Is There any Hope for My Sheltie's Coat?

[Lightplum]

Ok... "drums roll" here's the show people's secret. . Show Stopper coat supplement. grooming daily with a boar bristle brush. Spraying with a sunscreen daily, and keeping a constant temp at 68 degrees or lower. Chance has to have coat removed, because he has so much. Yes the fluffing and prepping helps at a show, but you can only do so much without an undercoat. Your boy possibly just needs more maturation in order for it to come in, but a little TLC always can help too.

hmm Ive talked to several people who have tried the show stopper, all said they didnt see a difference. None of mine are on "coat supplements" they are au natural! I personally think they dont make a difference most likely the care you are giving by brushing and the cooler temps is helping the coat.

With my one who took 6 years to get the coat I wanted I tried in the past all sorts of supplements. Honestly none of them worked. It was all her and no amount of supplements was going to speed up what I wanted!! No matter how impatient I was!

 

[BarbV]

I'm interested about the boar bristle brush....something to add to my collection? What's the advantage of this?

Also, I had Bacca on Inflight supplement for awhile. Maybe he was too young at the time, but I didn't notice alot of improvement. I ultimately felt that a good diet was good enough, and extra supplements were not required.

I'm not sure, but interested in how the forum weighs in here on why supplement? Wouldn't a proper diet be better? Or is there no diet out there that gives the enough nutrients (and no, this is not the time to weigh in over the virtues of one diet or another, commercial or raw). The question is simply, do they really need these extra supplements, unless they have other medical issues?

 

[Caro]

I love my boar bristle bushes. The idea of the bristle is it spreads the oils of the coat evenly to the tips and is gentle on the coat.

• It puts a lovely finish on their coats - I really havent needed to use a finisher now I use the boar bristle.
• it gives a smooth finished look (great if you need them to look good in a hurry)
• great for brushing the ruff and tail
• good for keeping unruly pants flatter
• gentlest way of getting knots from behind the ears
• easier to brush our grass seeds and burrs
• the dogs love the feel of being brushed with the bristles - I think its gentler on the skin.

I have 2 boar bristles - a pocket size one with thicker set bristles that I use the most - I carry it with me everywhere because its a nice small size. Its a PSI brush from Germany (no. 25350) and was actually cheap. I would recommend this as a good carry anywhere brush, esp for the price. I also have a Mason Pearson that is better for geting under coat out because the bristles arent as thick. I got the handy size of the MP which is a tad too big for Tully but works great on Mr D - it is way too expensive.

This is a pic of the PSI brush

PS - I only supplement (with livermol - the same stuff used for horse coats) when the dogs are growing in their winter coats - just to give an added boost of nutrients, but otherwise I dont bother.

 

[OntarioSheltie]

I love my boar bristle bushes. The idea of the bristle is it spreads the oils of the coat evenly to the tips and is gentle on the coat.

• It puts a lovely finish on their coats - I really havent needed to use a finisher now I use the boar bristle.
• it gives a smooth finished look (great if you need them to look good in a hurry)
• great for brushing the ruff and tail
• good for keeping unruly pants flatter
• gentlest way of getting knots from behind the ears
• easier to brush our grass seeds and burrs
• the dogs love the feel of being brushed with the bristles - I think its gentler on the skin.

I have 2 boar bristles - a pocket size one with thicker set bristles that I use the most - I carry it with me everywhere because its a nice small size. Its a PSI brush from Germany (no. 25350) and was actually cheap. I would recommend this as a good carry anywhere brush, esp for the price. I also have a Mason Pearson that is better for geting under coat out because the bristles arent as thick. I got the handy size of the MP which is a tad too big for Tully but works great on Mr D - it is way too expensive.

This is a pic of the PSI brush

PS - I only supplement (with livermol - the same stuff used for horse coats) when the dogs are growing in their winter coats - just to give an added boost of nutrients, but otherwise I dont bother.

I'm wondering if I should get one of these too. Boar bristle, what does that mean exactly? Is it made from boar hair or is that the type of brush it is?

