Step 3 – Brushing Side One
Time To Complete: Depends on current condition of coat, approximately 30 minutes if done
correctly
Benefits: Removes dead hair and stimulates new hair growth for a healthy coat and
happy dog, Keeps coat cleaner longer
Because the Keeshond coat is
thick and double, you cannot simply pull a brush straight through.
You must first take your hand and pull the hair away, against the direction in which it
lays, and then with your hand resting on this hair, take the brush
and begin pulling the brush through small amounts of hair at a time. Throughout the entire
brushing process you will lightly mist the coat with a spritzer bottle whenever you feel too much drag on the
brush. The object is not to soak the hair but simply to lubricate it enough to
reduce the friction on the hair shaft to facilitate brushing. As you are brushing you will maintain a constant part in the fur, all the
way to the skin. If you lose this part, back up and re-do the area until you
recover the part again.
Practice The Technique... You First
As an example of how you will
use your non-brush-wielding arm and hand to continuously part the coat, take your left
hand and place it on your right ear, palm touching the ear. Next, drag your hand from your
ear to the crown of your head, bringing all your hair along with it. Now, holding your
hand and your hair up on your head, take a brush in your right hand and start pulling
small amounts of hair out from under your left hand, brushing all the way to your scalp.
Keep doing this until all the hair under your left hand is now brushed back into its
original position by your right hand. This is essentially what you want to do with your
entire dog.
... Then Your Dog
On your dog, you will draw an
imaginary line from his chin, along the mid line of his belly, all the way to his tail.
Then a second imaginary line from his nose, all the way along his spine to the tip of his
tail. Your dog is now split into two equal sides, a left side and a right side.
With your dog laying on his right side with his belly facing you, you will take your left hand and arm (right hand and arm for southpaws) and just like you did with your own hair, you will place your hand and forearm on the dog’s centerline of his belly and slide it towards the centerline of his back. Move your hand and forearm just far enough that you can see clearly the center line of his belly. If you move your hand too far, some of the hair will fall back into place.
