The owner of a Lhasa puppy should be prepared for the puppy's coat change when the puppy is anywhere between the ages of 9 to 14 months. A Lhasa does not shed as most other breeds do. What happens during the coat change is that the softer puppy coat is being replaced by the harsher-textured adult coat. At this time, your puppy may need daily grooming to remove the soft, "dead" puppy coat. The coat change is a natural part of a Lhasa's development, and when it is over, your Lhasa's softer puppy coat should have given way to the harder-textured adult coat, which is usually a lot easier to take care of.
When the coat change does begin, don't get discouraged. It usually lasts less than a month. Set aside time each day to groom your Lhasa. If you don't have time to brush him completely each day, then at least do some spot grooming in the troublesome areas (neck, insides of legs, behind the ears) on a daily basis. Don't go longer than two days without a complete brushing, though. Those mats surprise you! A puppy may not look matted, but his undercoat may be a real mess.
The best advice is to be aware of what will happen, be prepared to do some heavy-duty grooming for about 3 weeks, train your puppy early to accept being groomed, watch for and take care of tangles and mats as they appear, and do not put off grooming thinking the mats will disappear by themselves (they don't!). Sometimes it seems as if you just finish taking all the mats out of one end of the dog when it's time to start over on the other end again!
Finally, don't be discouraged; hang in there. Make time for grooming and take the time to do a good job. If you have trained your puppy for grooming when he was little, you'll have a much easier time getting him to cooperate.
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