Dogs bring home burrs on a romp through the woods


Posted on Aug 14, 2008
By Julia Szabo

I may be stuck in the city on a book deadline, but that doesn't mean my dogs can't enjoy a weekend in the countryside, complete with extended romps in the woods. Of course, when my long-haired dogs return with sticky burrs lodged in their thick fur, I get all the work of country living, and none of the fun.
 
Tiki, my Chow Chow mix, just came back with a particularly bad case of burrs; his normally majestic plume tail was completely covered in them, down to the skin. I wound up spending literally hours using my fingers to slowly, gently remove these nasties from my poor dog's coat and tail before serious matting could set in.
 
On her web site Weavingthedream.com, master weaver Paula Chaffee Scardamalia offers excellent advice for removing burrs, gleaned from years of experience detangling not only the yarns she works with, but the coat of her beloved Collie, Duncan, who "will stand or sit with dog-saintly forbearance while we remove burrs, because we have learned the secret."
 
Here's the secret: "To not pull the burr away from the dog, but to pull the dog hair away from the burr. By holding onto the burr and gently pulling the hair away from the burr strand by strand, the snarl comes undone and the burr releases its grip. Pulling on a burr just entangles it in the hair even more and makes a dog growly."
 
Here's another secret: Give your dog tasty dog treats every few minutes during this intense grooming session, and follow up the ordeal with a thorough Furminator grooming tool session.
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