What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Topics, guidelines and tips for coat and skin care and grooming Chow Chows.

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m_saade
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by m_saade »

I use a similar blower (650watts) plus a regular philips hair dryer set on the lowest heat option simultaneously.

I get help from whoever is available to hold the second dryer, since also as rory's dad said, i brush during the drying process...

My female pup is on the smaller side of chowchows, and her fur is not fully grown yet... and this process takes 2 hours.
Not to mention a numb arm, and back pain.

I am obliged to bathe her myself since she hates being handled by the vet or strangers..

But i do not dare to try this with my bigger male... Since i am sure i will never be able to dry him out completely with what i have.

So i send him to a professional groomer, they have much more powerful blowers. (His bath still takes 3 to 4 hours with 3 people working on him and much more powerful dryers)
They muzzle him although he is the friendly one.


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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by Rory's Dad »

I don't think the mini blower would cause any harm, except to the blower itself. Likely not to hot to cause any discomfort for the dog, but I don't think the motor would handle the time needed to dry your dog over the long term. I would expect that the air output with that blower would take about 6 hours to dry a chows fur. You do want to make sure that you don't leave him damp for long periods of time, particularly as the weather gets cooler.

For comparison, I use this model: http://www.amazon.com/B-Air-Dryers-Powe ... ower+dryer

The output specs are 4 HP motor, 115V 40,000 FPM 210 CFM 13.2 amps.

Granted, this is on the higher side of most grooming dryers, and its also a US model.

As for the collars, yes, add the height of two fingers to your measurements. You don't want the collar tight enough to choke the dog. I have tags on the same loop that you attach the leash. YES, its appropriate, particularly identifying tags. Mine all have their AKC Reg number tags as well as their Chip ID info. Should they ever get lost this is really important to help them get home. Assuming your dog is approachable if he gets separated from you, they have great info to aid rescuers to identify the dog and owner.
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by kevindd992002 »

Do we have to completely dry him out? Would a regular electric fan work?

So your tags are located on the top of his neck? How the Chip ID's work? Are they installed inside a Chow's body or something? In case Walter gets lost (knock on wood), I'm not really sure we'll be able to track him knowing how people here are keen to the saying "finder's keepers".
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by kevindd992002 »

If I bring Walter to a professional groomer, what do I need to tell him specifically? Should I just require a "trim" on Walter's coat? Do we need to cut some of the stray "beard" that he has in his face?
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by m_saade »

I don't ask for a trim, but they usually trim the hair just below my male's anus for hygienic purposes.. so you can ask for that if you want.

But i do not see that this is actually needed since i have never trimmed any hair from my females' fur...
And she is always clean down there. They manage to do their thing without getting messy..

As i see it, there is no need to trim anything at all, but if you want to trim anything just for the looks... i advise you watch them do it because they might mess up and trim alot.

As for the stray beard.. i rarely see any stray longer hairs on my chows (if that is what you mean), and when i do see some hairs longer than the others, i always find that they are actually detached from their roots and stuck/tangled to the nearby fur.. so i just brush them out..


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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by kevindd992002 »

Ok. Regarding the stray beard, what I actually mean are those black string of hairs (just like in cats) that grow out of their noses and sometimes are growing on the face itself. What do you call those anyway?
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by m_saade »

Oh ok... the whiskers..

The whiskers serve as sensors for the dog and help him get information about his surroundings..

They have a couple of those on each side of the face but when his facial fur grows they disappear.. no need to trim.


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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by kevindd992002 »

Oh ok! Good to know.

And by the way, in the past (I think when Walter was 5 months old; he's 10 months now) I've made the accident of having him trimmed to a lion cut form which means that the hair in his body seemed to close to being shaved. I didn't know that it is very important not to do that with Chows but I already learned my lesson. He seems to have his hair grown back now but this is what I noticed:

When you check the part that was not shaved (the head area), you will notice that there are black hairs in the undercoat. They are not prominent but they are there. Is this the undercoat itself? I don't see them present on the body area though (the area that was shaved). Does that mean something if they are not there?
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by Rory's Dad »

Trimming of the whiskers is a personal choice. As Saade stated, they serve as sensors for the dog. They help to identify when he might be sticking his head into an area too small. But that really goes back to the history of dogs when they might be hunting ground rodents or prey that is hidden in a small space. Today's dogs really don't have a lot of need for them. I haven't seen a lot of pet dogs with trimmed whiskers, but it is somewhat common in show dogs, just because it looks a bit neater.

Other than the fur between the paw pads, and a bit of shaping the paws themselves my groomers are not allowed to put a scissor near the dogs. If for some reason the dog gets a tangle around the ears, they cannot cut it out, I will take care of it myself. I will touch up the dogs even the day after they have gone to the groomer. I use a flea comb to get stray fur on the back of their hinds or on the nose. I will also shape the upper portion of the rear paws to my liking, they can only shape around the toes, and I usually will dremel the nails back a bit further than they do...short and neat.
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by m_saade »

@Rory's dad
Regarding the fur between the paw pads and fingers, i asked the vet once about them to check if they should be trimmed.
And that is because my dog was slipping when walking on tiled floors. But he said that he prefers that i keep them because they serve as a protective layer for the pads when the dog is walking on hot asphalt during the summer.
The fur will keep his paws from getting burned.

