Berger Picard Grooming
A shaggy dog that needs a brush a month, which is not what shaggy usually means
About the Berger Picard
A shaggy dog is usually an expensive dog. The Old English Sheepdog needs hours a week, the Bearded Collie mats to the skin, the Briard is a serious commitment.
The Berger Picard is the counterexample, and it is worth having.
The coat is about two inches long, harsh, crisp and dry to the hand, with a light undercoat and no soft woolly texture at all. It is shaggy in appearance and rough in construction, and the two are not the same thing.
It needs brushing about every two weeks. It rarely mats, it sheds little, it repels water and mud, and it is bathed two or three times a year.
What makes a coat expensive is softness and density, not length. This one is neither.
The Berger Picard has a double coat that regulates its own temperature. Shaving it does not keep the animal cooler, removes the protection against sun and insects, and the top coat often grows back patchy or never returns correctly. A thorough deshed takes out the undercoat and does the job the owner was actually asking for.
Why this shaggy coat is cheap
Compare it directly with the expensive ones, because the difference is instructive rather than arbitrary.
An Old English Sheepdog has a long, soft, extremely dense double coat. Soft hair tangles around itself and dense hair means there is a lot of it, so it mats at the skin and needs hours.
A Berger Picard has a coat of similar length that is harsh, crisp and comparatively sparse, with a light undercoat rather than a heavy one. Harsh hairs slide past each other instead of gripping, and there is not enough of it to felt.
So the routine is a brush and a comb every two weeks, going through to the skin, with a little more attention behind the ears, in the armpits and in the britches.
Bathe two or three times a year at most. Frequent washing softens the coat and strips the oils that make it shed water and mud.
Mud is the natural method: let it dry and brush it out, and most of it falls out by itself.
The eyebrows and light beard are combed clear rather than trimmed.
Trim the pads and the sanitary area. Nothing else is cut.
Never clip it, and the reason is texture
The crisp harsh texture is the entire reason this dog is easy, and clipping is how it gets lost.
Clipper blades cut every hair to a uniform length, including the harsh outer hairs that give the coat its structure. What regrows is softer and often patchy, and a soft two inch coat with an undercoat behind it mats in a way the original never did.
So an owner who clips a Picard for convenience frequently ends up with a higher maintenance dog than they started with, which is a genuinely counterintuitive outcome and the reason it is worth stating.
The same applies to heavy conditioning products, which soften a coat that is supposed to be dry.
Use a plain shampoo and no conditioner.
A groomer meeting a shaggy dog for the first time will often assume it needs taking down. Say no clearly.
Trimming for tidiness is also wrong here: the standard wants a natural, rough, slightly unkempt outline, which puts it with the PBGV and the Otterhound on the do-not-neaten list.
The ears, which stand up on their own
The Picard carries tall, wide based, naturally erect ears, which are never cropped and are a defining feature of the breed.
Naturally erect means well ventilated, so ear infections are uncommon, and it is another reason this is an easy dog.
Wipe the visible part weekly and check for grass seeds after fields, since an upright ear is an efficient funnel for debris even though it drains well.
Puppy ears come up on their own over the first few months and the timing varies, so a puppy with one ear up and one down is normal and does not need taping.
The eyes want checking. Progressive retinal atrophy occurs in the breed and there is a DNA test, so it is worth asking a breeder about.
Nails every three to four weeks.
Teeth brushed.
Hip dysplasia is the other one worth asking about, and the breed is otherwise robust and free of the exaggerated features that cause trouble elsewhere.
The dog is the work, not the coat
Everything cheap about the coat is paid for in exercise and attention.
Picards are working herding dogs, energetic, sensitive, and notably stubborn in a way owners describe as having opinions rather than being disobedient.
They need real daily exercise and something to think about, and a bored Picard is a destructive one.
They are also reserved with strangers and do not respond to being pushed, so a salon visit should be unhurried and ideally with the same person each time.
They bond hard to their family and dislike being left, which matters for a long appointment or a day in a kennel.
Handling from puppyhood pays off here as much as anywhere, because a seventy pound dog with opinions cannot be made to do anything.
The breed nearly died out twice in the world wars and remains uncommon, so expect a groomer not to know it and expect to explain the coat.
Bring a photograph if you want the rough outline preserved.
What to tell your groomer
Say the coat is harsh and crisp and is NOT clipped, however shaggy it looks.
Say no conditioner and a plain shampoo, since softening the coat is what causes matting here.
Say the outline stays rough and is not neatened or shaped.
Ask for a brush and comb through to the skin, pads and sanitary only.
Say the eyebrows and beard are combed clear rather than trimmed.
Say the dog is reserved and stubborn rather than aggressive, and that pushing it backfires.
Keeping the coat between grooms
Brush every two weeks
Harsh and sparse rather than soft and dense, so it barely mats at all.
Every two weeks
Never clip it
Clipping softens the texture and turns an easy coat into a matting one.
Never
No conditioner
It softens a coat that is supposed to be dry and crisp. Plain shampoo only.
Every bath
Exercise is the real work
The coat is cheap and the dog is not. A bored Picard is destructive.
Daily
Common Questions About the Berger Picard
Is a Berger Picard high maintenance like other shaggy dogs?
No, and it is the useful counterexample. An Old English Sheepdog is expensive because its coat is long, soft and extremely dense, so the hairs grip each other and mat at the skin. A Picard coat is a similar length but harsh, crisp and comparatively sparse with only a light undercoat, so the hairs slide past each other and there is not enough of it to felt. A brush every two weeks and two or three baths a year covers it.
Can I clip a Berger Picard to make it easier?
It usually makes it harder, which is the counterintuitive part. The crisp harsh texture is the entire reason the coat is low maintenance, and a clipper cuts every hair to a uniform length including the harsh outer ones that give it structure. What regrows is softer and often patchy, and a soft two inch coat over an undercoat mats in a way the original never did. Skip conditioner too, for the same reason.
How often should a Berger Picard be bathed?
Two or three times a year is plenty. Frequent washing softens the coat and strips the oils that make it repel water and mud, which is the property doing all the work. In between, let mud dry and brush it out, and most of it falls out on its own. Use a plain dog shampoo with no conditioner. If the dog smells or the coat looks greasy between those baths, that is worth a vet's opinion rather than another wash.
Similar breeds
Same coat, same schedule, or the breeds this one is crossed from.
Old English Sheepdog
The one herding coat most owners genuinely do keep clipped, and why that is defensible
Old English Sheepdog
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The wire coated Belgian, deliberately unkempt and never brushed smooth
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