# shedding and grooming question



## ktwright (Mar 25, 2018)

Hello. I am from New Hampshire and have a Golden Retriever (almost one year old). I have been reading different posts from this forum this past year and have found to be very helpful. My golden is shedding his winter coat and I am wondering about the best way to groom him?


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

This time of year when they are blowing coat, it really seems to come out all at once, doesn’t it?
By any chance do you have a dog wash in your area? If your local dog wash has a high speed blower, you can wash your dog, then blow it out. The fur will come flying out of your dog! It’s amazing to watch. I remember the first time I heard this method, I thought it was crazy. But it was spring and I was going to be showing my girl. I have a blower at home. I bathed her, put her grooming table outside, got the blower out, and wow all that fur came out! I was really happy I did this outside and not in the garage or house, or it would have been a huge mess. Make sure to dry your dog all the way to the skin. This will take easily 30 to 60 minutes depending on the dog. Don’t use a hair dryer, they get way too hot. So check out the local dog washes in your area. A good blower brand to look for is Chris Christiansen or Metro. Good luck!


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

Rukie just got a bath today. I have an inexpensive Metro blow dryer and like Alaska7133 said, it's amazing to see the hair flying off.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

cwag said:


> Rukie just got a bath today. I have an inexpensive Metro blow dryer and like Alaska7133 said, it's amazing to see the hair flying off.


I have a 2 speed Metro too. The local dog wash has Chris Christiansen.


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## Goldens&Friesians (May 31, 2014)

I am a professional dog groomer and agree with the other posters about a dog blower/dryer! They are definitely an investment if you buy your own (like $200-$400+), but often you can find them available at pet washes in pet stores or car washes or whatever if you don't want to spend the money on your own. I also agree the metro and Chris Christensen Kool Dry are good dryers-K9 is another good dryer. You will wonder how you ever lived without one! My process for grooming goldens is a bath with a good shampoo (I am in love with Trophy Line Mane-ly Long Hair products-use the shampoo, conditioner and detangler/polisher-have never used anything better and I've used dozens of different products!), towel dry, rub the Mane-ly detangler through the coat, blow dry (good rule of thumb is dry until you think they are dry and then dry some more!). When blowing, blow the entire coat backwards to get it dry down to the skin, then blow it back the right way and repeat until the dog is dry; hold the dryer further away from the dog while blowing the longer feathering and use a brush while blowing so you don't get it all tangled. After the dog is dry, I brush with a slicker brush, then an undercoat rake, then finish with a greyhound comb. I always trim hair around feet/pads and around ears, trim toenails, and clean ears too.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

When I purchased the Metro 4.0 (2 speed) it worked really great for the dogs I had at that time. They had great coats but nothing like my current dog. Your dog seems to have a thick abundant coat as well and promise, if you are going to be bathing your own dog invest in a better dryer. I wish I had taken the dollars I spent on the Metro and invested it in the current K9II dryer I currently have. It has cut my drying time for just this one dog by almost 3 hrs. And it certainly has cut down on the vacuum time as well.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

One thing also, if you do purchase a dryer, make sure it has a hose that doesn't produce static cling. Nothing like gobs of fur stuck to the hose after you turn off the blower.


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