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I have adopted a lovely old Chow - but his past owner left him outside all the time. As a result he is smelly, matted and hates being groomed. I am happy to invest in a Furminator if that works. He also has arthritis (which he is on medication for) and cannot stand up to be brushed. He puts up with brushing for about 5 minutes at a time. I had to cut his beard as it was a slimy mess and brushing was out of the question. He had quite a few large sores but they are healing nicely now. I haven't attempted to bath him yet and would rather groom him myself as he needs to be handled with care and I don't trust groomers! Luckily he has bonded beautifully with me so that will help! Also he rubs his nose over everything - all my walls have "Grover' trails running down them. Is there anything I can do about this?

I personally think a Furminator is an excellent tool to have. Some people feel it isn't worth the cost but I am extremely happy with it. However I don't think it would be a good tool to use on mats. If you can try to separate out the mats with a comb that'd be your best bet, but if they're really bad they may unfortunately need to be cut. Not sure what to tell you about the nose wiping though!