Reddit mentions of Chris Christensen Oval Pin Brush, 27mm

While I don't disagree with the other comment, because yes, once your adult dog is older you can skip many months bathing and only need to brush once a week, there are many, many puppies who do not get groomed enough while young and don't ever get used to it. As a result, it ends up being an extremely stressful process for them and because they were not adjusted to it when they were young, this becomes a PROCESS to reverse later on. This is not just in the realm of grooming - there are so many dogs that are so freaked out that they express their anal glands when they go in for nail trims, dogs whose owners don't realize there are areas that mat easily so they have huge golf-ball sized mats behind their ears that need to be cut out, and dogs that are never acclimated to high velocity dryers so when their owner has to inevitably take them to a groomer because they had never chosen to acclimate their dog to basic grooming processes themselves, the dog freaks the hell out while they are there and that ends up being a hit to their wallet - only a groomer can groom them which becomes expensive, and tougher dogs usually command a higher price because of the time and effort needed to get them groomed.

For a young puppy, you have the best chance of making sure that none of this happens by frontloading the expectations with your little guy or gal and creating a consistent grooming routine. Even if you don't buy your own high velocity dryer, introduce them to the sensations early and often - vacuum cleaner acclimation for the noises, and some people use Shop Vacs or leaf blowers as they do a nice, adequate job on drying young puppy coat. My dog's breeder recommended bathing every week or so until the puppy was 4-6 months old, then dropping down to monthly until they're an adult - you can do this but really make sure you wash all the shampoo and conditioner out so you do not dry the skin. My puppy was tougher due to the fact we had to go to a crazy pet store to do a DIY wash, so we bathed him weekly to get him used to it until 8 months. Once the dog is an adult you can go months without bathing for sure.

When the dog is a puppy, it's important to comb down to the skin to remove mats and tangles a couple times a week. I did it every 2-3 days. This will be hard because it might be annoying or hurt a puppy, and once they realize they have teeth, they will not be afraid to use them, so it's really easy to put it off. Part of the reason it is annoying for a puppy is because as the puppy ages they have a mix of puppy and adult coat, which causes difficult tangles to extract sometimes, and detangling can be a painful process. I made this cheatsheet of spots to take special care with that mat easily especially during various coat transitions so if you focus on these more often you can prevent mats before they even start. Search YouTube for videos on how to groom and line comb dogs, there are tons that will help you with your technique. In general, as long as a dog isn't too tangled, I use a cheap but quality undercoat rake for the big spots a couple times a week to get the undercoat out and prevent matting, which allows me to spot-linecomb the problem areas. I also use a pin brush for the tail (the tines on this model are about 5mm too long than what Sammy people recommended me), although some people prefer to line comb the tail. Slicker brushes are also great for the topcoat, or if you are trying to get that super poofy blown out coat - slickering when the dog is 3/4ths dry from the skin up will get you that "straightening iron"-esque poofy marshmallow look and that's usually how it's done for shown dogs.

Don't forget to handle your puppy's paws and play with it's feet daily, trim nails once every 1-2 weeks, and open to their mouth to inspect their bite (to make sure that if something happens in the future, you or a vet can inspect their teeth without any issue). All of these tend to be very important things that help a lot when your puppy becomes an adult.

We were extra careful with our puppy because we were very lax with a lot of these things with our older dog, a small dog who used to readily accept nail trims, and now she thrashes and snaps so badly we cannot do it at home and have to take her to a groomer and force-feed her chicken nuggets while the groomer does her paws, and absolutely resents baths. We tried very hard to make sure our Samoyed didn't have to go through those levels of stress especially since he's way larger and we wouldn't be able to control him the same if we needed to. My dog is now almost 2, and he's so chill about bathing and grooming now that it's not even remotely a stressful process, even though he was absolutely NOT fun to groom during adolescence (this is a picture of him being dried after not being bathed for almost 2 months). Drying him is actually pretty fun and relaxing and even though honestly I skimp on combing and brushing quite a bit, when we end up doing it he will lay for me nicely and do okay because of all the work we put into him when he was young. :)

Thank you for the compliments :)

>Personally I loathe the Furminator

That's interesting to hear. I don't know much about it, outside of the fact is will get a lot of fur off of him. I only used based on info online so I'd interested to hear more if you don't mind.

Specific kinds of brushes you mentioned are talked about here:

• Rubold Pet Rake (rake)
  
• HaloVa Pet Comb (pins / bamboo bristles brush)
  
• Chris Christensen Oval Brush (pin brush)
  
  For a weekly routine at home, what would you recommend for day to day brushing (without bathing)?
  
  We plan to take him to the groomer for a bath (either by them or ourselves) every 4 - 8 weeks (once we figure out what works).

I used a pro quality pin brush. Something smaller might be better for a small dog. Do not use any pressure, just stroke it along his coat. As you brush the pins unsnarl the fur and eventually get down to the skin. If you have patience and the pins on the brush are smooth so his skin doesn't get scratched he'll settle down and allow this.

You are never supposed to pull the brush/comb through but it's hard when you think the dog is going to start acting up at any second. Unless mats are causing pain calm down and just run the brush over his back, sides, his silky ears and try to get a stroke on the rear end and tail when he's relaxed. Tiny treats and try to be calm and praise good behavior and talk about how wonderfully silky his fur is and you know the drill.

One stroke today on back. when back is easy move to an ear, under the chin, the sides, the front legs and dare to get a swipe on the tail and rear end every once in a while. No pressure on brush, let it do the job.

Groom daily. Don't get it all done every day but over the week try to get him completely brushed out at least 3x. Damaged hair snarls but if brushed and never allowed to get matted you may get lucky. My stinker's coat resembles that of a LHD. He came here covered with mats but hasn't had any bad ones after they were cut out and frequent gentle grooming done. Well except for the mats caused by the nature he's always dragging in the house. He's got something sticky on his thigh I need to cut out now and there's sap on his toes I'm leaving alone.