How the heck do I remove balls of matted fur from dogs inner thigh area?

[Yumyo]

Long hair border collie. We groom every other day to keep on top of all the matts but somehow missed this area. When she rolls onto her back I can see terrible matted fur. I can’t work out how to reach it. Do I need to train her to let me lift up her back leg maybe? Anyone any tips?

If she’s freezing, rolling over, farting about etc it sounds like she is extremely stressed by it all and you may be heading for a bite if you ignore her. She’s throwing signals at you saying she’s not happy. You need to listen.

Id opt for sedation and cutting out at the vets and work very hard on pairing grooming and cutting with good things. It absolutely can be done with taking very small steps. It would be worth engaging professional help either by a good groomer or trainer/behaviourist.

Dog groomer. When I had long haired border collie, a close crop in April/May was a necessary expense. Be prepared for people to ask where your other dog is though.

On my cat, I stick a wide tooth comb between the matt and the skin. Then I shave off the matt. That way you won't nick the skin.

I agree using a comb in between the skin and scissors. Although, a clipper would be safer.
Don't have false trust in round edged scissors either! I accidentally cut my poor dog in the groin .

Grooming can be super stressful for some dogs so if you can make it less stressful from home beforehand she may cope better.

I have a v floofy spaniel who regularly goes hunting in those bushes of spikey bloody balls and rolls in all sorts, and he’s much more tolerant now of needing to be brushed and dematted since we’ve worked on it at home. He was a nightmare before, gathering everything in his ears like Mr Twit’s beard. It takes time to build up though so not a quick fix.

You can get some basic grooming scissors and a dematting tool from Amazon in the meantime and try and deal with the worst of it with someone shovelling squeeze cheese or peanut butter for now, but if you can work on consent for those tasks it will be worth it in the long run.

There’s a couple of Susan Garrett YouTube vids here which teach this - it works really well.

Grooming
Consent and husbandry

But them off

Cut even

As you say they’re not too close to the skin, I wonder if you can do it very carefully by feel when she’s standing up. Put your fingers next to her skin as a barrier and cut the other side of them. Get soemone to hold her in place. I can’t quite picture where they are to work out if this could work.

Yes wecome1 that’s what I was kind of hoping. I will give that a go. Going to do shower and conditioner later to try and soften any other tangles too

the matt splitter is great. It has a little blade on it which you use to cut the knots off bit by bit. We have used it for a very knotty long-haired cat who was found as a stray. He’s a very wiggly wee fellow who doesn’t like being restrained, but the matt splitter was perfect to have a quick chop every so often.

I get my dogs groomed at home, by a mobile groomer; so I can stay with them.

@sueelleker that’s a good idea! Knew someone would know.

I've got bearded collies so know all about knots! If you are going to use a groomer get them to show you had to comb the fur out. They are only allowed to work on matts for a short time before it becomes a welfare issue so best to have a routine so you don't end up with a shaved dog in the future. Get a quality comb with well-polished teeth and a grooming spray - Mane-ly is fab, costs a fortune but lasts years