Pets are one of our dearest companions at home. Their interaction with us definitely brightens up the mood and makes the day better. But to ensure that, we must look after their health and hygiene. Down below – you will find an in-depth guide to take care of your pets.
Can you shave a komondor?
Komondors have thick curly hair that you can shave but it is optional. If you decide to shave your komondor, do not shave its hair down to bare skin. The hair on their face does not irritate their eyes, therefore it should not be shaved. That said, you can shave a komondor but not required.
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Many people prioritize the hygiene of their pets to an extent that they go to unnecessary lengths for their pets in the process. Such a misconception is that a Hungarian komondor requires shaving – not only is this unnecessary but could also bring unforeseen consequences.
Many people are led to believe that Komondors require shaving and brushing to prevent them from being smelly, however, Komondors are not smelly dogs. Therefore, basic care and maintenance are enough to ensure their cleanliness.
Another point to note is that brushing a komondor could do more harm than good.
A komondor takes as long as two years to transform its hairy coat into cords. Because of this, they will initially have a furry appearance that does not resemble cords.
Brushing these furry coats could be problematic to the Komondors since brushing them would straighten their curly furs and interrupt them from forming cords.
Can you keep a komondor shaved? Can you cut a komondor’s hair?
Komondors have long fur which doesn’t require shaving, brushing, or trimming but will accumulate dirt, debris and form mats if left uncleaned.
Komondor owners can choose to trim or cut their komondor’s hair since forming and maintaining cords requires a lot of time and care to put into them.
Cutting off the hair does not irritate the komondor as long as you do not shave or trim deep into their bare skin. You can use scissors or a mat splitter to cut their hair short but be careful not to cut too short. Their hair is meant for their protection and if they dislike it, stop trimming.
There are several types of haircuts for Komondors, such as Puppy Cut, which will shave the dog all over getting rid of all the coats and leaving the soft undercoat. Teddy Bear Cuts will leave hair on their head, legs, and tail a bit longer.
The 3-layer cut cuts the body, head, and ear hair to different levels.
Why is Komondor hair like that?
Hungarian Komondor are famous for their unique and rare moppy hair. You can learn the reasons behind their hair pattern in the list below:
Soft flexibility of the undercoat:
A young komondor puppy is born with a soft white coat that grows thick enough after 8-10 months to form curly fur.
Once they’re one year old, their curly fur will cluster into separate groups to form their cord overcoats as the soft curly furs slowly clump together to form firmer matted patches.
Due to human intervention:
During the 8-10 months period of curly fur, humans often pull off their soft overcoated fur to manually form the cords. Although they also form naturally, with human grooming the Komondors grow uniform corded hair.
As a barrier to self-defense:
The corded hair attribute of the early Komondors helped them survive the cold Hungarian winter which is still visible in them and to defend themselves against the fangs of predator wolves.
How to take care of a komondor coat?
Regular cleaning of a komondor coat will prevent it from getting dirty or smelly; however, the cleaning procedure should never include brushing or combing them.
You should generally give your komondor a bath once or twice a month with a diluted bit of whitening and skincare shampoo. Next comes the part of drying them off:
Vacuuming their cords:
Using a vacuum pump to suck the cords dry is a popular method for cleaning a komondor coat rather than letting it dry naturally. Not only is this method a faster way of drying the cord but also sucks out any dirt or seed that has not been washed away from the bath.
Using a cage dryer:
A cage dryer is also an effective option if you want to properly dry their hair, but there are some points to note. Do not blow warm air in hopes of drying your Komondors faster, they will overheat; instead, put on regular or cold for half an hour.
Take them out to get some breath and repeat until they’re completely dry.
Using a towel:
Although towel drying is a manual and tedious process, it does not require any external devices like the previous two.
However, you should note that if your komondor is young and still forming the cords, do not rub or scrub the towel over their coat as they might undo the curls especially at the back and top of their heads. Press the towel against their fur repeatedly until they are dry.
How to groom a komondor?
Grooming a komondor might seem like a lot of work but if you take a few minutes out of the day to perform the following steps to groom your komondor then it will be in good shape.
Trimming their feet fur:
Use your fingers to pull on the fur and then use scissors to cut off loose ends. Make sure you don’t cut it too much so that it exposes their toenails. You could use an electric shear to shave their paw pads to keep the hair short enough to prevent matting.
Remove their eye gunk:
To remove eye gunk, you could use a flea comb and gently raise the hair above their eye area and use the comb to comb out the wet clumped up hair. You can also wet this area to soften the eye gunk making it easier to remove.
Grooming their face:
You should use scissors and trimming shears to groom the facial area. Trim the hair above the eyes just enough to prevent them from irritating the komondor’s eyes. Keep running your finger through the fur and trim the loose ends of the hair as you see fit.
Trim the muzzle starting from the center and proceed sideways and for the chin and neck, hold the chin up to expose the neck area then trim accordingly.
Splitting their plates into cords:
You can either use hands or mat splitters to split the mats into cords. Find large plates among the cordy furs and if they are light, use your hands to split from the middle. If dense, use the mat splitter to split the plate in half or more parts.
Do Komondors have hair or fur?
One of the most common questions that revolve in people’s heads about Komondors is whether to call their coats fur or hair. The answer to this question is not simple either this or that, rather it depends on which komondor someone is referring to.
Komondors have varying levels of coat growth based on their age and maturity. When a komondor is a newborn pup, they are not born with cords rather they have a thin white coat.
From this point, till they’re 10 months old, their coats can be called furs since they are short and furry.
However, once they are over a year old, their furry coats are long and curly to start forming cords. Generally, this is when owners normally groom the mats of their Komondors to split them into separate cords which resemble more like hair.
So a mature komondor’s coat is referred to as hair while the young ones are fur.
Do Komondors shed?
Shedding is a common behavior among animals and it is quite common among furry animals such as cats and dogs who shed fur due to seasonal changes or to get rid of fungal infections. Shedding hair can be messy indoors since fur gets scattered all over the place.
However, the good news for komondor owners is that unlike most dogs they do not shed as much fur. Komondors shed a very negligible amount of undercoat twice a year.
Sometimes an adult komondor might shed an entire cord but other than that, it is not common for them to shed hair as other dogs do.
You can manually shed their hair for them by gently running your hand through their hair and pulling on any loose hair while splitting mats.
Final Thoughts
You can shave a Komondor’s thick curly hair but it is not necessary. There are several grooming techniques that allow you to shave your komondor without having to shave it. Adversely, shaving a komondor would prevent it from ever forming cords, so it is advised not to do so.