So the groomer shaved him......

[msvette2u]

Originally Posted by Rerun

Sorry but having spent most of my adult life knowing many groomers personally, 99% of owners have no clue how badly matted their dog is. They think the groomer can work a miracle in two hours on a dog that took months to get all matted up.

Sounds like the goomer did the right thing. Don't blame her for your dog being shaved, blame yourself for letting the dog get matted in the first place.

Two years old but the info above is accurate.
My sheltie is brushed very regularly and brushed out thoroughly (meaning the wash/brush/get undercoat out) at least 2x a year. But she has a spot by her rump she doesn't like me to get so I tend to avoid it some and sure enough she got a small mat right there. It was small so I got it out with some work, but it was painful for her.
What happens when there's mats is the skin under it gets irritated very easily (and is usually red underneath when the mat is initially removed), people don't realize this.
The rump area tends to get bad because people tend to brush just the front of the dog and especially if the dog doesn't like the back end being done, they avoid the rear.
Moral of the story - and I tell this to adopters - if you can't get the deep groom/brush removing undercoat (until you can see the skin all over) at least 2x a year, spring for a professional to bathe and brush the dog's undercoat out. Otherwise you're going to have a mess.

We rescued a longcoat a few years ago and I tried like heck to save her coat but could not. She loathed being groomed to the point I had to muzzle her (could tell she'd never had a real good grooming) and I had to clip her entire coat
It's a vicious circle. Dog doesn't like groomed so you start avoiding it then there's mats, then the dog hates it worse and so does the owner.
If there's any mats at all there's going to be huge problems and clipping is definitely more human than trying to pull the mat off that sore, irritated skin.

We rescued a purebred Airedale a while back, too, her coat was twisted, it mats like twists, and I ended up giving her a "lion cut", as the front part wasn't as bad as the back. A few days later was speaking with an Airedale rescue (we placed the girl through our own rescue but to a home already approved by Airedale rescue) and she told me it's much more humane to shave down than try to brush those twisted hairs out.