 

[OntarioSheltie]

Never mind, I answered my own question.

It looks like you can get them at Sally Beauty Supply for under $10 Barb, which is probably a lot less expensive than ordering one online.

But it looks like CC sells them too, so if I know you, you'll probably get one from Cherrybrook.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QC89AU/?tag=shopamato-20

FYI Barb, here are links to a couple of Canadian CC distributors that I found

http://just-gifted.com/
http://www.petempire.ca/main.aspx?seid=196-2096296-29096301&class=pets&path=pets&isroot=0&curr=CAD

 

[BarbV]

I love my boar bristle bushes. The idea of the bristle is it spreads the oils of the coat evenly to the tips and is gentle on the coat.

• It puts a lovely finish on their coats - I really havent needed to use a finisher now I use the boar bristle.
• it gives a smooth finished look (great if you need them to look good in a hurry)
• great for brushing the ruff and tail
• good for keeping unruly pants flatter
• gentlest way of getting knots from behind the ears
• easier to brush our grass seeds and burrs
• the dogs love the feel of being brushed with the bristles - I think its gentler on the skin.

I have 2 boar bristles - a pocket size one with thicker set bristles that I use the most - I carry it with me everywhere because its a nice small size. Its a PSI brush from Germany (no. 25350) and was actually cheap. I would recommend this as a good carry anywhere brush, esp for the price. I also have a Mason Pearson that is better for geting under coat out because the bristles arent as thick. I got the handy size of the MP which is a tad too big for Tully but works great on Mr D - it is way too expensive.

This is a pic of the PSI brush

PS - I only supplement (with livermol - the same stuff used for horse coats) when the dogs are growing in their winter coats - just to give an added boost of nutrients, but otherwise I dont bother.

So you use it as the final "touch"....i.e. not for line-brushing, but to smooth down the guard hairs?

I notice your pictures, the bristles are fairly far apart. But the CC brushes that Melissa posted are pretty compact.

What would you recommend?

 

[Caro]

I use the Mason Pearson for line brushing all over - it has the wider and tsiffest bristles. The PSI boar brush I use to line brush the thicker/coarser areas like the pants, tail and ruff, but for the overall coat I do a basic line brush just to give it a finished look.

Boar bristles should be firm and coarse - not sure what part of a pig it comes from but I wouldnt want to pat that part.

I wouldnt go with dense bristles asI dont think it would get through the coat, the bristles also need to be firm for the same reason (some human brushes have soft boar bristles and the aren't any good on a sheltie coat). Think pin brushes. I imagine the CC brush would be better off for finishing the outer layer of an afghan type coat or a flat coat where you dont need to get through layers of fur.

 

[OntarioSheltie]

So you use it as the final "touch"....i.e. not for line-brushing, but to smooth down the guard hairs?

I notice your pictures, the bristles are fairly far apart. But the CC brushes that Melissa posted are pretty compact.

What would you recommend?

I use the Mason Pearson for line brushing all over - it has the wider and tsiffest bristles. The PSI boar brush I use to line brush the thicker/coarser areas like the pants, tail and ruff, but for the overall coat I do a basic line brush just to give it a finished look.

Boar bristles should be firm and coarse - not sure what part of a pig it comes from but I wouldnt want to pat that part.

I wouldnt go with dense bristles asI dont think it would get through the coat, the bristles also need to be firm for the same reason (some human brushes have soft boar bristles and the aren't any good on a sheltie coat). Think pin brushes. I imagine the CC brush would be better off for finishing the outer layer of an afghan type coat or a flat coat where you dont need to get through layers of fur.

CC sells this one too, which isn't as dense

http://www.petempire.ca/344-2096444-29096449/pets/products/90365774?fs=true

 

[Caro]

Yep that CC one is better - either the hard bristles or even the medium ones if you arent planning on using it like a pin brish but just for finishing.

 

[BarbV]

Gulp! I'm sorry....seems my side question took over the original post.

You were asking about your pup's coat......How old is pup and can you show a picture? That would really help us assess.

ta for now