but you can see I am working right through one section at a time to get that under coat out. Here's the under coat, it's coming right out. Move along the torso as you are working. Often times the top back here part can be an area where we get a lot of matting so I am just working one section at a time and when you get a section finished, you can go through with your comb and see if you can comb right through it. "