Intro to Collie Grooming
Grooming a collie is one of the most important tasks you will undertake. You will find that with a couple hours of at home grooming work a week, your collie will maintain a beautiful, soft. luscious coat free of tangles and snarls. A professional groomer is really not needed if you dedicate yourself to the task at hand. Be aware though that the process of grooming involves more than just slapping a bristle brush on your collie’s back a couple of strokes a week!
Grooming involves the use of sprays, shampoos, conditioners, brushes, combs, detanglers, slicker brushes, and - most importantly - your hands!
Your hands are your collie's favorite part of you. You use them to hold him, stroke him, pet him, throw his ball, give him food, brush him,scratch his ears (and rear!), and to message his body. This hands-on approach should begin at a young age to get your collie use to the feeling of
hands on each inch of his body. Your hands are a vital part of his lifelong health care as they can detect skin growths, abnormalities, lumps in
the abdomen, sensitive spots, cuts and bruises. Other parts to grooming include -
- Checking for abnormalities all over the body
- Removing tangles and mats from the collies fur
- Helping remove the downy undercoat when it’s time for collies to “molt”
- Maintaining clean fur (thru regular bathing, misting, etc)
- Trimming back the nails
- Brushing teeth / maintaining good oral hygiene
Collies should be brushed daily. Using a pin brush, brush all over the coat, all the way to the skin, in the opposite direction that the hair lays (to loosen up and remove dead fur). Pay close attention to
behind their ears, elbows, and rear flanks as these areas tend to mat quickly. Also, give your collie a bath every few weeks (or whenever they need it!) as it is a myth that dogs should only be bathed once a year. Use a high quality shampoo and conditioner and be sure to rinse thoroughly.
Teeth need to be brushed, cleaned, and examined weekly. And nails should be trimmed back on a bi-weekly basis if your collie isn’t getting adequate exercise space on rough terrain to help them stay trimmed.
With a little effort, your collie will stay the magnificent beauty that everyone knows to be “the Collie”!
What Next? Read more!
- Grooming your Collie
- 3 Keys to Keeping a Beautiful Collie
- Tips on Selecting a Prospect Show Dog
- Collie Bathing
- Do collies smell or have doggy odor?
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One Response to “Intro to Collie Grooming”
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June 21st, 2007 at 12:29 am
Hi,
I am a freaked out right now and need a couple of questions answered if you can help me. I have been out of town for 5 weeks on vacation with my family. We have a Rough White tri color collie. When we arrived home this evening we found our house and dog sitter had taken it upon herself to have our beautiful collie shaved from tip of nose to tip of tail. I am in complete shock. WE told her to brusha dn walk her regularly but to do nothing else.
We do have her bathed once a month and her toenails clipped, but never shaved!!!!! We brush her regularly in between visits to the groomer.
1) will the coat grow back?
2) how long will it take?
3) will it have the same consistency that it has now? It is very soft and silky (well it was before this violation!)
4) they cut off her whiskers- will they grow back?
I am out of my mind with hysterics. WE came in and everyone was looking forward to seeing Lacy and then we found she was shaved. My daughters are 6 and 7 and they just started bawling and quite frankly so did I!
Thank you for your help,
Karyn