I have found that my Lagotto's coat tends to get frizzy when long. My groomer suggested that I was grooming him to much. Yet the problem is that when his coat is long, if I don't groom him every day he gets tats and matted areas, especailly just under the ears.

The frizzy hair is only along his back, and up to his neck. The coat does not get frizzy anywhere else. I hope you can see the 'frizzy' bits on the white part of his coat - on the left of the photo below.

BTW; I only use a simple grooming brush, with brush hairs on one side and plastic topped metal prongs on the other. I mainly use the brush hair side and when I find an area that is blocked up I will try the spiky side. In almost all cases this works. But sometimes I find that tats have to be worked out by hand.

Am I doing something wrong?

oh my ... your dog looks just like noodles, i have the same problem. but i find its just noodles white streak that goes frizzy!
it feels slightly different than her brown fur!

Yes the frizzy hair is harsher than the soft curls of the rest of his coat. He is due a complete cut down in two weeks (the before and after photos are a laugh)

Hi Mark
You'd think that because Chester and Archie are brothers that we'd have the same problem, but because Archie is all brown and I think that type of hair is different to white then he's only matting around his hips. I use a very similar run-0f-the-mill brush and pull it through his coat a few times everyday because it think the more you groom, the more you split the base structure of the curl that determines it's shape. I have never used shears on him but only Roseline scissors and cut to about 0.5" above the skin and again because he's not losing the base of the curl then when the hair begins to grow then it's already got the basic structure and keeps growing the same way. The matts on his hips/waist really both me and the only way is to keep them slighter shorter in length.

Hi Lynne, I did consider cutting Chester's coat myself. But when he was younger and needed his first coat clipping, I would have had to put him under anaesthetic to get anywhere near him. The thought of holding scissors anywhere near his head while he was squirming made me send him to a professional groomer.

Even then it was a near disaster! The fought the clippers (despite me familiarising him with the sound) and she had to use scissors. And made a dogs dinner of it!

I had made the initial mistake of grooming Chester on the floor, with him rolling about and me making a game of it. Big mistake! I was advised by another pro groomer to put him on a table and make him stand. Chester quickly got this and his next visit to the 'groomers' went very well. (although the groomer had won awards for her cut of Spinone, and made him look like that!)

Hi Mark
Archie was a squirmy pest when I first started clipping him but he's steadily got better and better at standing. I don't push it and usually clip him over two sessions (1st I do his body and face and 2nd I attempt his legs/feet and then generally tidy him up). He doesn't matt at all except around his waist/hips so I'm pleased cause this seems a major problem for other owners too.