In This Chapter
- Discovering the corded breeds
- Developing those doggie dreadlocks
- Bathing (and drying) the corded canine coiffure
- Preparing your corded dog for show
Cords on these breeds form
naturally. The undercoats naturally entwine with the top coat, creating a type
of cording or felting (another fancy name for cording). The cords usually begin
to form when the puppy is shedding out his puppy coat and growing in his adult
coat at 9 months or thereabouts. Depending on the breed, cords can take from
two to five years to mature. During this maturation process, owners of corded
dogs need to make sure that their pups’ coats don’t form mats and instead
separate into cords.
Most owners choose these dogs
because of the distinctive look the cords have, plus they love the
personalities of the corded dogs. If you have a corded dog, chances are you
want to keep the cords in as good of shape as possible and keep them long.
Ultimately that means you need to encourage a show-type coat, which requires a
considerable amount (almost daily) of maintenance. Lucky for you, this chapter
explains everything you need to know about grooming your dog’s corded coat to
keep it looking its very best.
Introducing the Corded Breeds
So you’ve never seen a
four-legged, wet-nosed mop, eh? Well, take a look at the Komondor in Figure
10-1, who is joined by four other breeds on the corded list:
- Bergamasco
- Corded Poodle (Poodles can be shown with corded coats)
- Komondor
- Puli
- Spanish Water Dog
Corded dogs are water dogs or
herding dogs, primarily because their corded coats provide good protection
against the elements.
Figure 10-1: Yah mahn! The
Komondor, he’s got the best of canine dreads.
Brushing
Until your puppy starts
developing cords, brushing and combing are imperative for keeping your uncorded
puppy looking good.
Caring for the coat before cords form
You need to brush and comb your
puppy every day before the cords form. That’s the reality of the breed.
Without cords, corded puppies
need to be brushed and combed the same way you would any other dog with curly
hair. Here’s how:
1. Look for tangles or mats
and remove them using detangler solution and a medium-toothed comb (see Chapter Caring
for Your Canine’s Teeth, Toes, Ears, Face, and Ahem, Other Areas for specific instructions).
The tricky part is telling a mat from a forming cord. If the hair is trying to form longwise, it’s a cord; otherwise it’s a mat and needs to be detangled.
2. Backbrush, or brush against
the lay of your dog’s hair, first using a slicker brush and then again with a
medium- or coarse-toothed comb — depending on the thickness and length of your
dog’s coat.
Using a slicker brush removes the loose hairs, and using a comb helps you make sure no tangles are present and removes more hair.
3. Brush your dog’s coat with
the lay of the hair using a slicker brush.
Be sure to get all the way to the skin as you brush your dog this way.
4. Go over your dog’s coat
with a flea comb to detangle any mats and to look for fleas.
You can best use a flea comb by parting the coat, starting at the root, and combing through.
5. Depending on how hairy your
dog’s pads are, you can either leave them natural or clip them by running
electric clippers with a No. 10 blade over the paw pads to remove any excess
hair.
Don’t clip the hair between the pads — just any excess that otherwise may get in the way or inhibit a neater appearance.
6. If you wish, use a No. 10
blade to trim around the anal area and belly to avoid a mess.
As the cords form
At some point, your puppy’s coat
is going to start forming cords (see Figure 10-2). They usually begin to form
at the skin first as the puppy starts shedding his puppy fluff, and the coat
begins to mature.
After the cords start forming,
you need to separate them from the other hair with your fingers to make sure
that they don’t form mats. Separating the cords is a daily task together with
brushing out any other hair that hasn’t yet become part of a cord with a
slicker brush and a comb. Cords form pretty much on their own – it just
happens; you can’t do much to stop the process or encourage it.
Figure 10-2: Here’s what you
may start with — a Puli pup before cords have fully formed.
As you might expect, mats and
tangles are common with corded dogs until the cords form. After all, that’s how
the cords are formed — sort of. If you think about it, cords are just elongated
pieces of twisted hair that clump together, almost exactly as a mat would,
except that they form a cord instead. If you find a smaller mat that isn’t
cording, you can try to remove it by using detangler solution and a comb to
gently tease it out, but you may have to use your fingers to get between the
hairs and untangle them. After you do, you can try to separate the cords again
and encourage them to stay corded. If the mat is seriously large, the best
thing to do is consult a professional groomer to help you remove it.
Tip
Be patient with the cording process. It usually takes several years and daily grooming to coax the cords to mature properly. The coats of most corded breeds will cord naturally, but the fur still needs your help to prevent it from forming mats and terrible tangles rather than cords.
Maintaining healthy cords
If you’ve been a conscientious
corded-breed owner, you’ve been separating cords so that they don’t become
entangled. At some point, nothing is left but cords (see Figure 10-3). Now that
your corded dog has a mature coat, I’m sure you’re wondering: “What do I do
with the cords now?”
Figure 10-3: Body (a) and
paw (b) cords close up.
After the cords form, your main
responsibility becomes keeping the cords separated and free from dirt and
debris. That’s no minor task for any kind of mop-like object or being. (If you
don’t keep the cords clean, you end up with the kind of horrible mess that only
clippers can solve.)
Put away the brush and comb and
break out your clippers, pH-balanced shampoo, and conditioner — the basic tools
you need to keep a corded dog clean and looking good.
You can use the clippers or
scissors (remember to be careful) to trim away fuzzies that form on the ends of
the cords and keep them neat and tidy. Trimming the cords also makes sure that
the dirt these dogs naturally pick up off the floor doesn’t cause mats. Many
pet owners prefer to have their dog’s underside and the area around the
genitals and anus clipped to avoid obvious problems.
