Grooming a Komondor's Coat
Shortly after birth, the puppy is a beautiful little bundle of white fluffy hair. At around 8 or 9 months old some coarser wavy hair will start growing through. At this time the hair will start matting; this matting normally starts around the areas where the limbs rub against the hair, for example, around the ears, and under the legs and arms. The chest is the last place to start matting, and therefore the last place cords will form.
You will probably find that you will be responsible for grooming your own Komondor as there are few groomers who will know what to do with him. For this you will need your crate, a dryer, a mat splitter and a sharp pair of scissors.
Cords are the result of the coarser outer coat twisting around the puppy coat and the undercoat (when it starts to grow through). It is at this point that you do not want to bath your Komondor as much. This can make cording the coat more difficult, as cord tighten when they are wet.
The coat is divided into sections that are about an inch in diameter. You don’t want the cords to be to thin at the base (the area closest to the skin) as later when the coat is developing, the base will need to support the weight of the heavy cord. It is also good to remember that you can divide cords that are too thick, but it is very difficult to make thin cords thicker.
In order to make the cords out of the matted hair, you can just tear the mats into the desired cord width. Though, on occasions, some mats might be too difficult to tear apart, at this point you might need to use a mat splitter, or a pair of strong scissors. Start at the skin and cut outwards, if you cut an inch or so with your mat splitter or scissors, you should be able to tear the rest.
It is best not to try and do the whole dog in one go, this is very time consuming and tiring. Remember Komondors get bored easily, and you do not want him to dread his grooming sessions, you want it be a good opportunity for you and your Komondor have some quality time. Pick one area and stop before you or your Komondor get tired. Then start on a different area another day. Eventually you will have done the whole dog!
After a few days it seem that all of the hair has grown back together again, try not to be too disheartened, just keep going with it. Once the dog is about 2 years old, his cords should stay, and you will only need to do general maintenance on the coat, which simply consists of tearing new hair growth when it is required.
Maintaining their coat
The main thing you need to think about is, do you want your Komondor to be shown or not? This will determine how you treat the coat.
Do you intend to show your Komondor?
You will need to keep on top of the new hair growth by tearing it apart. This will simply lengthen the current cords, as you are dividing the new hair into the cords you already have in place.
Not showing your Komondor?
If you do not plan to show your dog, you will cord the coat as you would normally, but once they have formed trim them so they are roughly 3 inches in length. This will make the coat lighter for the dog.
Trimming
You can use clippers or sharp scissors to trim the areas of your dog that need to be kept short, for example around the genitals, anus, feet, in between the pads and in your dogs ears.
Bathing
You only need to fully bath your dog once every couple of month, though if he rolls in something you wish he hadn’t it will be fine to bath him clean again. Try to keep on top of cleaning his mouth and paws, as these are likely to be the areas that get the dirtiest. You will find that dirt will stick to your Komondors coat, but should fall off when it dries.
In order to keep your Komondor nice and white, make sure you bath him using a good quality doggy shampoo that has been designed for keeping white dogs, white! Rub the shampoo into his coat, paying particular attention to the ends of his coat, his feet and his face. Leave this in for a moment for so and wash out thoroughly using clean water. Make sure you wash out all of the shampoo, foam, and dirt, and then dry him off. The best driers to use are blotting towels and pads. These will soak up more water and so his over all drying time will be reduced. As you are drying him take the time to look over his coat and treat any problematic areas.
Nails
If you choose to cut your dogs nails yourself, just make sure you do not cut these too short, as this can cause discomfort and bleeding. You could, if you do not feel confident, take your dog to the groomer and get them to cut your dogs nails for you.
Ears
Check your dog’s ears on a regular basis, and remove any hairs that are growing in his ears. It is also good practise to put some ear wash formula into his ears, this will keep them clean and hopefully prevent infection. Regular ear cleaning will also ensure his ears are free from debris.
If your dog is scratching his ears or shaking his head a lot, this could indicate a problem with his ears. Check them thoroughly, if they are inflamed, tender or have discharge in them there could be a number of problems. Remove all hair and discharge from the ears, and take him to your local vets for him to check your dog over.
Eyes
During grooming sessions, pay particular attention to your dog’s eyes. Clean any soiled areas, stained tear lines, and remove any debris from around his eyes (dogs that live outside are more likely to get debris in their eyes). Generally looking at your dog’s eye will give you a good indication of his health.
If his eyes are red, puffy, have mucus around them or show other signs of irritation take him straight to the vets. If you notice signs of more serious problems, such as opacities in the eyes, which usually indicates cataracts, consult your vet immediately.
Teeth
An essential part of grooming is to clean your dog’s teeth. The most common dental problems for dogs is plaque build up. If not treated, this causes gum disease, infection and result in loss of teeth. Bacteria from the infection will spread throughout the body and can affect the internal organs if let untreated for a period of time.
Fortunately there are many products available on the market for doggie hygiene. They have their own tooth brushes, tooth paste and tasty treats to clean teeth. You should never use products designed for humans on your Komondor. There are many tooth pastes available for them, and some come in different flavours that will make cleaning his teeth easier.
The Other End
This is not an area that should be missed out. On occasions your dog might have soil caught on his coat; this will need to be removed immediately, not only for yourself, but for him too. Some owners find it easier to tie the cords around this area back into hair ties to keep the hair out of the way.
Another thing to look out for is your dog dragging himself along the floor. Dogs have a gland just inside the anus; this should empty itself when the dog goes to the toilet. However, this does not always happen, and if your dog is scooting along the floor this is a way for him to try and empty this sack himself. There are some owners who will try and empty this for their dogs during the grooming process. I’m sure you can imagine this is not a very pleasant task, if you take your Komondor to a groomer they might offer to do this for you, however, it is probably best to take him to the vets and have a vet do it.
You should generally look out for any excessive licking, soreness or other signs of discomfort around this area also.