Rottweiler Grooming

About the Rottweiler

A Rottweiler looks like the simplest grooming proposition there is: short, hard, glossy, flat to the body. Owners reasonably conclude there is nothing to do, and then wonder why there is black hair in everything they own.

The reason is that this is a genuinely double coated breed. Under that short outer coat is a proper undercoat, thickest on the neck and thighs, and it sheds year round with heavier periods twice a year. It is the same architecture a German Shepherd has, with a much shorter top layer over it.

So a Rottweiler is a deshedding job rather than a no-grooming job. The appointment is short, cheap and genuinely worth booking, and the difference it makes to a house surprises people.

What a full groom involves

A bath, a deshed and the detail work, with no cutting at any point.

A rubber curry or a slicker over the dry coat first to lift what is loose. Then a bath, usually with a deshedding shampoo and conditioner, which on this coat is doing mechanical work: it swells and lifts the undercoat so it can be driven out.

Then the high velocity dryer, which is the part that cannot be done at home and the part that produces the result. The quantity of undercoat that comes out of a short coated dog under a proper dryer is the thing that convinces people the appointment was worth it.

Then a rake or deshedding tool for what has been freed, then nails, which on a dog this size and this dark are careful work because the quick is impossible to see, then ears and a look over the skin.

Around ninety minutes and among the cheapest appointments for a dog this size.

Short does not mean single coated

This is the distinction the smooth coat page makes, and the Rottweiler is the clearest example of one side of it.

A genuinely single coated breed, a Boxer or a Greyhound, has one layer of short hair and nothing beneath it. It sheds steadily and lightly, it feels the cold, and there is very little to remove.

A Rottweiler has a short top coat over a real undercoat. It sheds heavily, it blows coat seasonally, and there is a surprising amount of hair to take out. Run a rake through the ruff of a Rottweiler in spring and the result settles the argument immediately.

The practical differences: use an undercoat rake as well as a rubber curry, book a proper deshedding bath a few times a year rather than assuming there is nothing to do, and never clip the coat. That last one rarely comes up because nobody wants to clip a Rottweiler, but the rule applies for the same reason it does on any double coat.

The Boxer page covers the other side of this comparison.

What the appointment is really for

Nobody books a Rottweiler for a haircut, so it is worth being clear about what the value is.

Nails first, and on this breed they are a genuine problem. They are thick, they are black so the quick cannot be seen, and a heavy dog walked on grass does not wear them down. Overgrown nails change how the foot loads and eventually the gait, and on a dog carrying this much weight that matters more than it does on a spaniel. Many owners cannot do them and a groomer or veterinary nurse should.

Then the skin, because a groomer with hands over every inch of the dog every few months finds lumps, hot spots and ticks earlier than anyone else. Rottweilers have a meaningful cancer rate and early detection is worth something real.

Then ears, which are drop and want checking.

Then the deshed, which is what your house is paying for.

What moves the price

Very little. Size sets the bath and dry time and that is essentially the bill.

What adds to it: a seasonal shed, where the deshed is genuinely more work; nails that have been left long enough to need correcting over several visits; and handling, because a hundred and twenty pound dog that does not want its feet touched needs two people.

Coat condition is not a factor. There is no version of a neglected Rottweiler coat that costs more to groom, which is unusual.

This is one of the best value appointments in any salon for the amount of hair it removes.

What to tell your groomer

Ask for a bath, a deshed and a blow out, plus nails and ears. Naming it stops you being offered nothing at all on the grounds that there is no haircut.

Say when the nails were last done and be honest. Black nails on a big dog take time and care, and if they are long the quick has to recede over several visits.

Say how the dog is about being handled, particularly the feet, and about strangers. Rottweilers are large and strong and a groomer who knows what is arriving can book two people and the right slot.

Mention any lumps you have found, so they can check around them rather than discover them with a blade.

And book during a shed rather than after it, which is when most people call.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Rottweiler