What do you tend to do with mats? Obviously prevention is the best treatment... when I say mats I'm not talking about those rock solid ones (my dog used to get them when we went to the cottage and he got all sandy and muddy, before we wised up and just cut the hair behind his ears before the mats happened). But it's almost like when he sheds, instead of the hair falling off (like with my other dog) it kind of gets caught up around the remaining hair. I use one "tine" of a plastic comb to pick at any lumps until they're loose, and then comb it out starting at the ends of the hair. I've read that using a leave in conditioner... or even a regular conditioner if you wash it out.. is good if you have serious mats. When you say you don't cut through them, do you just cut under them? or... you comb them out carefully no matter how long they are?

What I like about groomers is they really know how to hold a dog. Even a squirmy puppy... there are certain places and methods of holding them, and they really just can't move. When I did it, I just wore him out at the dog park and then cut his hair while he was sleeping.

That's kind of scared me away from the clippers... the video I was referring to is http://youtube.com/watch?v=eiiSio90tx4, it looks like you just run a comblike shaver through, and it cuts all of the hair just a little bit shorter. Is she hovering the clippers a little bit above the skin then, so she's not actually resting the clippers on the dog? Or is it all in the angle, like a people razor?

I'm glad I posted this, I'll be putting off that particular purchase until I know exactly what I'm getting into.

-- And the Lord came unto the cheery Panda and spake, saying, "Although thou art a peaceful critter, thou shalt defend yourself furiously when attacked and rippe the limbs from thine enemies and make them wish they had never been born..."

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Sex is like musical talent. Some guys just naturally have it, some don't. Some can be taught, some want to but will always be tone deaf, and some don't care to be. And some are like a genre of music that you can't stand; you listen because it's on and you can't change the station, but no matter how hard you try you just can't make yourself enjoy it.
-- thedens

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