Corded Coat Grooming Help
I have been working as a Full-time Professional Pet Groomer for over 15 years and I have done my fair share of corded coats (on dogs that I don't own or have bred). Less than 2 weeks out of Grooming School I had my first Komondor client. I had an interest in the breed prior to Millie the Kom, but being around her sealed the deal for me- I just had to have one of my very own!
I believe that education is the single most important thing in helping someone-once you teach them, they will be able to take proper care of the dog themselves(you hope). During my time as Region 1 Director for the Komondor Club of America, I found that many new owners did not receive the instruction on proper coat care and maintenance, at who's fault it isn't my place to blame. The importance being that the dog is cared for.
Komondors pass through separate and distinct phases before they get that beautiful coat that is the hallmark of the breed and draws so many people to the breed. They are: fuzzy puppy, "Brillo pad," armadillo, porcupine and finally, corded.
So, here are my helpful hints and rules for coat care, cording and maintenance of the coat.
  General-
  • No, it isn't braided!! Who in their right mind would braid an entire dog?!?
  • If you do not have a excellent groomer that is willing to work with you or you are not willing to do the work yourself, DON'T GET A KOMONDOR!!!
  • Groomers tend not to like grooming Komondors. They will charge an outrageous sum of money to just bathe your dog, your first car didn't cost that much!!
  • If you plan on having a Kom in full coat, it is almost impossible to have your neighborhood grooming salon do a good and complete job on your dog. It takes anywhere from 2-4 hours to bathe my bitch, Dolly, in coat (depending on how dirty she gets between baths) and 1 1/2 days to dry her completely! Most groom shops are not going to be able to do that for you.
  • They are not a "hypoallergenic" breed as dander is always present on the skin. They are also not a "nonshedding" breed, shedding in minimal, but still there. "Nonshedding" breeds like Poodles and Bichons among others are always High Maintenance breeds, they require a lot of brushing and grooming. The shedding hair piles into the coat and you have to remove it with a brush or the dog will mat. We NEVER Brush Komondor coats!!
  • Yes, they are ALWAYS white!! Pulik come in colors of white, gray, varying shades of black. And Pulis are substantially smaller than Koms.
  • No, we do not undo the cords, bathe the dog and then re-cord. That would be insane! Just like someone with Dreds-if they don't want dreds anymore, they cut the dreds off and start over again with really short hair.
  • A Komondor's environment is always evident by it's coat. They will bring leaves, twigs and cut grass into your house as it collects into the cords and gets dragged in. (TIP: I LOVE my Dyson Animal vacuum!!)
  • Most people that get a Komondor for a pet will generally keep the dog clipped down or if they truly want the dog to be corded, they will trim each cord to a length of 6-8 inches long. Dog is corded, but is easier to bathe and care for and drying time is much less than a fully coated Kom.
Cording-
  • Cording-it's not as hard as it may look. The Puli Club of America has an excellent book on cording called Striking the Right Cord which you can find on their website puliclub.org
  • Ears can be really tricky to cord and more dogs get injured while someone is trying to split the cords. Always split the cords on the ear AWAY from the leather!!
  • Cords start out as mats, but unlike a Shih Tzu who is matted, a Komondor's "mats" are open at the skin. When a puppy is starting to cord, you will find "lumps" of hair that needs to be split. You will find a weakness in the middle of these mats, it's nature's way of saying "split here." You can tear that baby cord down even smaller if you wish-but always keep in mind that as the cord ages it will get longer and THINNER! You don't want to have a Komondor with cords so skinny that he looks like he is covered in Q-Tips!!
  • Thick or Thin? That is up to you. I leave my cords on my puppies a good inch square or the size of a Kennedy 50 cent piece. Some people leave them about the size of a quarter. Either way, you will have nice size cords that will last on the dog for years to come. Thinner cords may show better in the ring, but they also break easier than a thicker  cord and when you have multiple dogs running around and playing, you want cords that you won't find in the yard!
Bathing and general Cleanliness
  • The dogs are not- allowed to roll in the mud, be around kids with Kool-Aid or to be under the highchair on Spaghetti night! Common sense prevails.
  • I find that almost anything organic will readily come out of a cord, but mud and spaghetti sauce are still a no-no. The blood from bitches in season and everyday dirt comes out easily in the tub.
