Bernese Mountain Dog Grooming

About the Bernese Mountain Dog

The Bernese Mountain Dog carries a long, thick, moderately wavy double coat over a very large frame, with a heavy ruff, full feathering on the legs and tail, and the distinctive tricolor markings.

Grooming one is mostly a matter of scale rather than difficulty. The coat follows the same rules as any double coat: never clipped, deshedded rather than cut, matting in the feathering. There is simply a great deal of it on a dog that cannot be lifted and takes hours to dry.

Two things beyond the coat shape every appointment: this is a breed with a high rate of joint disease, and it is a breed that struggles in heat. Both change how a session should be run, and both are worth saying when you book.

What a full groom involves

A half day, and often two people once the dog is at the top of the weight range.

A full rake and brush out first, dry, working the ruff, the trousers, the tail and behind the ears. On a coat that has been left this stage alone can take an hour.

Then the bath, which takes real physical effort to work shampoo through to the skin, because the skin is the only part that matters and there is a great deal of coat in the way. The rinse takes longer than the wash: shampoo left in a dense undercoat irritates skin and dulls the coat.

Then the dry, which is the bottleneck and runs into hours. A high velocity dryer drives the water off and blasts the loosened undercoat out at the same time, and there is no shortcut. A Bernese sent home damp is a hot spot waiting to happen.

Then the deshed proper, the feathering and pads tidied, a sanitary trim, ears and nails, which on a dog this size need proper tools.

The feathering is where it mats, and it is a lot of feathering

The body coat on a Bernese is fairly self managing. The feathering is not, and there is more of it than on almost any other breed.

Behind and under the ears first, as always. Then the trousers on the backs of the thighs, which are long, dense and rub with every stride. Then the tail, which is heavily plumed and sweeps everything. Then the chest ruff, then the armpits.

The trousers and the tail are the two that reach genuinely serious matting on a neglected dog, and both of them are also where a heavy coated giant picks up mud, snow and salt.

Check by pushing the coat backward and looking at the skin, not by running a brush over the top.

Between appointments, an undercoat rake for ten minutes every couple of days does more good than an hour once a fortnight, and on a dog this size it is the difference between a maintained coat and a much longer, harder appointment.

Joints, heat and how a good groomer works around both

Hip and elbow dysplasia are common in the breed, and a full groom asks a dog to stand for a long time on a hard surface. That is the hardest part of the appointment for a Bernese, not the coat.

A groomer who knows the breed works in a sensible order, lets the dog lie down for the parts that allow it, uses a non slip surface and avoids asking it to hold an awkward position while a leg is lifted. Splitting a bath and deshed from the rest across two visits is completely normal for an older or arthritic dog and is much better than one long session it struggles through.

Heat is the other one. A heavy black coated dog in a warm salon under a dryer gets hot, and this breed tolerates it poorly. A good salon keeps the room cool, uses low heat, and works in shorter bursts.

And feed lightly beforehand rather than heavily. Deep chested giant breeds carry a bloat risk and a full stomach plus several hours of handling is a combination worth avoiding.

Tell the salon about any joint diagnosis, surgery or heat intolerance when you book. It changes how the whole session is planned.

What moves the price

Size and drying time, which here are the same thing and dominate everything else. This is one of the most expensive routine appointments on the site and the reason is hours rather than skill.

Coat condition second, and on this breed it swings the bill hard: a maintained coat is a long appointment, a neglected one is a much longer one that may need two people or a second visit.

Whether it is a coat blow, third.

And whether a second groomer is needed, which is a safety question as much as a speed one. A dog that leans, sits down or turns at a hundred and ten pounds cannot be repositioned by one person without risk to both.

Book well ahead. Salons that take giant breeds fit half day bookings into a schedule built around ninety minute ones, and those slots are limited.

What to tell your groomer

Call rather than book online, and lead with the breed and the weight. Ask what their table is rated for, whether they have a walk in bath, and how long they block out.

Ask for a bath, a full deshed and a blow out. Do not ask for a shave down: it is a double coat and the same rules apply, and on a dog this size a clipped coat is a genuinely miserable outcome that takes a year or more to recover from.

Say if the dog has any joint diagnosis, has had surgery, or is simply getting older, and be open to splitting the work across two visits.

Say if the dog struggles in heat, which most Berners do.

Consider a mobile groomer and ask specifically, because the answer varies: some are excellent for giant breeds since the dog never leaves its driveway, others have neither the floor space nor a table rated for the weight.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Bernese Mountain Dog