Took one and a half year old newfi to groomer today to get some mats out and they said he had "pelted" and would need to be shaved. Will his hair grow back right and is this the only alternative?

Sorry but I cant understand why you are worried if the dogs coat will grow back right.It is not fair on the dog to let the coat get into that state in the first place.
Rose

I don't see why it wouldn't grow back the same as before over time. It might actually be nice for your dog to have a shorter coat this time of year. And it would give you an opportunity to start grooming/brushing it regularly without the added hassle of loads of hair. As for other solutions, it is far nicer for the dog to be shaved than to have matts cut or combed out. Can you imagine how painful that would be? OUCH! :)

I did a show Newfi once for someone, who had unfortunately let its coat go and I mean go. It took me a total of 2 days. The dog was brilliant and didn't really bother but I do think it's unfair to let dogs get like that.

I must say when I did a bit of training on grooming some of the groomers did not impress me, the easiest thing they could do was to clip a dog,even if it had a couple of little mats. Before anyone shoots me down I'm not calling all groomers, I had a lovely woman phone me the other day to make sure that she clipped a Spanish Water Dog correctly. She had contacted the KC and then me to make sure that everything was done correctly, I must say I was impressed. Other groomers mind have trimmed them like Bedlingtons and Poodles. The ones that were trimmed like Bedlingtons, I mean were trimmed like Bedlingtons, with the little fluffy bit at the end of their ears etc. aaaagghhh!!

I was also asked once to clip my dogs at a grooming show and when they found out that it was just an all off clip they were not amused.

Hi Diane, can you or anyone else tell me what 'pelted' means? And if so, is there a better way to manage it than clipping in spring/summer? The reason I ask is because I'm wondering if that is what my castrated sheltie does. His coat has been a nightmare since the snip, and has only got worse with age. His undercoat doesn't matt but it becomes felt-like, and no matter how much I groomed him (before he was so arthritic and old that I took to the clippers) I never got all of the 'felt' out. Now that he is clipped once or twice a year he's a bit easier to manage, but the 'felt' is still there and his skin tends to get very dry and flaky under it.

Hi Sharon. I think pelted should have read felted! A Newfie only needs to be clipped off if the coat has been neglected. As there is so much bulk on a Newfie, then there is a lot of grooming to be done, but it is not difficult grooming, just time consuming, and this should be considered before taking on such a large dog!

Neutered Sheltie/Rough Collie coat is difficult to deal with as the undercoat becomes more profuse and the top coat softer. That's why I don't recommend that they are neutered unless necessary. Do you have a slicker brush and a dematting comb? The slicker has a bend pin and is for normal grooming. The dematting comb is a set of blades on a wooden handle. This requires some practice and skill to cut through any felts.

Hi Val, thanks!. I've got a rarely used dematter and an assortment of slickers. I usually go over Storm with a wide toothed rake and and a wide toothed comb to 'raise' the felt, and then use a slicker to remove it as I never let him get to the point of being matted. Do you think the mat-splitter would be better?

Do you or anyone else know where I could find a slicker with plastic 'bobbles' on the end of the pins? I used to have one, but haven't been able find a replacement since the original fell apart. It was no use on Storm, but was very good for the hounds.

Sharon, brushes with knobs on (not bells on!) won't get through felts but split and ruin a good coat. A Universal slicker deluxe from any of the grooming suppliers will do the job for most breeds from poodles to wired haired dachs, if you don't use a hound glove!
A dematter (look at the shows for the one with a wooden handle - more expensive that the Mikki one!!) will get behind any matts that build up and do the job quicker.

Hi again Val, the de-matter has a 'soft' plastic handle and is made by a US crew called APC2000. It doesn't get much use, but does a good job on the awkward places like under the forearms and inside piddled on male thighs :-). The slicker with the ball tipped pins was good on deerhounds/wolfhounds with a proper harsh coat. Slickers tend to skate over 'crisp' deerhound outer coats, especially in older hounds whose coats have become a little oily, unless a bit of pressure is applied - but the deerhound is inclined to walk away if the pressure is too hard :-). Didn't know they split or damaged the coat though :-(.

I was always told that if you shaved a dog it would make the coat more woolly,which is why breeds like Rough collies and Newfis which have tremendous undercoat should be groomed whilst in moult.
It was a brave groomer to shave a Newfi, I think I would have rather had the dog into the salon for several sessions, if it was only a year and a half then it was the puppy coat change into the adult coat, and it would have been hard work for the dog and groomer, but a better long term result.
I think shaving and castration can cause coat softening, and this sadly will mean that in the future it will be harder to keep the dog well groomed.
Maisie

I have newfs and yes they do take some grooming, but i am a groomer and so i do mine on a daily basis, i can understand that not every one has the time to do this , but letting the coat get so bad as to have it shaved , i am quite appaled.
But i do get large breeds in that have not been touched.
The last one i did was a Old English x Bearded Collie ( yes lots of hair ) 5 years old had not been touched for 2 years. I personally don't beleive that clipping is the answer to all and worked on the dog 2 hours everyday for 2 weeks as the owner did not want it to be clipped, 1 week after the dog was finally finished the owner asked me to clip it as the summer was coming:(
Oh well it was there money!!
But there are lots of dogs out there that people don't groom at all and i really feel for the animals.
maybe this person will learn from this and give there dog a groom in future as having large breeds such as newfs groomed is not cheap!!

Sam