Do you agree on this?

As a side note, i only walk the dogs during the evening to avoid any burns.
The earliest i would walk them is 1hour after the sunlight have moved away from the asphalt.

As my dogs have learned now how to walk steadily on slippery floors without trimming the fur.
And these walks have helped keep their nails short and even the fur on their feet gets 'trimmed' on it's own.

But still, i would like to have your opinion on this matter.

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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by kevindd992002 »

Interesting. I don't trust any of the groomers here in my country. I have yet to find a groomer that is really considered a "professional".

Any thoughts on my other question above? The one pertaining to the black hairs.
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by Rory's Dad »

Saade...I guess I would agree that it's an interesting concept. But in reality, it would take a lot of fur growth to protect the paw pads from hot asphalt. That would mean that the fur has grown out to such a degree that is actually covered the bottom of the paw completely. I don't find that to be very likely. The paw pad is still going to touch the ground. If the pavement were that hot, then the dog should be wearing booties.

I find that the fur is more likely to cause an irritation if it gets too long. Yes, they will learn to walk on slippery floors, but they are going to short stride to avoid slipping. Chows have a very unique gate in the hind legs due to the straight angle of the joints, and I think training them to alter the gait is probably not a good idea. Think of walking them while you only take 6 inch steps rather than your normal stride. It will effect your knee and hip joints at some point because you are not walking naturally.

If the heat of the ground is really an issue, I would think that a protective balm would be a better idea while they are out. BTW, congrats to you for walking them enough to keep the nails ground down. That has always been an issue for us (3 dogs, all with different lead paces, I would be walking them forever).

Kevin...yes the black hairs are part of the undercoat. Remember back to when your dog was a young pup. He probably had a fair amount of black markings that faded into his adult color as he aged. It's probably not gone, it just got overpowered by the adult fur. Since most of that black fur was puppy fur, it would make sense that it doesn't grow back to it's original form once he was shaved. Overall though, those black furs are more prominent in the head (mask) area and perhaps the tip of the tail. Body fur, particularly on the spine area, is replaced with the 'guard hairs' at a fairly young age. Depending on the color of your dog, deep reds for example, they may have more black as an undertone. Cinnamons will have less, and creams will have very few. What color are your dogs nails? These are a good indicator of the base color. Black nails are indicative of a black/blue/red chow and they will have varying degrees of black undercoat. Middle tones are more toward a cinnamon dog, and creams will be lighter still. Creams will also tend to have a lighter nose coloring and unless very well bred will lose the black coloring of the nose, turning more traditional pink or spotted.
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by m_saade »

Hmm... Thank you for the info Rory's dad.
I have seen them learn how to change their walking pattern when on slippery floors but i haven't looked at this situation from this perspective.

It is true that the paw fur doesnt cover the whole pads but what the vet said made me think that the fur could possibly serve as a partial protective layer. Which is better than nothing at all...

But how you put it, regarding the change in the stride and the walking patern's long term effect, that could make me reconsider his suggestion since they spend the majority of their time on slippery floors during the summer.

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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by kevindd992002 »

@Rory's Dad

Does that mean all black hair will be removed eventually since it is puppy hair anyway? Yes, you're right I do a lot of them in the head and tip of the tail. So I don't need to worry and the shaving that was done on him had probably no effect in the health of his hair, right?

My dog's nails are colored brown/black. What does that entail?
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by kevindd992002 »

Walter is shedding right now and when I use the slicker brush it does get a ton of hair from Walter. Does that entail that that is dead hair? Should I continuously brush him until all the slicker brush doesn't pick up any hair anymore?
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by Rory's Dad »

I don't think you will ever get the slicker brush to run through his fur until clean. If you do, he likely will be totally without fur, but I would guess that your arm falls off way before that happens.

If he is shedding, its either a seasonal coat blow or he is shedding puppy fur. Personally, I would do a daily maintenance type of grooming with either a pin brush or a comb. A rake on the rear end if his fur is thick back there. After that, if you have a drier, just run it over him at a higher speed and let that get whatever loose fur is left. You don't want to over groom and leave him *Censored Word*.
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by kevindd992002 »

Ok. Will the slicker brush be any good for daily maintenance also? It's what I'm using on Walter since I started this thread and has been working pretty good. Is there any way that the slicker brush will hurt him though? And how long does a daily maintenance go continuously for?

Also, what's a high quality (but not overly expensive) vaccum I can buy?
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Re: What brushes to use in grooming hair of Chows

Post by christinarnieves »

Thank you for the wonderful suggestions. I have three chows and was looking for the best hair groomer for them and luckily landed on this informational page that really helped me in decision making. Can someone here suggest me good cat litter mats?
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