Tip
If you decide that cords are too much of a hassle (as many pet owners have), you can keep the cords trimmed back to about four inches, thus keeping them off the ground. In extreme cases, you can clip your dog’s cords back to whatever length you feel comfortable maintaining.
Keeping Cords Clean
The best way to keep your corded
dog clean is to keep him away from the stuff that gets him dirty to begin with.
But that means keeping him from being what he really is — a dog. You can expect
a corded coat to pick up an extraordinary amount of dirt and debris that
definitely requires thorough cleaning. Yes, corded breeds do need to be bathed,
so in the sections that follow, I tell you how.
How often and when, really?
Corded dogs need to be bathed
frequently to keep the cords clean and to maintain a healthy skin and coat. You
may have to bathe your corded dog as often as once a week. If your dog can stay
clean, you maybe can get by with bathing only once every other week. It just
depends.
Remember
Bath time for corded dogs can be a lengthy ordeal — not because of washing, per se, but rather because of drying. Think in terms of hours when it comes to washing and drying a corded dog. Your arms will hurt, your dog will get bored, and you’ll start dreaming of dogs with no coats. An entire afternoon or morning may work — figure an hour to wash and two to three hours to dry.
Bathing basics
No one part of bathing a corded
breed is tougher than the other. They all present unique problems that the
corded breed owner must overcome. Getting the dog completely wet, completely
washed and conditioned, completely rinsed, and then completely dried are what
make bathing a corded dog really tough.
Warning!
Never wash a corded dog outside or in a dirty room. You end up undoing all that you’ve done to wash your dog.
Here are the steps to follow when
washing your dog’s corded coat:
1. Wet down your dog
thoroughly in a tub that’s an appropriate size for your breed of dog.
Accomplishing this task can be rough. Those cords can sop up a lot of water, and soaking your dog down to the skin may prove to be harder and more time consuming than you think.
Tip
Use a shower spray attachment or even fill a container and pour water from it into the cords then feel the skin and the cords to make sure they’re soaking wet.
2. Using a pH-balanced
shampoo, thoroughly lather up your dog’s entire coat.
You need to make sure that the shampoo penetrates the cords by squeezing the suds into each one.
3. Starting from the skin and
working outward to ensure that you leave no residue, thoroughly rinse the
shampoo from the corded dog’s coat.
Tip
Always rub your hands through your dog’s cords down to the skin and through the cords again to rinse shampoo residue away. You must run clean water through each of the cords to make sure they’re totally rinsed.
Warning!
Rinsing your corded dog’s coat is extremely important, because leaving any residues in it is likely to result in a very dirty dog in a very short time. Dirt in the cords likewise can trap water and other nasty stuff, making them perfect breeding grounds for bacteria and mildew.
4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3, but
this time in place of shampoo, apply a good conditioner to keep the cords
feeling their best.
5. Rinse the conditioner from
the corded coat really well (in the same way described in Step 3).
6. Dry your dog’s corded coat
(check out the next section).
Drying the cords
Now that you’ve washed your
corded dog, you must take these steps in the daunting process of drying your
dog’s dreads:
1. Gently twist handfuls of
cords in a wringing motion to remove the excess water while the dog is still in
the tub.
Repeat this step on all of the cords, starting from the top of your dog and working your way down.
If the excess water is too soapy, rinse the cords again.
Wring the cords out several times until you can’t get any more water out.
2. Using towels, squeeze the
water out of each cord down to the skin.
Take this step while your dog is still in the tub.
Pining over towel-dry-and-go dogs
Whenever you’ve had to spend hours drying your
corded dog, you’re probably thinking that
a bald dog might be the way to go. All righty then:
Although these dogs must be bathed weekly, drying them is a breeze:
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3. Remove your dog from the
tub and repeat Step 2 using dry towels.
4. Using a strong dog hair
dryer without heat, blow-dry the corded coat from the skin outward.
Dry the cords in layers from the top to the bottom of the dog.
Remain patient. Drying a corded dog’s coat takes an extraordinary amount of time.
Warning!
Remember to thoroughly dry your dog; otherwise, he will mildew — yuk! If your dog smells like rotting vegetation or his coat turns odd colors and smells of mold or mildew, it’s time to clip the cords. Depending on how bad the mildew problem is, you may have to trim only a small section, or it may end up being the entire coat. If the entire coat is involved, I recommend seeking help from a professional groomer and a veterinarian. If the mildew isn’t too bad, you can try a medicated antifungal shampoo on your dog — which may get rid of the problem, but you must make sure your dog is completely dry to avoid the possibility of the mildew coming back.
Tip
Now that you know what bathing a corded dog entails, if you’re dead set on allowing your dog to play outside, either clip the cords back or provide your pooch with some kind of doggiewear that keeps most of the offending brush and dirt out of his coat.
Preparing for Show
If you’re thinking about entering your corded breed in the big show, a thorough understanding of the breed standard helps immensely. A good place to look for breed standards is on the Internet at www.akc.org.
Here are some basic preparations
that are essential:
- Trimming toenails
- Trimming frayed cords
- Bathing the dog
- Drying the dog
- Keeping the dog clean
The last two items are probably
the most daunting of tasks where the corded dog is concerned. You might find it
helpful to ask people who show corded breeds what grooming tips and tricks they
recommend and then experiment to establish your own show routine.
by Margaret H.Bonham
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