woof wednesday Hi friends,

When people meet me for the first time, a lot of them have the same question: “How often do you have to brush her daily?”

The truth of the matter is, there are times and instances when having a dog like myself results in hours of torture every day, for both human and dog. At our old place, I liked to wade in the nearby creek on a daily basis, which meant I was getting not only damp but also covered in fine dirt. Of course you couldn’t see it on my until it all dried and fell out all over the kitchen floor…or unless someone did the unthinkable task of hosing me down so that the silt washed off. And then it was like washing away a sand box.

For the 6 years that my humans have had me, we have had a wide range of brushes that covered the gamut of what’s on the market. There were regular brushes, special detangling brushes…even the Furminator. And while some of them were effective for certain parts of me, none of them was a good all over brush — and few things really managed to tackle the mats I would end up with on my belly or behind my ears.

Which meant that at least once a year, mom would do a horrible thing and call a dog groomer. And then I would be tortured for hours as she poked, prodded, brushed and shaved. It was horrific. One year, the woman even cut off my floof. I was her first Newfie and she didn’t know better — and mom couldn’t scream “No!” fast enough. 😉

At any rate, when the groomer came by at the beginning of the summer, she had some miraculous with her. It was a really special, fancy brush that I’d never heard of before. But when she told mom that every dog she usually needed 3 hours to brush out could be done in only 1 hour with this brush — she was hooked. And when the groomer finished up with me in just 2 hours time (versus the 6 hours over two days that it had taken the last time she’d seen me), mom new she had to have one.

So what’s the secret?

The Les Poochs Brush

The Les Poochs brushes have an entire system for determining what brush you want to use and why.

  • Soft (Yellow) — Recommended for delicate fine coated dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. Also great as a massage brush for all short coated breeds. Examples are Great Danes, Pomeranian, Poodles and so forth.
  • Medium (Red) — For medium to soft coated dogs, cats, and horses. Recommended breeds include Shelties, Schnauzers, Lhasa Apso and so on.
  • Firm (Blue) — For thick and coarse coated dogs (Newfies, Sheepdogs, Bernese Mountain Dogs, etc) and horses.

Each brush is double-sided with two types of brush heads: one bent side of bristles for removing mats and one straight side of bristles for finishing. And each brush also comes in a regular and a wide version, which should be purchased according to the size of your pet (bigger animals of 40 + pounds need bigger brushes).

Les Poochs brushes are actually developed for professional groomers, so they can be a bit difficult to find locally and aren’t the cheapest on the market. But they are ergonomically designed to reduce strain to the arm and wrist alleviating Repetitive Motion Syndrome (R.M.S).

According to the brochure which accompanied the brush, for best results you should:

  1. Brush with a light hand, without pressure.
  2. Always brush in the direction of the handle (up/down) and never side to side.
  3. Use constant, soft strokes with the brush, don’t hack at the fur.
  4. When dealing with mats, brush in a circular motion, like the brush is a bicycle pedal in your hand. Don’t bend you hand at the wrist and hack at the dog.

And in addition to that, the groomer said you should always brush with the fur, not against it.

Les Poochs, founded in France, also makes doggie perfume, shampoo, conditioner and other grooming supplies.

Our Thoughts

Mom was totally impressed with and sold on the brush the first day she saw it in action. The groomer let her try it out for a bit on me and it does some pretty awesome stuff. It really removes the undercoat quickly, which for Newfies is a must. My chest hair gets so full and thick after a while that I start to look like a lion — but this brush gets it under control quickly and efficiently.

No one in this house has the time or interest to brush me on a daily basis, but now mom can take the brush with us on the walks and when we stop somewhere for Mack to play or hang out in a park, the brush can be brought out to get my fur under control. Just once or twice a week on my legs, belly and chest (unless I eat something wonderfully sloppy and delicious) is enough to keep me in a huggable state.

Unlike some brushes, the Les Poochs really grabs all the fur off of you when you’re being brushed so it doesn’t end up all over you or flying around the world. And when you remove the fur from the bristles, you’ll notice how compact the fur has become on the brush. It really removes a lot of fur with just a few strokes.

You do need to be VERY CAREFUL with this brush because you can not only hurt your dog but yourself with it. The bristles are extremely sharp and prickly, and mom has drawn blood from herself more than once (thankfully never from me, though!) Any time you are working on a belly, around eyes or ears or with short haired-pets, you need to be extra cautious and delicate.

It is the only brush we have had so far which effectively removes mats from my hair without cutting and the only brush we now want to own. In fact, we’re actually getting rid of all the other ones (except for one for Mackenzie to help out with) and that’s it. It does all the jobs of the various brushes we had and therefore, although the price was about €65 (with shipping) it is absolutely worth the investment.

We’ve had the brush a little over a month now and it shows no signs of wear and tear — and the one that our groomer had was also over a year old but still looked like new…and for someone using it on a daily basis, that says a lot about the brush. It is one of the only brushes I will let mom use on me for more than 15 minutes at a time without walking out on her.

So if you are looking to buy an effective and practical brush for your pooch (or a really nice dog/horse gift for someone you love), this is definitely something I would put on the top of the recommendations list.

Well-groomed kisses!