Grooming your Komondor

One of the biggest responsibilities when you have a Komondor is its coat and how to best groom it. The traditional coat is corded. We usually tell people when we are explaining what kind of dog we have that they have dread locks all over, or ask if they have ever seen a mop dog in a dog show before. Because Komondork are pretty rare in the United States it is hard to find a groomer who has worked on a Komondor before or knows how to do the cording. If you have a great groomer they will be willing to find out and help you learn how to maintain it. To maintain the coat also takes a lot of work in order to keep the cords separate and manageable. I found a great site that goes over very well how to take care of the Komondor coat here.

Once your Komondor is around 9 months old and loosing it's soft puppy fur you can start the cording process. It will start to do this on it's own but, from our experience it really is easier to start working on the cords at this stage vs waiting and it possibly getting matted. You will not want to brush your komondor as this will cause damage to the hair and they will not cord properly. You should have a pretty good idea of were to start the cord, but you want it to be the thickness of your thumb, make sure you are not starting to small so that as it grows it can hold the weight and not pull on the skin. Take the section of hair and seperate it down to the skin. You can do this a few different ways. If your komondor will allow you, you can just pull the cords apart to the skin. Neither of our komondor really liked this if the hair was very thick or matted so you may want to use scissors or if you are brave you can use mat splitters. To see how to use a mat splitter and what they are go here.  It is probably best to do this sections at at time vs all at once. It's also completely up to you on how long you want the coat to get. If you are planning on showing your komondor you will want it to grow out all the way, if not you can keep the cords trimmed shorter. Now that your komondor is corded you will need to do some general maintenance by dividing any new hairgrowth into the cords if they are not doing this naturally. You do this the same way you started the cords by pulling them appart. This may need to be done every 2-3months.

The corded coat will pick up debris which you will need to be mindful of if your Komondor is out running around and then allowed in your home. Fall around our house is the worst for this. It is a good idea to go through his coat to shake out dirt or pull out leaves etc. Usually you can bath them every few weeks or months depending on the amount of dirt they are getting in. You will want to use a good quality dog shampoo that is meant to help his coat stay white. Because of the cords they will take longer to dry. For us we will towel off or use a sham wow to help get out as much water as we can out of the cords and then take out our blow dryer. Using it on the cool setting. Both of our dogs do very well with the dryer until they get board. It is very important to completely dry you Komondor. If they are left damp the cords can mildew and the smell is not pleasant. You will also want to make sure you maintain some general trimming around the genitals and belly area along with there paws.

You also don't have to cord your komondor if you don't want to. If your lifestyle is not such that you can maintain a corded coat you can also simply have them clipped short. We have done this as well and it is defiantly easier to maintain. We usually shave our dogs down in the spring or summer and allow the coat to grow out over the winter.

Does anyone reading this have experience with a full corded komondor? If so what has your experience been? Do you have any tips or pointers?

Puppies 1 week old

Our little puppies are one week old today. I can't believe how big they are getting already. Their eyes and ears are still closed but they are growing:) The boys are defiantly the biggest of the group with the girls not fare behind.

Yesterday we sold our first puppy. A great couple came to look at them and put money down on one of the male pups. I am so excited for them  and look forward to when they can take there new puppy home.

This one is just two days old

When they were first born their faces were all pink. Now the noses are starting to turn black

 Pretty much all they do is eat and sleep 

The fur is super soft and wavy

 

 Here is Nessie taking good care of her pups

She is very protective. Even Crombie is not allowed near them. She will stair him down if he tries to come to close.

I love all the squeaks and grunts they make so I did a little video to help show you how cute it is. In the afternoon they can get very loud.

I am so excited to see them grow this next week and for them to open their eyes. I can't wait to show you more!

About Nessie

Bokorszen Afra, which is her kennel name meaning pink, or as we like to call her Nessie for short was quite the dog purchasing adventure. After getting Crombie and deciding we wanted another dog that we could possibly breed we thought it would be best to get a Hungarian Komondor straight from Hungary! We went though a great company called Euro Puppy. They were actually located in Hungary and were able to go out and find us a puppy. It seemed to take forever to get everything finalized with the flights and payment but she made the very long journey to Ogden, UT!

This is one of the many pictures Euro Puppy sent to us of Nessie

This is Nessie the first night she was home. She was so jet lagged
When we got her she was about four months old so that should give you an idea of how fast they grow and how large they get as puppies

I just love that face!

The next pics are of her first photo shoot shortly after we got her. She defiantly was not as cooperative as Crombie was

She was an extremely outgoing pup and always wanted to play

                                                    

This was taken during her crazy hair-do days.

See how it will start to cord on it's own. Only it was just two big clumps.

She is such a happy dog! Really she just wants to be right next to you and love. It's so very sweet

 This was taken on our vacation to Flaming Gorg just before she had her pups.

She loved to just relax and watch everyone

She has such an easy going temperament although she is competitive with Crombie. If you are petting him she will nudge her way in so she can get some too. I would say she is defiantly the one in charge of the two.


Really she is such a sweetheart!

About Crombie

Abercrombie or Crombie for short, our last name is Fitch so I thought that was very clever:) is our male Komondor and the first dog we purchased. I just typed in komondor puppies for sale into google and found several sites with puppies listed. I also did a lot of research on what to ask breeders and about the breed itself. We found him in Vermont at a lovely alpaca farm called Green Mountain Criations. We had originally been looking for a female but he was just to cute to resist. I just loved how soft he was, he really was just a little snowball and so so cute!

When we got him we were already taking care of Dixie my in-laws komondor. She was much older and really did not want to have much to do with a pup who only wanted to play and pull on her ears:) Sadly Dixie passed away just a few months ago at the age of 12.

