Hi,

I am currently fostering a rescue husky, he is four years old and by the looks of him he has never been brushed in his life, his coat is full of lumps of matted fur and feels like sheeps wool all the way down him. The day he got here we bathed him and tried to use the furminator on him but its just not getting close to the matts as all his undercoat is matted aswell.

I called a local dog groomer and they suggested shaving him, but I wasn't sure if that would be a good idea for a husky, plus I live in Ireland and its freezing here! So if anyone could give any other help or suggestions it would be really appreciated as I really want to give this boy all the help and love I can.

Thanks,
Claire

DO NOT SHAVE HIM!!! Is he a wooly coat or just a reg husky coat?

He's just a regular husky coat, from what I can tell, he is so matted his fur is all puffed up and sticking up, none of it sits flat against him.

I see. Could you post a pic?

Here are some natural, good tips for getting mats out of the hair. On top of these listed below, you could also try a detangler either for dogs or kids. We have one over here called Johnson & Johnson no more tangles. I think it would be hard to do it all in one sitdown, but if you do a bit everyday you'll get there. I think the groomer suggested shaving because it is a quick solution, but if you can avoid it I absolutely would. If you shave a husky, it's hair may never grow back to it's full/normal state. Also, take him out for a good run/round of exercise before you try, getting the crazy out should help a ton. I like the cornstarch idea listed below, it won't really have any negative effect on the coat or skin either.

http://dogcare.dailypuppy.com/homemade-solution-matted-dog-hair-1055.html

Also I would use an undercoat rake or a slicker brush with wide teeth. I've never really liked the furminator, it has a blade and can cut the guard hair.

I'll go take a picture of him now. I totally forgot about detanglers, I used to use them on my kids hair when they were little.

To be honest I didn't want to go down the shaving route as I don't want to stress him out, we rescued him from a vets, where his owner just took him there and told them to put him down as she didn't want him anymore, this was just after she burnt all around his neck with an electric shock collar after turning it up too high to stop him leaving her back garden. He has been kept chained to a wall for 4 years, has never seen the inside of a house and was maybe walked once last christmas but the vet said the woman couldn't remember if her father walked him then or not. So needless to say at the moment he is just loving laying on the couch and being in front of the fire and getting love and attention from us all, there just is no crazy there in him, he's a shadow of a dog at the moment, he didn't even know what to do when we took him for a walk yesterday. We can sit and brush him all day for all he cares, he loves the company.

It sounds like he has an overly plush coat- there is no quick fast fix. High velocity driers will help break that up by separating the hair, but really the best will be line combing with a straight comb. If you can get an undercoat rake with close enough tines it could work the same. You'll want to part the hair by running your hand in the opposite direction of the hair and 'pull' the hair back down in small sections with the comb- I've attached a video to help show what I'm probably failing to explain LOL

Hope these help, this is Buddy, you can see from the top picture a bit better just how matted he is.

Yeah, that's not bad I was having images of severe mats....that just needs a few blow outs and daily line combing

Ah it makes me feel a bit better that you don't think its that bad, it means its fixable, I'll go to the shop and see what brushs and combs I can get for him, and maybe some detangler. Thank you for all your help