I have a CKCS just over a year old now. He is need of a good hair cut but I am cant find one near me. I live near Woodbridge in Suffolk so can any one help me find one?

His breeder should be able to help you out, and teach you how to manage his coat. Spaniel coats don't take well to being clipped, so avoid any so-called 'groomer' who offers to clip him.

Cavalier coats should never be clipped or stripped, the coat was always designed to be left alone. Brushing and combing only :) To be honest you'll be making a rod for your own back if you start having it clipped as it will grow back thicker, woolier and harder to manage than before.

Oh dear and I have just got my Cavalier from a rescue centre and he is completely smooth because they clipped him

It's so annoying when people who ought to know better simply don't. I suppose they just don't have the time to give each dog the care it needs. :( All may not yet be lost, though. As his coat starts to regrow, if you work hard at combing it through, removing all the loose hair and preventing mats forming, you might be lucky and be able to get his coat more how it should be. There are so many around that look like an explosion in a pillow factory! :(

>It's so annoying when people who ought to know better simply don't.

What if a dog goes into rescue completely matted though, or with a severe flea infestation or the like. Is there any other choice but to clip it all off? Have only ever had short haired dogs before, so genuine question :D

A Cavalier isn't very likely to GET totally matted, not severe enough to warrant shaving. The feathering and the tail and the ears yes, not the back. They don't have the same sort of coat as other Spaniels like Cockers, their coat is more like a Golden Retriever in length on the back and is never trimmed.

My Molly was clipped last year much to my surprise. She has a very thick curly coat and after a few weeks on holiday at my parents, when we picked her up she had quick a few mats. I took her to the groomer who clipped her completely. Her coat has just been worse since then and to manage it we keep it about 3 inches long. These last few months I've found her groomer really hard due to my huge 9 month pregnant belly and this meant her ears have been matted and I'm afraid I have clipped them. Although she does look funny when clipped she is much bouncier when its done. Freya has a gorg coat that i only ever brush. Strange how they look so similair but their coats are so differnet.

I've tidied up a totally matted Newfoundland once, yes it took me three days to do it, but I did without any need for scissors.

Flea infestations can be dealt with by bathing and spraying so again no need to clip off.

I do feel a lot of people and many groomers will see just the odd mat and rather than spend time just clip the whole lot off.

I have a setter bitch at the moment I'm getting matts and curles out of with a coat king, thinning sicssors and a comb! :)

Complete aside ... where you at Melton Mowbray on Sunday, Rox?

M.

Yes I was :)

Turquoise top and black trousers? I should have come and said hello.

M.

That would be the one! :)

Normally being dragged around by at least one red and white!!! :D

but can you imagine the cost to a groomer if it comes in completely matted!!!!  Who is going to pay for a groomer to keep a matted dog for 3 or 4 days whilst they unpick the mats? better to just clip it off in my opinion....less stress to dog for sure!Also I know of a number of speyed ckcs bitches who have coats like wooly ewes!!! If left they are thick and hot and awful, so for their own sake they are clipped out. Clearly not the case for all ckcks, but sometimes its a viable alternative! terriers with proper coats a re a different matter though!

>.less stress to dog for sure!

This should be the main point of concern.

I know someone with a small longcoated breed who keeps the dog clipped back all year round.This dog swims everyday,rolls around in dirt and muck,grass clippings,you name it! When the dog was in full coat,she had to be bathed,combed and brushed out and blow dried after each walk,mostly twice a day,everyday.She walks her last thing at night,at around 11pm,what should be an half hour outing turns into 11/4 hours walking plus bathing afterward :rolleyes: granted,she only has to bath the stomach and up to the hock joints,but it still takes forever and the dog hates it and the owners not too keen either.
So in this case the dog is definitely better off and happier clipped back,now all she has to do is wipe her down with a damp cloth and she's clean :)

Yes but a clipped dog has no weather proofing at all, as the whole coat, guard hair and undercoat are the same length.  Also excessive bathing makes a dog coat attract dirt more.

Trimming excess feathering to a manageable two inches would be quite sufficient with daily brushing and combing.

If a dog with a natural coat gets dirty or muddy you let the dog dry and simply brush the mud off the outer coat and comb through the feathers and hey presto good as new.

Must admit my friend says the Elkhound was always spotless after walks compared to the Border collies, but she never clipped them off.

>If a dog with a natural coat gets dirty or muddy you let the dog dry

And after 2 or so hours,which is how long it takes for the dog to dry,the mud is mostly gone anyway....all over the carpet and furniture,and if it's a white dog it's left with a lovely dirty beige colour from the mud which no amount of brushing will get out.