He is extremely good with children. This is our little boy when he was probably 7 months old. Crombie is always so gentle with him and puts up with a lot. He always wanted to be were the baby was and just considered him part of the pack.

Even when you give him a treat he is so good to take it from your hand. Although I have never met a dog that is a more picky eater! All other dogs I have known will just inhale there food. Not Crombie he likes to take his time and really taste his food. If he does not like it he will just leave it alone which I have never known a dog to do.

This dog has so much personality!

He is so funny, he liked to sleep on his back for awhile. In this picture he is sound asleep!





This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Crombie. I just love his black nose against his white fur:)

He loves to stick his head out the window just like any dog. We get lots of looks from other cars when he is riding with us.

He loves Halloween as much as Abe and I do here he is dressed up as a "watch dog"

Here he is trying to keep cool up at the lake

He also loves to just lay around and be a lazy dog.



We have puppies!!!

Abe and I are so happy to announce that Nessie had her puppies this morning! It looks like 8 total with three females and five males. Nessie and the pups are doing great. Nessie is being such a good mom.
We just got back from vacation yesterday and were so glad she decided to wait until we were all home. I think she was holding out and not wanting to have them on our trip:) Which I will post some pics of soon. We took both her and Crombie with us to Flaming Gorg and they loved it.

These pups are the cutest things ever!

Here is Nessie with her pups. We moved her here so we could clean out their kennel

I will post more pics soon!

Crombie and Nessie's Pedigrees

Crombie's Pedigree

Sire

Nessie's Pedigree

Dam

Her AKC registered name is Bokorszeri Afra

We were unable to change her name in the AKC because she was whelped outside the US and purchased directly from Hungary

Click on the pedigree to enlarge

Is a Hungarian Komondor the right fit for you and your family?

While I was researching this breed I came across lots of information for both a working and none working komondor. Our komondorok are none working in that we don't have a farm or other animals for them to guard and protect. They are our personal guard dogs. While most komondorok are seen working on a ranch or farm they can also be great house dogs! They are extremely gentle with children and playful. Both Crombie and Nessie love to cuddle up and if you will sit down and pet them for awhile you have made a friend for life:)

The komondor is smart and can be stronge willed which can be difficult considering there size so training is a must! When it comes to protecting they do this natually with humans and animals. They need to know you are the one in charge, however, you must be firm but kind. One thing we have come across is that our dogs will hold a grudge. I kid you not! If we have gotten really upset with them they have been known to ignore that person for a day. Or if you make them do something they are not very happy about. One such story I have is when we took Crombie with us on vacation to a lake. Abe took him into the water, which he was okay with up to a certain point until Abe took him further into the water were he had to swim. Crombie would't even look at Abe the rest of the day he was so upset with him! If Abe called for him he just ignored him, however, if I called for him he came gladly.

This breed is great if you don't want a dog that sheds a great deal. While they are puppies the fur is very soft and downy like. As they loose that fur it will grow in courser and usually around 1.5 to 2 years you will want to start cording it. It will do this on it's own but unless you help it out you can get large sections of knots. If you are wanting a komondor for a farm or ranch I would highly suggest you let the cords grow. This helps protect the dogs from predators and keeps him warm in the winter and cool in the summer plus they look awesome! Our dogs are more house dogs so we have opted to keep them pretty short. For Crombie we decided to let the top of his head grow out so we could cord it, since that is one of the traits we love so much about this breed. That does mean they shed a little more than if they were corded over the entire body.

If you decide to have a Komondor as a personal protector and will be in the city were they do not have a large yard to run around you will need to walk your dog very often. We have a patio in our back which gives the dogs room to play but not the amount of exceise they truly need so we really do have to walk our dogs. One thing we discovered was that when we slacked off on the walking we have had more behavior problems such as chewing on things they should not. When the dogs are well excersized this becomes less of a problem

Hopefully this has help you in deciding if a komondor is the right dog for you. If you have other questions please send us an email.

Big News!

We are excited to announce we are expecting our first litter of Hungarian Komondor puppies later this month! Nessie is doing great and getting bigger and bigger. She will be a great momma!

Look at her cute puppy bump!

We took her into the groomers yesterday and had her shaved down for the summer so she looks totally different now and her belly looks even bigger.

These pups will be AKC registered. Both Nessie and Crombie's pedigrees will be available soon. I am still in the process of getting them scanned.

These pups will have championship bloodlines.

I will be posting more information about both Nessie and Crombie so check back soon!

We will be taking deposits on the pups once they are born. They will be ready to go to loving homes 8 weeks after they are born. We are located in South Ogden Utah and will ship out of state which usually runs an extra $250 depending on the location.

For more information please send us an email!

What is a Komondor?

A large, muscular breed, the Komondor is mostly known for its unusually dense, protective coat of heavy white cords (which make him look like a giant mop!) that form natually as the breed matures in age, The coat serves to cover vunerable body parts in case of attack, helps him blend in with his flock and protects him from weather extremes, While he has been a working dog in Hungary for ten centuries, he is also found in the show and obedience rings in the United States.

The breed was developed in Hungary to guard large herds of sheep and cattle on the plains, The Komondor is an almost directet descendent of the Aftscharka, which the Huns found on the southen stepps when they passed through Russia, Rather than being used to round up herds or flocks, the breed typically accompanies the animals they are in charge of to act in the role of protector, Mostly without assistance or commands from their master.

Known for its dignity, strength and courage, the Komondor is generally reserved and serious with strangers but demonstrative with those he loves, Owners should be willing to provide daily exercise and obedience training, Caring for the Komondor coat takes quite a bit of time and effor, so it's best to learn how to care for the cords from an experienced owner and breeder.

This was copied directly from the AKC website