Grooming help please

CorvusCorax

CorvusCorax

Deary me...
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As this is my first coated dog I was just wondering if there were any top tips for removing mats from a LC GSD? He has two belters just at the bottom of his croup/above his thigh on either side of his tail...have been Furminating them but they keep reappearing whenever he has been in water (oh, that's erm, every day...)

Not keen on cutting them and his coat is generally very good everywhere else, I just want to keep on top of it, there are just a these two particular clumpy bits around his tail and backside.

Any beautifying products :p or brushes/combs I should be looking at?
Another LC owner has suggested clipping him but not really into that idea.
 
I wouldn't recommend clipping him, you'll affect the fall of the coat and may well make him more prone to knotting. I used to do some extreme trimming on my last longhaired GSD and it did knot faster after that - but it was a necessary evil as she had severe hip dysplasia and couldn't tolerate brushing in that area at all. A quick snip every few days was much kinder on her. I did try a dematting brush, it's a comb with long, scissor-like blades to cut through matts, it worked fine on the other areas of her that were prone to knotting (e.g. her silky patches behind her ears) which might be better than cutting the knots out completely.
With my current boy, fortunately his hair isn't that prone to knotting as it's quite a coarse coat, but I've found a human hairbrush to be the most effective! I needed to buy myself a new one so just tried the old one out on him and it works very well. It's a standard metal-pinned paddle brush from Boots, I found it absolutely fantastic on my own hair (quite prone to knotting, especially when damp - this brush went through it like melted butter) and seems to be equally good on his. I do find that it's best to brush him when lying down and lift up different 'layers' of the fur on his legs/knicker area as it is just so dense - brushing the top of it doesn't even touch the fur at the bottom, I need to separate it with my hands to reach all the way down to the skin. He enjoys being brushed though so it's not a problem, if yours isn't so keen then it may be worth doing some training to get him happy with a thorough brushing session.
 
Thanks, actually my friend who has a Black Russian Terrier actually recommended a normal paddle brush.
He's used to be a bit ants-in-the-pants and just would plain squeal and bite me when I brushed him as a puppy but we got rid of that behaviour :p and now if he has a ball in his mouth he is happy as larry and will stand for hours - but not so keen on his (very impressive and swooshy) tail being done though!

The Furminator is grand on the ears as you say but not so good on his baggy trousers.
 
I find with the tail, the easiest way is with the dog laying down and tail spread out on the floor - I think can hold the tail hair at the base and brush the floofy bits without it pulling on his skin, so no worries if I catch a knot. Having always had very long hair and a mother who was always a bit aggressive with the hairbrush, I can certainly understand how much those knots must hurt when being brushed out!
 
CC, can you get your hands on a Les Pooches brush? They're fab for getting tangles out of long furnishings as they have long bent teeth. They cost a small fortune, but the original LP brushes are better than the knock offs. And Kelco does a really good detangling spray (DeMat Spray is what I think they call it). I would spray that on to the knots, and use the LP brush to tease the knots out. You can get the LP brushes in different sizes so if your ordinary brush that you're using on teh body is okay for the body, get a narrow one (purple) for the furnishings.
 
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