Poodle's hair is tangling VERY easy? help with combing!?

my 1 yr old mini poodle luca.

his whole body is short fur and nice and curly.

besides on his ears its long and VERY VERY fine fur and ts getting al ittle matted and he HATES it when i brush him/

when i do brush him his fur gets all staticy and grosss.

im using a doube sided brush. wire bristle side and a soft bristle side.

i use the softer side to brush his curly short body, and i use the wire side to brush his ears. oh yeah and his short stubby tail has long fur on it too.

the soft side wont get the matted fur out .

and i cant cut it out or else it will look bad.

also i cant find scissors haha.

please help! and new brushes or diffrent teqniques i should try?

thanks.

Poodle's hair is tangling VERY easy? help with combing!?

Poodles go through a coat change right around this 1 year mark you mention. This can be frustrating! (I've got an 11 month old that requires tons of grooming!)- anyway, the best brushes for your poodle are a slicker brusher and a metal comb. You have to be sure that you get down to the skin. The soft bristled brush you're using just goes along the top of the hair.

To get the mats out of the hair, I would try first grabbing the knot with both hands and pulling it apart. If they aren't too tight, you might be able to split the mat into smaller pieces that way. Then, you take the comb and start at the bottom of the ears, combing, and work on the mat from the bottom up. It will take time, and can be a bit painful on tender ears. You can also get a mat rake or mat splitter- the one we have is like small razor blades- they are curved so they don't hurt the dog, but have very sharp blades to split the mat.

For the dog getting staticy when you brush, you should never brush your dog's coat dry- find a good doggie coat conditioner, or leave in spray and LIGHTLY mist the coat before brushing. This will cut down on the static while brushing.

For his ears, I would really suggest cutting some of the excess length off- they will get into everything- his food, his water bowl, drag in dirt, etc., which will make them nastier.

Good luck!

Poodle's hair is tangling VERY easy? help with combing!?

The proper tools for grooming a poodle are a soft wire slicker brush and a metal comb.

Please don't try to cut your dog's hair, that's what groomers are for. You'll make him look silly and could potentially cut his skin.

If his hair gets static, get some leave-in spray conditioner from the pet store and use it when you brush him. Use just enough to kill the static, don't soak him in it or he'll get greasy and clumpy.

If he's too matted, take him to a groomer and have him clipped down shorter.

EDIT: Retractable leashes are very dangerous. They can break fairly easily, and if a dog runs to the end too fast, he can jerk too hard and damage his neck/throat. Please get a regular nylon leash instead. Maybe find him a fenced doggie park in your area to visit once or twice a week for extra exercise.

Poodle's hair is tangling VERY easy? help with combing!?

have you tried giving him a bath to get some of this "gunk" out? My dogs normally get pine pitch in their fur, and its a pain to get out. I normally just give them a bath with some shampoo that helps their coat. then, after the bath, i just brush them. maybe even brush him while he is in the bath.

Poodle's hair is tangling VERY easy? help with combing!?

I'm not sure what you mean by the brushes you're using.

You should try a slicker brush (those are great at getting out small mats) and pin brushes.

Brush regularly- if he's not real tolerant of it, you may need to do it several times a day. If you're having a hard time maintaining his clip without mats, you should get it cut down shorter until you can manage it.

Praise him a lot when you brush him, and give him treats after.

Poodle's hair is tangling VERY easy? help with combing!?

i agree with the poster above

i have 2 toy poodles and i use a brush like this

http://www.morrco.com/slickerbrush.html

it works fantastically it gets tats out easily and my youngest poodle is very relaxed when i use this- she cries when i use anything other than the slicker....