Rough Collie Grooming

About the Rough Collie

The Rough Collie carries an enormous coat: a long, harsh, straight outer coat standing away from the body over a short, soft, extremely dense undercoat, with a huge mane around the neck and chest, heavy feathering on the legs and a full plumed tail.

Anyone who has read the Shetland Sheepdog page has read most of this one already. The Sheltie was developed as a smaller working dog on the same lines and the coat is structurally the same thing, so the routine is the same: line brushing every two or three days, a groom every six to eight weeks, twice yearly coat blows, and never a shave.

What is different is scale, and one thing that has nothing to do with coat at all. Collies carry a gene mutation, common in the breed, that makes a number of ordinary drugs dangerous or fatal, and it is worth knowing before any situation where a dog might be sedated.

The mane, and where the coat actually mats

The coat is not evenly distributed and that is the practical fact that matters. It is heaviest by a wide margin at the mane around the neck and chest, then the trousers on the hind legs, the tail, and behind and under the ears. The back and flanks carry far less.

Those heavy areas are exactly where a Collie mats and exactly where a casual brush skims. A dog can look magnificent from above while carrying a solid felted layer under the mane, which is the most common presentation at a salon.

Line brushing is the method: part the coat down to the skin and work outward in sections, so every hair passes through the brush from root to tip. A slicker for the body and an undercoat rake for the dense areas, then a metal comb to check. The comb is the test, and if it will not pass freely from skin to tip that section is not brushed however good it looks.

Every two or three days, and the mane and behind the ears every single time.

Behind the ears is the classic failure on both this breed and the Sheltie. The hair there is finer and softer than the body coat, it sits where the ear moves against the head, and it felts into a hard pad faster than anywhere else on the dog.

Neutered and spayed Collies frequently grow a softer, thicker, more cotton like coat that mats considerably more readily, and shed less predictably. That is normal and means more brushing rather than a problem.

Shedding, and never shaving

Collies shed heavily year round and then release the entire undercoat twice a year over two to four weeks. On a dog this size with an undercoat this dense, the quantity is remarkable.

An undercoat rake and a slicker, in sections, daily during a blow and outdoors. A bath and a high velocity dry at the start of each blow is the most effective single intervention available and removes more than several weeks of brushing.

Dead undercoat left in place is what causes the matting. It packs down against the skin, binds with the growing coat and becomes a felted layer that traps moisture and causes hot spots underneath, invisible until they are large.

And then the shave, which happens to Collies for the same reason it happens to Shelties: the coat is obviously enormous and it sounds like a sensible summer haircut.

It removes the harsh outer coat that blocks sun and holds an insulating pocket of air, while leaving the dense undercoat that traps heat, so the dog gets hotter rather than cooler and its skin is exposed to sun for the first time. The regrowth is frequently permanently altered: woolly, dull, uneven and far more prone to matting, and on some dogs it does not properly return at all.

The right answer to a hot Collie is a thoroughly deshedded coat plus shade, water and walking at the ends of the day.

Trimming the feet, hocks and sanitary area is normal and entirely different.

MDR1, which matters before any sedation

This is not a grooming point, but it is the most important thing on this page and it comes up precisely when a dog needs handling it will not tolerate.

A large proportion of Collies carry a mutation in the MDR1 gene. That gene normally produces a protein which pumps certain substances back out of the brain, and a dog with two faulty copies cannot do that properly. Ordinary doses of a number of common drugs then accumulate in the brain and cause severe neurological effects, sometimes fatal ones.

The list includes some antiparasitics, some anti-diarrheal medications, several chemotherapy agents, and, most relevant here, certain sedatives and anesthetic agents.

Where this touches grooming directly: a dog that genuinely cannot be handled for nails or for dematting is sometimes sedated at a veterinary practice, and that is a completely reasonable outcome for a distressed animal. It is also exactly the situation where an MDR1 dog is at risk if nobody knows.

The test is a cheek swab, it is inexpensive, and it is worth doing once for the dog's whole life. Results are usually reported as normal, carrier, or affected.

Tell your veterinarian the result, and mention it if sedation is ever discussed for any reason. If your dog has not been tested, say that too, because a vet can choose differently when the status is unknown.

The same mutation is common in Australian Shepherds, Shelties, Border Collies and their crosses, including the Aussiedoodle.

The Smooth Collie, and what a full groom involves

The Smooth Collie is the same breed with a short coat, and depending on the registry it is either a separate breed or a variety. It has the same dense undercoat under a short flat outer coat, so it sheds exactly as much, blows coat exactly the same way, and must not be shaved either. What it does not have is the mane and feathering, so the matting risk largely disappears and the routine drops to raking and currying.

If you want the temperament without the coat work, that is the honest answer to look for.

A full appointment on a Rough Collie is around two and a half hours and most of it is drying. Getting water and shampoo to the skin through that undercoat takes time, rinsing takes longer, and drying all the way down cannot be rushed. A Collie that goes home damp underneath gets hot spots.

The order is: line brush through dry and deal with any felting, bathe, high velocity dry with brushing throughout, then feet, hocks, nails, ears and sanitary area.

Nothing else is cut.

Eyes are worth a mention: Collie eye anomaly is common in the breed and is a developmental condition of the eye present from birth. It is diagnosed by an ophthalmologist rather than noticed at grooming, but a Collie with poor vision, like a deaf dog, should be approached where it can see you.

What to tell your groomer

Ask whether they have a high velocity dryer and have booked enough time. A coat this dense goes home damp at the skin otherwise.

Ask for a deshedding treatment rather than a plain bath and brush, and book one at the start of each coat blow.

Say honestly when the dog was last brushed to the skin, and specifically whether you have checked behind the ears and under the mane.

Ask for the feet, hocks and sanitary area tidied and nothing else cut, and decline any offer to shave the dog.

Say if the dog has been neutered and the coat has changed texture, because a softer coat mats faster and may need a shorter interval.

And if sedation is ever raised, for any reason, say the word MDR1 and ask whether the dog has been tested.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Rough Collie