Border Collies Tail

[sheena]

My girls tail is so thick it is like a fox's tail. It gets brushed every couple of days with a Les Pooch Brush & rake & I keep the knots out of it, but it is so thick & heavy. Is there a safe way of thinning her tail out without ruining her coat. I have used the Mars Coat King on her pants to take some of the weight out of them, but not game to use it on her beautiful, thick tail.

Edited October 10, 2012 by sheena

[BC Crazy]

My male BC has a BIG tail too. Very thick & long. I have to trim the end with scissors as it as it touches the ground & it hurts him if he stands on it. I use my Mars coat king his tail, very carefully, to thin it out. I make

sure he has just been washed ,conditioned & completely dry. I Les pooche his tail first, then use the MCK. I hold the bone of his tail in one hand & lay his tail out & rake him fairly softly, the full length of his tail. If you

try to rake quickly on a dirty coat it will grab & you'll take a chunk out. Hope this makes sense & I was of some help :)

Edited October 11, 2012 by BC Crazy

[DeltaCharlie]

I use a coat king through Delta's tail. Not particularly gentle about it though and she never gets bathed (although any brushing usually occur after the first dam swim of the summer if that counts lol) she has a crappy coat anyway though so I'm not too fussed. I would take more care with the others if they needed it.

[BC Crazy]

Sonny has a big coat, lots of it Delta Charlie & he is a bit of a softy so I do go easy on him. His coat is lovely considering he is neutured. My girl also has a lovely coat too but she is not a sook.

I can go for my life with the Mars & she's like, 'watever, just hurry up !!' :laugh:

Edited October 11, 2012 by BC Crazy

[BCPuppy]

Mine has a big coat too, hates being brushed no matter how much I bribe her, so we have a weekly battle to keep the knots down! This time of year I try to thin her out as much as I can as gets pretty hot here. She is rarely washed, but swims in the ocean every day and has a rinse with fresh water and gets a quick comb whilst still wet. I use coat king too, but also use thinning scissors, mainly on her belly, pants and tail. Thins without making her look 'raggy'.

[BC Crazy]

Sonny loves being brushed which is great. Stella not so much but I groom mine daily so they just pop themselves on the grooming table as soon as they see me get the grooming bag out :laugh:

I am in the market for a decent pair of thinning scissors thought they might do a better job on the pants e.t.c. too. Thanks for the 'heads up' though :)

[sheena]

Mine has a big coat too, hates being brushed no matter how much I bribe her, so we have a weekly battle to keep the knots down! This time of year I try to thin her out as much as I can as gets pretty hot here. She is rarely washed, but swims in the ocean every day and has a rinse with fresh water and gets a quick comb whilst still wet. I use coat king too, but also use thinning scissors, mainly on her belly, pants and tail. Thins without making her look 'raggy'.

Do you just use human thinning scissors ??

[dancinbcs]

Thinning scissors will make the coat grow back thicker. The best way to deal with big coats is to wash the dog, rinse then apply conditioner and comb it through with a very wide toothed comb before rinsing. Blow dry with a dog dryer while using the wide toothed comb. This procedure saves hours of work with a brush. If you really want to thin the undercoat use something like a Mars Coat King or just a slicker but only on the undercoat, so part the hair in layers and work from the skin out, removing some of the undercoat. Then brush in layers with a good quality bristle/nylon brush. Never brush a completely dry coat but mist with a little detangler or leave in conditioner first. If you can hear the brush or comb going through the coat, it is too dry. Also never brush a thick coat from the top down. It must be done in layers from underneath and the ends of the hair, working back towards the dog on each layer.

[BC Crazy]

Oh, many thanks Dancinbcs for clarifying this. I certainly don't want Sonny tail any thicker, or his pants for that matter. On Sonny's body , I have been shown incorrectly how to use the Coat King

then as I was shown was not to lift the top coat up, but use MCK directly onto the top coat, no wonder it is growing back all patchy, not happy

Will be following your method from now on. So wish I had known about it earlier. Sonny being neutered, it is really hard to keep his coat looking good, but I do put a lot of effort / pride into it.

I like mine to always look their best. Someone we both know will confirm that for you :) :) & thanks for saving me some $$ & not running out buying the best thinning scissors when I don't need them.

I have a cheap pair I use to get the little bits of dead coat from behind their ears.

Had to edit, Sorry Sheena, didn't mean to hijack your thread but sounds like we are having very similar issues. Maybe we both have BC's / foxes :laugh:

Edited October 15, 2012 by BC Crazy

[sheena]

Thinning scissors will make the coat grow back thicker. The best way to deal with big coats is to wash the dog, rinse then apply conditioner and comb it through with a very wide toothed comb before rinsing. Blow dry with a dog dryer while using the wide toothed comb. This procedure saves hours of work with a brush. If you really want to thin the undercoat use something like a Mars Coat King or just a slicker but only on the undercoat, so part the hair in layers and work from the skin out, removing some of the undercoat. Then brush in layers with a good quality bristle/nylon brush. Never brush a completely dry coat but mist with a little detangler or leave in conditioner first. If you can hear the brush or comb going through the coat, it is too dry. Also never brush a thick coat from the top down. It must be done in layers from underneath and the ends of the hair, working back towards the dog on each layer.

Whats the best way to thin out a very thick...fox-like, tail?? & matching pants :D

[dancinbcs]

Thinning scissors will make the coat grow back thicker. The best way to deal with big coats is to wash the dog, rinse then apply conditioner and comb it through with a very wide toothed comb before rinsing. Blow dry with a dog dryer while using the wide toothed comb. This procedure saves hours of work with a brush. If you really want to thin the undercoat use something like a Mars Coat King or just a slicker but only on the undercoat, so part the hair in layers and work from the skin out, removing some of the undercoat. Then brush in layers with a good quality bristle/nylon brush. Never brush a completely dry coat but mist with a little detangler or leave in conditioner first. If you can hear the brush or comb going through the coat, it is too dry. Also never brush a thick coat from the top down. It must be done in layers from underneath and the ends of the hair, working back towards the dog on each layer.

Whats the best way to thin out a very thick...fox-like, tail?? & matching pants :D

I always just used a slicker and/or the MCK on the undercoat of thick pants and tails on my desexed oldies.

[BCPuppy]

I have not noticed the coat getting any thicker since I started with the thinning scissors, I use good quality human ones, recommended to me by a groomer some time ago. If anything the pants and rear have smoothed out a fair bit. I do use the coat king as described by dancinbc, and a leave in conditioner about once a week. She only get washed when she has been rolling in something stinky or we are off on holidays :) there is no was on this earth I would get near her with a hair dryer, she runs a mile at any noise like that - air compressor, tyre deflator, vacuume! But then we dont do shows or anything, so grooming is more for her comfort than appearance.