>if it's a white dog it's left with a lovely dirty beige colour from the mud which no amount of brushing will get out

Not true to all breeds :)  My red and whites come out lovely and clean after drying off and a brush out, as do my friends CKCS :)  The silkyness of the coat means that the dirt just drops off and it doesn't stain.  It will take a couple of months of dirt so they look slightly off colour then the normal white but thats more due to the coat getting greasy and teh dirt sticking :)

>if it's a white dog it's left with a lovely dirty beige colour from the mud which no amount of brushing will get out.

Errm ... no, not if it has a correct natural coat without all the protective oils stripped out. When the mud is brushed off they're sparkling white. :)

if it's a white dog it's left with a lovely dirty beige colour from the mud which no amount of brushing will get out

Mine rarely get bathed these days, possibly once a year. The mud falls off them when dry and they are sparkly white again...and mine know how to get muddy.

They can go from this to this in about 3 hours :D

I do agree about the mud being all over the hosue instead though, I hoover at least once a day, sometimes twice and always have to empty the dyson afterwards :rolleyes:

Yes, mine do that too Chaumsong ...

M.

Great photos.  I always feel sorry for those dogs that are white and never allowed to get dirty.  someone with toy poodles I knew never let their dogs on grass other than in the ring.

Yup red and white setters are the same! :D

My dogs are only not allowed in mud from the afternoon before a show till they ahve finished their classes!  The rest of the time (majority of the year) they can get as muddy as they like, deal is they dry off in the hallway so most of, but not all, the dirt stays in one room.

Is horrible to clean that room afterwards though, think piles if dirt....

and if it's a white dog it's left with a lovely dirty beige colour from the mud which no amount of brushing will get out.

Didn't think you had any dogs with white on?

No, Ktee has border terriers which are naturally brown.

>Didn't think you had any dogs with white on?

No,but i have done in the past,and my parents have a white dog,plus a couple of friends who's dogs have white in their coats.

Thanks for noticing though :)

So you'll know that an over-bathed white coat will stain, whereas one with the natural oils still in will shed the dirt and be sparkling clean when it dries. :)

>So you'll know that an over-bathed white coat will stain

That could be it.. I've always bathed my dogs on a regular basis as do most people i know with small,white longhaired dogs.

I'm sure it would be a different story with short haired large dogs.

>most people i know with small,white longhaired dogs.

Perhaps they've made a rod for their own backs, and if they didn't bath them so often but relied on brushes, combs etc to keep the dog's coat tidy, they'd find the dog's coat kept cleaner and baths wouldn't be necessary. :)

Your borders, of course, if correctly stripped out could be given an bath annually whether they needed it or not - and they probably wouldn't! :D

I have a black-tri Aussie (not exactly small, but then perhaps not large :D ) - she has a lot of white on her. She frequently gets muddy, but only gets bathed perhaps once a year. The white is very white and glossy and, as others, have said, the mud just brushes out when it dries :) :) :)

Daisy

We have a Golden Retriever and he never comes back from his walks clean. He is a total mud magnet I just leave him to dry and then brush the mud out. He is brushed every day - a quick brush takes me about 15 minutes and then a couple of times a week he is brushed for about half an hour which keeps him matt and tangle free :)

As well as getting covered in mud he spends a lot of his walk pushing through undergrowth, rolling in leaf mould, puddles etc.

Absolutely.  When I was a groomer I did clip an awful lot of spaniels - they and westies were my main clients - but, it should be noted that every single one had already been clipped for a very long time, and the vast majority also had owners that either couldn't be bothered, didn't know better even if I tried to explain it, or walked their dogs in such mucky places that they couldn't be bothered with the effort it would take to get the grub out later :rolleyes:

Which is why I got a short coated dog.  I knew I wouldn't want to be grooming every day or want long wet muddy fur to deal with.  It means that even when she's wet I don't restrict her in the house because her coat is short and soon dries off.

I do get the hump though when she wipes herself along the settee when I'm sitting on it :rolleyes:

I have a breed that you can't brush or comb.  They were photographed for a new book the other day and Carina who is black and white ended up going in the mud and it was right up her legs.  Two hours she was totally dry and now she's perfectly white and I didn't even hose her down or anything!

These dogs go swimming, gundog training and all sorts I bath them about 4 times a year and they don't look bad at all!