  • Good water pressure is paramount!! You will need it to blast dirt and shampoo out of the cords.
  • I love and recommend the Prima Bathing System,primabathing.com. It is like a pressure washer for dogs and does an excellent job blasting the dirt and grime out of the cords!!
  • The most important thing about bathing a Kom is to make absolutely certain that every little bit of shampoo is out of the dog's coat. The soap will bother them and they will scratch out coat. Keep rinsing until all the bubbles are gone.
  • You will notice that in many of the photos of Dolly that she has hair tied up into bundles. We use hair scrunchies (I bug everyone with long hair to give me their old ones) without metal pieces on the dogs. Bitches get tied up in the rear and males get tied up on the sides. The reason we do it is to help keep the dogs cleaner and avoid urine and/or feces on the coat (as part of livestock guardian behavior a Kom will chew off soiled cords in order to not be detected by predators.)
Drying-
  • This is the single most important part of grooming a Kom. If not dried promptly and properly, the coat will MILDEW and your dog can get skin problems and infections!!
  • Right from the tub the dogs are put on a towel covered grooming table and we squeeze out the water until no more comes out or our hands fall off!
  • Then the dogs go into crates with box fans surrounding the crate and with dehumidifiers and heaters nearby. The dogs receive food, water and the towels beneath them are changed frequently. They stay in the crate until they are dry with short breaks to go outside and see family. 
General Grooming-
  • Nails need to be trimmed at least once a month. The hair between the pads also needs to be done monthly as they tend to mat and collect dirt, burrs and ice and can cause irritation between the toes. If you don't know how to do these things, have your breeder, vet or a groomer show you how.
  • Koms aren't really a good dog for hiking or taking through the fields. They will collect dirt, leaves, burrs and many other things in the cords which must be picked out by hand or with a tweezers.
  • Ears require monthly plucking of the hair in the ear canals (if untreated they will cord) and the ears should be cleaned weekly using either Apple Cider Vinegar/Isopropyl Alcohol blend (1:1) or a good quality ear cleaner (Best Shot makes an excellent ear cleaner! Go to Bestshotpet.com). Again, if you do not know how to do these things have someone teach you!!
  • I'm also a big fan of weekly treatment with an enzymatic ear medicine. I love Zymox Otic (try to find it without the Hydrocortisone). You may just have to order it from your Vet, if they don't already keep it in stock.  I put 2 drops/ear/week and  I haven't had an ear infection in any of the dogs in years!!
  • Although I don't use topical treatments for fleas (IE: Advantage, Bio-Spot, etc.), you must really keep your eyes open for signs of fleas and ticks. They cause illness, carry parasites and a quick bout with fleas can denude a Komondor of good amount of coat very quickly. I keep the Best Shot Bug Spray (see best shot link above) handy and spray the dogs with it if I see a flea until I can get to the tub and then I use Double K's Euca-Leuca Lime shampoo, it works great! Petedge.com
  • Once the dog is clean and dried, go through the coat and make sure every cord is separated to the skin and then trim the feet round and you're done!!
One final thought-
  • Although the coat is beautiful and you have waited so long for it (it takes up to 6 years for that coat to look like the dogs that you see in televised dog shows), know when to say when. Please be humane and cut the coat down when the dog get older and shows signs of being uncomfortable dragging around that heavy coat. There is nothing sadder than seeing an older Kom loping around and looking tired because of all that hair. It is great to see a dog that was unhappy and uncomfortable bouncing around like a puppy once his coat is cut down! Moody lost 20 pounds when we cut his cords off and now he runs and plays with the girls like a young dog! Please keep this in mind.


Puppy Coat~Birth-6/9 months old
Fuzzy, fleecy, curly and kinky;  easy to care for. DON'T BRUSH IT!! Now is the time to get the puppy used to grooming and bathing routines.
Click on the thumbnails to see the larger version.
  Intermediate Coats~6/9 Months-
                  3 years old
(Brillo Pad, Armadillo and Porcupine Coats)
The Brillo Pad stage is a very short stage. Once the puppy hair starts to change and gets more coarse, you have entered the Brillo Pad stage. Once you start to split the coat down (probably 2 times a day for a while as it  keeps going back together).  Once the dog is split down he will look like an Armadillo, but even then it's not very apparent (that the dog is corded)  because you will still have the leftover puppy fuzz at the end of each cord and that doesn't come off until much later.
