Golden retriever help!

[BetterWithPockets]

I’ve had dogs for years — but always terriers and mongrels. Towards the end of last year we ‘inherited’ a lovely golden retriever. He’s beautiful but although I brush him regularly, I’ve realised that with the double coat, his fur has a tendency to end up really matted and clumped in certain areas — to the extent that I’ve just had to cut huge chunks out of his coat around his chest and the back of his haunches. It’s not the outer coat but the inner coat, if that makes sense. What am I doing wrong? Do I need a special brush? (I’ve been using one with metal ‘bristles’.) To brush him daily? Do I need to take him to a groomer?

De-shedding tool or coat rake for Goldies!

I use a coat rake as the ‘furminator’ doesn’t work on mine (their coats are too dense). It’s at least a fortnightly job though - the matting builds up quickly if it’s not properly done.

Take him to the groomer and ask them to sort him out, then either commit to fortnightly grooming at home with a coat rake or the groomer once a month 😊

It's a never ending job OP 😁
Daily quick brushing everywhere including places like back of the ears and tails.
Weekly serious brushing every inch.
Dry the dog as soon as possible after rain/swimming.
If you can afford it and can find a dedicated space for it, get a blaster.
I never found a magic brush or tool, just used a combination of everything. Forever and ever.
If you don't have time, take the dog to the groomers on a regular basis and don't feel guilty for not staying on top of it.
We had 2 retrievers together, and the amount of dog hair at certain times of the year was phenomenal. But the dogs were absolutely perfect in every other way that I really didn't mind brushing them loads (and hoovering the house constantly!), it did take a lot of time though.

Baths, trimming and furminator. It’s a constant battle with these hairy rogues 😆

@LandSharksAnonymous @Branster @MrsMalaga — thank you so much for your replies and advice. Had never heard of coat rakes or blasters or furminators! Am keen to avoid using a groomer regularly (though don’t mind occasionally) so will try one/a combination of the above and see how it goes. Thank you again!

Good luck OP.
A blaster would be the thing to have. An initial investment but that in itself is not the real problem. You need to have a place to plug it in and somewhere for all the fur/dirt to fly away. So a garage, for example, wouldn't be ideal. An outdoor covered area, like a croft might work.
One of our goldies was scared of noise so that wouldn't have worked. Our current dogs, although hairy and muddy, are nowhere near as hard work as goldies at keeping clean, so I never bought the machine in the end.

@Branster @LandSharksAnonymous @MrsMalaga just wanted to update you — I bought a coat rake (had never heard of these before!) and it’s been a revelation! Am brushing him briefly every day with it atm and it’s brilliant. (@branster — haven’t investigated the blaster as don’t have the space to use it, but also he’s a big baby when it comes to noise — he hides from the vacuum cleaner — so definitely don’t think he’d like a blaster…) I wish I could say my carpets looked less hairy as a result but sadly not! He’s looking great, though! Thank you.

Great news @BetterWithPockets They are Excellent - evidence of the most recent ‘raking’ from one of mine is below!

I couldn’t bring myself to photograph it after I’d done all four…but the carpet was basically white!

Wait, what,@LandSharksAnonymous— you have FOUR?? That’s more dogs than you have arms! How do you manage?! (Also, my carpet frequently looks a bit like that and I’ve never brushed mine indoors, only outside! As a result, I have started a separate thread asking for cordless vacuum recommendations!)

@BetterWithPockets I breed them! So I currently have great-grandma, grandma, mum and son (who I wasn't meant to have but his future family couldn't take him and for some reason I decided to keep him).

I'll have another one later this year when 'mum' has another litter. If everything goes well it'll be 5 Goldies at Christmas - I'm going to use their fur as fake snow under the tree 😁

Oh wow, @LandSharksAnonymous! Four generations… That’s amazing. (If you need more ‘snow’ I can easily help there, BTW!!)

I can use an ordinary brush on mine but if I use a rake afterwards I get the equivalent of around 2 chihuahuas in terms of size.

At this time of year I used to do all my golden retriever grooming down at the end of the garden and leave the fur down there. Always disappeared after a few hours, taken by nesting birds.

One of these

https://christiesdirect.com/andis-deshedding-tool.html

They're excellent.

Please don't use furminator on goldie fur! They destroy the under coat and make things even worse. A wide toothed rake is ideal for taking out the loose fur. And then a normal comb and brush to finish off tail, feathers and top coat.

Groomer and golden retriever owner here - get an Andis deshedding rake! If you can't manage the matted bits this time take him to a groomer (be prepared they may have to spot shave the mats it if its too tight to the skin, otherwise it's painful to brush out. Not ideal to shave a double coat at all, but a groomer would always rather do that than cause any pain). Then you should be able to maintain with the deshedding rake going forward

Edit: I'm so sorry I didn't read the full thread 🤦🏼‍♀️ I was too excited to see a thread I might actually be able to help in 🤣

Having bought a rake, I know exactly what you mean! I have to say, it’s revolutionised my life! (And his coat!)

I’ve bought a rake and it’s GREAT! I can’t believe I didn’t know such things existed. It’s transformed my life and his coat!

Ah, thank you! The rake has been an eye-opener! The first few times I used it, I kept raving to my DH and DC about how amazing it was (I think they thought I’d gone mad!). I even made them come and see the hair that had come out of his coat…

@BetterWithPockets and with the new vacuum, you are golden (no pun intended 🤣)