05/09/2026
“But my dog isn’t matted… they’re just long and fluffy!” 🐶
I hear this quite often! and I completely understand why! Matting isn’t always obvious from the outside. Sometimes a matted coat can simply make a dog look a few kilos heavier, extra fluffy, or a little scruffy.
The problem is what’s happening underneath.
Matting often begins right down at the skin, while the longer hair on top can still look relatively fluffy. Owners can genuinely be brushing their dogs every day, but if the brush is only passing over the surface of the coat, tangles underneath can continue tightening unnoticed.
And matting can spread like wildfire. 🔥 A small knot that you think “I’ll get that tomorrow” can quickly grab the surrounding hair, becoming larger, tighter and eventually joining other mats.
These photos are a perfect example.
From the outside, this little one simply looked very long, fluffy and scraggly. Underneath, however, the coat had become so extensively matted that it had formed what groomers call a pelt.
A pelt is essentially when the coat becomes joined together into one large, dense mat, almost like a rug covering the dog’s body. In this case, I was able to clip the coat away almost entirely in one piece. Normally when we clip a coat, the individual hairs fall away freely. When it comes off looking like a little dog-shaped jumper… that’s matting! 😳
Aside from making grooming much more difficult, a tightly matted coat can pull continuously on the skin, trap moisture and debris, restrict airflow and hide irritation or skin problems underneath. Most importantly, it simply can’t be comfortable.
This is why regular line brushing with BOTH a slicker brush and a metal comb is so important. Your comb is your best little matting detector, if it can’t comfortably pass from the skin all the way through to the ends of the coat, there’s something hiding underneath that fluff.
Long and fluffy is absolutely achievable! but the coat needs to be maintained right down to the skin, not just brushed on top. ❤️
And remember: groomers aren’t shaving matted dogs because we want to take their beautiful fluffy coats off. Sometimes removing that coat is the kindest and safest thing we can do for them. 🐾
