The undercoat rake is an essential dog grooming tool for all dog groomers and pet owners who deal with double coated dogs. Making getting rid of useless dead hair caught up in a dog’s undercoat a breeze!
Getting rid of the dead hair that builds up in a dog’ undercoat is actually an essential activity for a double coated dog’s wellbeing. If dead hair is not dealt with properly it can lead to a variety of issues including: reduced circulation, skin infections and discomfort.
An undercoat rake is an extremely effective tool that you can use to eliminate the risk of these problems developing and should be a tool every dog groomer has in their tool kit.
But believe it or not there are actually two different types of undercoat rake to choose from and making sure you have the right one for the dog’s you groom is really important. As having the wrong one for the dog in front of you can lead to the rake becoming ineffective when trying to remove the dead hair.
Let’s dive into the two different dog grooming undercoat rakes and find which is best for you:
Undercoat Rake
The first of the two rakes available to you is the traditional undercoat rake. A rake featuring an ergonomic beech wood ‘T’ shaped handle. With 20 rounded steel pins that serve as it’s rakes.
These pins dig deep into the dog’s coat reaching down into the undercoat. When the pins are slowly dragged through, they dislodge and collect that pesky dead hair you’re trying to get rid of.
A simple tool in theory but nonetheless important if you don’t want to spend hours brushing out dead hair from a dog’s coat.
Coat Type Suitability:
In terms of which coat type this dog grooming undercoat rake is suitable for, we recommend using it on short double coated dogs. Breeds like: Labradors, Beagles, Jack Russels, etc…
When used on dogs with this short layer of hair on top of their undercoat, this tool will make light work of any and all dead hair that has built up in the undercoat. BUT when it comes to dealing with double coated dogs with thick long coats, that is where our next tool comes in.
Double Row Undercoat Rake
The 2nd type of dog grooming undercoat rake you can use is the ‘double row’ undercoat rake. As its name suggests this rake has two rows of pins compared to the single row of the first.
In total this double row rake has 29 rounded steel pins that it uses to collect dead hair from a dog’s undercoat. These two rows of pins are staggered on top of the beech wood base, with a shorter row of 14 pins sitting in front of a longer row of 15 pins in the back.
These two rows of pins work in harmony, with the shorter pins helping to move the long overcoat out of the way, whilst the longer pins dig deep down to the undercoat. With the two rows of pins becoming the perfect dream team for getting rid of deshedding dog hair.
We recommend using this dog grooming double row undercoat rake on long double coated dogs. Breeds like: German Shepherds, Bernese Mountain Dogs, Huskies etc… The double row pin system that this rake has built in was designed to deal with long double coated dogs. With the first row and second row working together to move the thick overcoat out of the way whilst getting rid of that pesky dead hair from the undercoat.
This double row rake would not be as useful if you tried to use it on a short double coated dog as the first row of shorter pins would most likely not even reach the dog’s overcoat, due to it’s length.
In Conclusion:
Both these dog grooming undercoat rakes are incredibly useful dog grooming tools that every groomer should consider using. The rake that best suits you depends on the type of dog’s you groom most, in reality we recommend you have both types. That means no matter that situation you’ll have the right tool on hand to get the job done.
Finally, to find our collection of undercoat rakes and all our other useful deshedding tools you can head to our website by hitting the link here.