Porcupine Cords.
A porcupine coat is a corded coat that is short and doesn't lay flat yet. It will flop around while the dog is moving and it will stand straight up. All it needs is time to grow and mature.  Many Koms finish their championships while in porcupine cords.
These are porcupine photos of Annie and a very old photo of Moody.  You can see on the close-uips of Annie that the cords are split to the skin and that there is "puppy fuzz" at the end of the cords that will wear off eventually. You also see that her cords are big and flat, they will get thinner as they age and get longer.
Since Annie is my "nature girl" and likes to roll in the grass (much to my chagrin) you will see little bits of debris in her coat that were picked out by hand and with tweezers. You can also see the coarse hairs down by skin that start the cording process.



Corded Coat
This is what you have been waiting for!!! These photos are close ups of different parts of Dolly. You can see her beard and her foot in one of the photos. You can see open at the skin and just layers of cords. The coat of a Komondor is never as white as a brushed-clean coat of a Great Pyrenees or a Samoyed. It takes a lot of work to get a Kom as white as Dolly is in her show photos.  I constantly get asked if someone can take a cord home as a souvenier and the answer is always no. This coat is 4 years old and if you cut it, it will take another 4 years to get back to this length.  I also have included a few old photos of Moody in full coat.




This is a close-up of "nekked Moo." If I allowed it, his coat would cord again and grow long, but he did his bit as a show dog and a Judges' Education dog and he deserves to be light weight and free. I also can have lots of fun grooming him now-He has been groomed as a Bichon, Dandie Dinmont Terrier, Standard Poodle and a Portuguese Water Dog. He has also been dyed purple for Halloween!!
"Yeah, could I have a #4 combo meal, super-sized with a Sprite and a Happy Meal for my buddy here."
This page was last updated: March 16, 2010
Stevie's 1st cord At 8 1/2 months old (my thumb is on it).
Stevie's Brillo Pad coat. You cannot see skin through the hair anymore.  She needs to have this "rat's nest" split down two times every day in order to maintain healthy skin and to get the cords started properly.  She has two baby cords on her head that look like horns.
Bathing Photos.
People always ask how I bathe the Komondors. I use the Prima Bathing system, it is like using a "dog-safe" pressure washer on the dog.
Moody disguised as a Standard Poodle with a corded tail. He still has wonderful structure for an old boy.
This hodge-podge of dogs represent all coats of the Komondor; from puppy to intermediate, corded to shaved down. This is one breed of dog where you can do many things with the coat, depending on  your needs and wants. It is a flexible coat and from grooming dogs for so many years, I think it is the best type of coat you can have on a dog. You are not a slave to a brush. You also don't need to run the dog to Professional Groomer every so many weeks as so many breeds require, most Kom owners learn to "do-it-yourself." That why this page exists, to help others learn how to care for their corded dogs. (I should charge for this!)
If you keep the dog in short cords it is truly low-shedding and low maintenance. The maintenance goes up as the coat gets longer.
Moody and Dolly, Summer 2005.
Annie and Stevie, Spring 2008.
Armadillo Coat.
Stevie as an Armadillo. Stevie is now 1 year old and is cording everywhere, however, you can't see it all the time because of the massive fluff that is her puppy coat (we have good, strong coats up here in Buffalo. Must be ALL THAT SNOW!!! Ha, ha!)
Armadillo coats are when the dog is starting to really cord, but has a lot of puppy fuzz on the ends of these baby cords.  When the dog moves a certain way you can see the "lumps" that will be cords in the future in rows resembling an Armadillo's armor, hence the name! The one photo I snapped looking straight down her spine so you can see the rows of cords.
I always worry about dogs in the Armadillo stage. If they happen to get away from their owners, anyone that finds the dog may be concerned that the dog isn't being adequately cared for from the condition of the coat. As one judge said to me recently, "This is the Humane Society stage of coat." Unfortunately, it is true since most people don't understand the "mechanics" of the corded coat and would want to shave the dog down "to make it feel better." If you persevere and keep the dog split down (and in your yard), the dog & you will pass through this trying stage of coat development no worse for the wear.
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