In addition to a calm, friendly disposition and a hypoallergenic coat, many pet parents are naturally attracted to Australian Cobberdog puppies because of their soft, wavy or curly fleece coats. As with any long-haired breed, however, grooming is particularly important.
Owners need to remain vigilant to avoid a dirty, matted coat that can cause discomfort, hide health issues like skin conditions or infections, and lead to more difficult or expensive grooming as problems worsen.
Here’s what you need to know to get started with grooming your Cobberdog pup.
Start Early
Grooming is an activity best started early to ensure comfort and familiarity with the process. Brushing, petting, and touching paws frequently can condition your puppy to love grooming, and it will make the job easier throughout your pet’s life, whether you’re the one doing the grooming or you use professional services.
When you bring your puppy home, implement a regular grooming routine. You don’t necessarily need to brush them daily, but you should do it at once or at most twice a week, in the beginning, to acclimate your pet to the process. Over brushing can strip out the oils in the coat and dry it out.
In the beginning, make sure to keep grooming sessions short, as your pup will be antsy. Brush gently to ensure an enjoyable experience that will help you to bond with your furry little friend.
Pay Attention to Growth
There’s nothing cuter than the fine fuzz of puppy hair, but eventually, your Cobberdog puppy’s coat will start to change as their adult coat grows in. Until your puppy is about 9-10 months of age, the coat will simply grow, and as it gets longer, you may have to brush more frequently to avoid knotting and matting.
When the adult coat begins to come in, puppy fluff should start to fall out, but you’ll probably need to give it some help to ensure that it doesn’t get tangled up in the dense, adult coat coming in.
This will require daily brushing for several weeks or even a few months. Adult Cobberdogs shed sparingly, so you should be able to tell when significantly less hair is shedding, signaling that the finer puppy fur is gone.
How Often You Should Brush
Because Cobberdogs have a thick coat of long fur and they’re a relatively non-shedding breed, proper brushing is extremely important. You need to brush from the base of the hair, near the skin, to the tip, working in sections to minimize tangles and eliminate mats. Then, you should follow up with a de-matting comb to make sure you didn’t miss any small tangles that could quickly worsen.
If you do end up with difficult tangles, try using a small amount of detangler to loosen them. The process of grooming your Cobberdog can be lengthy, but it needn’t be a daily affair. Brushing every 1-2 weeks should be sufficient unless your dog gets dirty or develops noticeable matting in between. Brushing too frequently can fluff fur and make it more susceptible to attracting dirt.
Washing and Trimming
Washing should be done sparingly, too. Cobberdog fur has a natural coating to repel dirt, and frequent washing can strip it away (just like with human hair). A monthly bath is a plenty unless your frisky Cobberdog gets coated in gunk.
For dirty or muddy fur, try brushing after mud dries, but before you head straight to shampooing. You might be surprised by how clean your dog becomes after brushing alone.
As for trimming, you’ll want to keep the face and paws neat with regular clipping, but you can let the coat get longer – you may just have to brush more frequently with a long coat. The muzzle area of the dog should never be cut or shaved short as long hair in this area and also a long fringe on the forehead are trademarks of the cobberdog. Never cut the head too round and leave the ears long, head and ears should be rounded out almost like an upside-down bowl on the head and ears should be kept short. Also, make sure to clip the hair in the ears at the groomer, this keeps bacteria out and causes fewer infections.
If you’re not comfortable managing this task on your own, a good groomer can set up a trimming schedule to maintain the coat length you prefer. If you would like more information, please feel free to contact us for more information.