:D That sounds like a typical Boxer reaction :D

You should see Sophie if I use grooming spray on her..
She goes mad trying to get it off throws herself all over the bedding, sofa everywhere :D
She doesn't like the smell of it I think the others just are resigned to smelling nice... well
nice as they can be :D

Mine are allowed to be natural hooligans in mud if they so wish...but I've got one that doesn't
do puddles can't get her feet wet LOL the other two are just tom boys and don't care! The wetter
and muddier the better..:rolleyes:

But at least they can enjoy themselves..just about to give em a good brush out for the show tomorrow..

It's so nice to hear show people who let their dogs be dogs and get dirty and muddy :) Then why is it i hear from so many breeders that their dogs arent allowed on the grass,or off lead incase they get into dirt,or god fodbid in the water for a swim etc etc etc. It seems these dogs arent allowed to be dogs :(

Why are these owners so paranoid,and is there anything to their worries?What about long haired/double coated et al show dogs,is the protocol different for them? Why do some show people let their dogs do whatever,and others wrap theirs in cotton wool incase a hair goes out of place?

Long haired, double coated and regularly extremely muddy here!

M.

>Why are these owners so paranoid,and is there anything to their worries?

Different people have different priorities. Some like their dogs to be pristine accessories or child substitutes with their daily bath, others realise they're actually dogs and allow them to live a more normal life. Just as some people don't allow their children to play alone (until they're 14 if the latest news rports are to be believed) and others do.

Long haired and short haired double coated dogs, currently rolling around in the dry mud, following a dip in the pond - champ show monday - i might get round to doing something about it sunday night, until then, they're having fun!

Of course, I am lucky, I can rely on the spitz fairy coming over night and removing most of the dirt from their coats.

Snap.

My Jozi one year only had one bath at start of a heavy moult, yet still won CC's and a group place that year, she was clean so she didn't get bathed.

People in the states with same breed would bath before every show, apply chalk trim colour etc, thankfully none of that here, the standard calls for natural unaltered and never trimmed.

The interesting thing I have found is that when rinsing the dogs off after a bath the water runs cleaner than it does off my own head from it's once a week wash.

>The interesting thing I have found is that when rinsing the dogs off after a bath the water runs cleaner than it does off my own head from it's once a week wash.

When my son had his dreadlocks he didn't wash his hair at all for about 18 months, and he honestly didn't smell!

Don't know really.  I suppose with some they want the maximum volume and length so they are paranoid that god forbid some of it might break off.

I knew one lady with Afghans and hers were allowed to be dogs all week and were bathed every Friday night and then groomed and she still did OK with them at shows.

I think a lot of coated breeds are over coated these days it shouldn't be the more the better.

Breeds with long flowing single coats (from Afghans to Yorkies to Maltese, etc) normally have their coats done up in 'crackers' when they're just being dogs.  These are strips of special tissue paper in which the hair is wrapped then folded and banded.  They're undone once a day, brushed out and put in again to make sure there's no knots.  In this way the dogs can go romping through fields without damaging the coat :)  It used to take my Mum about 40 minutes per Yorkie.  That's why long, single coated breeds require such dedication.

Debs

Ah that makes sense.  and of course the aldy with the afghans woudl nt ahve too many tangles to contend with at the weekend.

Which is why I prefer short coated breeds to own.
Think breeds such as Rough Collies look absolutely stunning in full coat..
But I'm not any good with lots of coat care...so stick to the short coats
that get the odd bath..and a good rubber brush through their coats 1-2 times a week.

All mine are white, 1 show dog 2 not, but the show dog Oscar is always up to his ears (and beyond!) in mud! I do tend to leave it to dry and it just either brushes or washes out when I bath him - I have been lucky he hasn't stained himself... so far. He sparkles when he's ready for a show, often people can't believe the muddy, rough n tumble life he leads when he's not at shows but he really does! His favourite game is to lie on his back in anything gross and marley 'mops' the area with him! 
He also loves nothing better than to dig large holes on the beach and then wallow in his creation like a mini hippo :D :D
(I think some show people would pass out at the thought :D :D)

My blenheim boy gets dirty very quickly, but my tri girl is one of those where the dirt just drops off. I have taken her to companion shows when she hasn't had a bath for 6 weeks and has gone to the muddy park nearly every day in between, and people can't believe she isn't freshly bathed!

Back to the OP's question, I'm afraid I don't know, but if you find one that isn't clipper happy, can you let me know? I have a friend in Norfolk who regularly dogsits one of her puppies, and the owner can't find a groomer who doesn't want to clip the whole coat off. So she just leaves him long and hairy until he goes to stay with my friend who bred him, and then I go to visit for the day and groom him for her! :-) I agree occasionally a spayed woolly Cav might need clipping, but surely even those would mostly improve with the Coat King? What I hate are the ones clipped off including all leg tummy and ear feathering - ghastly!!