was thinking about this the other day  can any one answer it

Fine hair, usually more silky in texture, basically becoming entangled either around more of the same or by burrs etc. getting caught up in the coat.  Regular grooming of areas most prone to them should prevent them forming or at least mean being able to tease them out rather than hack them off :D

My dogs groom each other! within five minutes of a good grooming they have matty ears :rolleyes:

That'll be the slabber then - works like glue :D :D :D  Use a slicker you tight #### :rolleyes:  Give the poor Leos a break :P

:P :P  nah Teri, I just cut it out ;) tic
Mind I don't know how she gets so many matts between her legs?
:D

its bit like how wires get so tangled up ;) I swear there must be tangling pixies

Several reasons IME...

Mucky dogs left without the muck being brushed out, collars left on and not brushed underneath them (matts up my dillydogs neck a treat that does!), other dogs saliva, that orrible spitty sticky mess they get after eating rawhide chews, thats like glue....

Other causes are not brushing out loose undercoat, plain not brushing right down to the skin, clippering coats that are supposed to be long - thats because the guard hairs and undercoat end up all the same length and one gets tangled around the other.

Biggest cause of tangling and matts..... the morning of an event for which you require your dog posh and clean and neatly brushed.... (take one neatly groomed little lurcher to a photo studio - retreive from car one small grey matt with legs and eyes.... somewhere.)

Em

Absolutely spot on LOL Get a Newife..you lot don't know what matts are till ya get one and they start to throw their coats!!! LOL

can dogs get matts if there is a grass seed stuck in there fur also why do they get matts under the front legs??

Matts are formed by friction. Where two surfaces rub together, such as the armpits, the hair gets tangled and forms a mat - just the way your hair is tangled in the morning after being rubbed on your pillow during the night. Anything that holds some of the hair still, such as a grass seed or burr, while allowing other hair to move and tangle with it, will cause a mat.