Yeeesss! Come to the dark side.
I hate to publicly admit this, but I very, very rarely brush my zois. And when I do it's more of a bonding thing than because they need it. Strider has pretty long butt feathers and they need to be brushed out maybe once every couple of weeks or they get tangled but that's because he chews them. I'd probably do it more often if the brush didn't keep getting lost.
Strider loathes having his tail brushed. Loathes it, 100X more than getting bathed and having his nails trimmed combined. I haven't brushed it since he lost his puppy coat 4 years ago. It's never tangled, gotten any mats, just, nothing. It just looks fluffy and nice, and about once a year he blows it and grows new tail fur.