Undercoat Rake

I have an undercoat rake with two rows of teeth but I don't find it does much for removing undercoat. It works best on Toby but does little to nothing for Sadie or Ginny. I guess its because their coats are slightly different.

I still find line brushing with my Furminator to be best. Despite everyone's negative comments I've never had a problem with it damaging the top coat, although I mostly line brush with mine so that wouldn't be an issue.

The general technique I use is similar to what Barb V said, I have my sheltie lie on its side, I brush all over with the slicker and/or pin brush to remove any tangles, then I start line brushing with the Furminator. To avoid tugging, I loosen the dead undercoat with the Furminator, then use the slicker to remove it. I also constantly mist my sheltie's coat using a coat conditioner or water throughout grooming.

Toby is a HUGE suck and can't stand even the slightest bit of tugging. I cannot go near him with the furminator and have to be very careful with even the rake or slicker, especially around his pants.
 
I have a rake. I quit using it. Koji absolutely hated it. Overall, my CC pin brush gets out a lot of the undercoat and when they are shedding, I go in and do a thorough line brush (with or w/o a furminator) with a slicker (which again, Koji hates).

Love love love the rake though. It's amazing what it can pull out.
 
k9kreationz said:
I have a rake. I quit using it. Koji absolutely hated it.

Love love love the rake though. It's amazing what it can pull out.
Click to expand...

Its interesting to hear what different dogs tolerate and what our different preferences are. I found the rake one of the better tolerated grooming tools among my shelties, even though I didn't find it to work as well. I wonder if its just my specific rake or not...

This is my rake

http://www.wahlglobal.com/canada/wa...ary/grooming-tools/double-row-rake-58443.html

This is my newest slicker, its really handy and I love that its flexible.

http://www.wahlglobal.com/canada/wa.../large-flexible-head-slicker-brush-58449.html

I have the Wahl dematter too, but there are definitely better ones out there on the few occasions when they're needed.

All three were super inexpensive, I bought them at Walmart. Maybe thats why I don't find the rake useful, because its cheap. :o
 
k9kreationz said:
I have a rake. I quit using it. Koji absolutely hated it. Overall, my CC pin brush gets out a lot of the undercoat and when they are shedding, I go in and do a thorough line brush (with or w/o a furminator) with a slicker (which again, Koji hates).

Love love love the rake though. It's amazing what it can pull out.
Click to expand...

The key to the rake is that it is no good for matts or tangles.

That is why I line brush/slicker first, to get the tangles out. And scissor if necessary. Then the rake is almost like a massage for the boys....truly!

It pulls out all the clumps, and then I can focus on the finish.
 
I had a (single row) undercoat rake, but didn't use it much. Since the teeth don't flex, I mainly used it to locate any tangles that needed to be dealt with.

I first brushed with a pin brush to loosen things up, and then followed up with a shedding slicker to remove shedded undercoat.

My boy loved being groomed. He laid on his side, half asleep, as if he was enjoying getting a nice massage. When I was done with one side, he laid limp, while I gently rolled him over to do the other side.
 
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