Most households own four brushes and use one. That is fine if it is the right one. Here is what each tool actually does, so you can keep the two that suit your animal and stop buying the rest.
Pin brush with rounded tips
The everyday tool for short and medium coats. It lifts loose hair, spreads skin oils and, more usefully, gets your hands over the whole animal often enough to find lumps, ticks and sore spots early. Gentle enough that a reluctant dog will tolerate it.
Slicker
Fine bent wires on a flat pad, for removing loose undercoat and working through light tangles in longer coats. It is also the tool most often used too hard: pressed into the skin and dragged, it causes brush burn, which is a genuine abrasion and not a figure of speech. Long strokes, light pressure, and never on the same patch twice in a session.
Comb
A steel comb is the honest one. It tells you whether the coat is actually clear, because a brush will glide over the top of a mat that a comb stops dead in. Finish every grooming session with a comb through the friction points, behind the ears, in the armpits and at the base of the tail, and you will never be surprised by a pelt.
Undercoat rake and de-shedding blades
- A rake is for double coats in a moult, worked in the direction of the hair, and it does more than any brush during shedding season.
- Bladed de-shedding tools cut hair rather than removing loose hair, so overuse thins the coat and damages guard hairs.
- Neither belongs anywhere near a single-coated or curly-coated dog.
- Neither should be used on a matted coat. Clear the mats first or you are pulling on skin.
The comb is the referee. If the comb goes through, you are finished.
Ciara Byrne, Wexfur
Two tools cover almost every household: a rounded-pin brush for the daily five minutes, and a steel comb for the check. Add a rake if you live with a double coat, and leave the rest in the shop.
