Any Golden Retriever owners?- grooming tips

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tiggs

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I have just got an 18mth Goldie and wondered if anyone could give me some grooming advice or recommend a good book. Do I trim feathers and long hair under belly obviously not removing completely,what about hair around ears? Which brushes are best? Thanks I am only used to labs.
 
Hi Ive always had Goldies and other than a good brush as often as I can (be bothered:p ) I dont do any trimming, but he is working lines not show, so I dont have too:D. TBH he keeps himself pretty smart, although he is moulting like a dont know what at the mo, so the brushes are out all the time. I dont use anything special, just the usual soft one for his face and comb for the long bits.
 
I`ve got two and just brush them, i dont trim!
The oldest one, no matter how much brushing she always looks like a scruff, she has the strangest coat ever!
 
Thanks, she is just a pet I have no plans to show. She does seem to love the mud but it did brush out without being too uncomfortable for her.
 
I used to trim Bear's feathers and underbelly because it was long and she was convinced she was part hippo... She also adored being vacuumed which cut down on the brushing lol :D
 
Our girl is 8 now and gets ridiculously curly. We ask the groomer to do a Shih Tzu cut on her, which is clipped body, trimmed ears, chest feathers tail and skirts. So she looks like a puppy again!! :) We walk them in particularly grubby areas and she has hydrotherapy once a fortnight - when she is curly she's hard to dry off so it makes it easier for us.

However, the last ones we had were rather straight haired - we brushed them but had to trim the fur between her pads (if youput your finger between the toes and run it AGAINST the fur then trim WITH the fur back down it thins out the fur but doesn't leave cut marks). We trimmed their tails - brush out thoroughly and hold the tail out slightly angled at the top. The tail should shape from shortest and the top to longer then shorter again near the base. We would also trim the feathers just straight to keep them neat :)
K x
 
Thanks, she has a very silky coat but particularly long feathers on her back legs so I might take a bit off with thinning scissors so it is not too noticeable. Thanks for the tip about the toes
 
Golden Retreivers come in either rather fluffy thick undercoats or silkier straight coats. If it's the former, you want a decent undercoat rake and slicker for the body and a comb for the feathering and the tail/trouser area. We find that the mats tend to be in the bum area cos the dogs end up sitting thru the grooming, so if you can get someone to help you keep her standing while you do the rear end, it's rather helpful.

The trim on a GR is pretty basic, you can thin out on the body if it's thick, the feathers get neatened up with scissors, the tail shouldn't come down past the hock when it's pulled down, the throat should be shortened tightly to the breast bone (with thinning scissors) and the ears should be either handstripped (leaving just a tiny fringe at the front edge) or using a thinning scissor carefully, the excess fluff removed. For the feet, I take a slicker brush and brush up the feet and then scissor off the excess with thinners (in the direction the hair is growing)....and also scissor off the excess hair on the pads.

all the above is done best after a thorough bath, blast with HV dryer to loosen off excess hair and thorough brush/dry....which is why we see so many of them in our salon ;)
 
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