How to Groom a Bernese Mountain Dog
The Bernese Mountain Dog is a very beautiful dog with a very colorful coat.
Grooming a Bernese dog not only makes the dog very beautiful, but also keeps the dog in good health.
Grooming also provides the Bernese Mountain dog and its owner quality time for bonding.
A Bernese mountain dog should be trained from the puppy stage to enjoy the grooming process. The puppy should be trained to see grooming as an enjoyable and rewarding activity. You can train your Berner to enjoy grooming by giving your dog treats and praise before, during, and after every grooming exercise. That way, your dog will see grooming as a positive experience, and something to look forward to.
Grooming a Bernese Mountain Dog involves:
- Bathing
- Cleaning the ears
- Clipping the nails
- Brushing the teeth
Each of these processes will be discussed in detail next
Bathing the Bernese Mountain Dog
The Bernese mountain require less grooming than many other coated breeds because the Bernese Mountain dog coat easily shed dirt naturally, especially with the help of a little brushing
How often a Bernese Mountain dog gets bathed should be dedicated to how often its coat gets dirted. If the coat of your Bernes Mountain dog is not dirty, then there is no need to bathe your Bernese Mountain dog.
Bathing your Bernese dog too often is not good for their coat, so is bathing them infrequently.
Only bathe your Berner if it gets dirty from playing in the dirt, or when you start noticing that your Berner is starting to have the ‘doggy’ smell.
When bathing your Berner, use a soap or a dog shampoo. Your breeder can provide you with a list of shampoos that are suitable for the Berner’s coat.
The shampoo that we recommend for Berner is this one on Amazon.
You can bathe your Berner in your bathtub. You can also bathe your Berner outside in your yard if the weather is not too cold. You do not want to bathe a dog outside in cold weather.
You can also bathe your puppy in a bathroom sink if they are small enough to fit inside the sink.
You can also use a special bathtub for dogs such as this one on Amazon:
When bathing your Berner, avoid getting soap into their ears and their eyes. You can avoid getting soap into their ears by placing cotton balls in their ears before starting to bathe them.
After applying soap or shampoo on your Berner, make sure you thoroughly rinse the soap or shampoo off with water. You do not want the residual shampoo to get on your Berner’s skin as this can cause skin irritation.
After bathing and washing your Berner, next you have to dry your Berner. First, use a bathroom towel to dry your Berner, then you can use a blow dryer to dry off the coat of your Berner or let their hair dry in natural air.
This is a good pet air dryer from Amazon that you can use to blow dry your Berner after a bath.
Some dogs can be fearful of the noise from a blow dryer. The trick to making a dog comfortable is to introduce them to the blow dryer as a puppy and start using the blow dryer on them at a low noise/low-speed setting. As the dog becomes more comfortable, gradually scale to a higher speed setting.
Do not forget to give the praise and treats while using a blow dryer on them. This will make the blow drying process a positive experience for your dog.
Brushing a Bernese Mountain Dog
The Bernese Mountain Dog requires brushing every week. Weekly brushing will keep the coat of your Bernese Mountain Dog free of mats and tangles.
Also, Bernese Mountian Dogs shed a lot and weekly brushing keeps to minimize their shedding. Brushing will also help remove the dead undercoat from your Berner.
According to the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of America, some Bernese owners regularly brush dry coats without problems, while others suggest lightly misting the dog’s coat with water.
A good brush for the Bernese Mountain dogs is this one on Amazon.
In addition to a brush, you will also need a comb to straighten your Berner’s hair and remove dirt stuck within your Berner’s coat.
A good comb for the Bernese Mountain dog coat is this one on Amazon.
Clipping a Bernese Mountain Dog’s Nails
The nail of a Bernese Mountain Dog should be kept short all the time.
Sometimes, the nails of your Berner will wear down naturally from walking around. However, sometimes you have to manually trim the nails of a Berner if it does not wear down naturally.
If you let your Berner’s nails grow long, the nails can break or splitter. This will be very painful for your Berner. Also, untrimmed nails can curl and grow into your dog’s paw, causing your dog pain.
You can use a human nail clipper on a Berner Puppy. However, you need real dog clippers to trim the nails of an adult Berner.
This is a good nail clipper on Amazon for the Bernese Mountain Dog.
The use of a nail clipper on a Berner requires caution as you can easily cut the blood vessels that run through the nails of your Berner. This will make your Berner bleed, and it is painful for your Berner.
A better way to clip the nails without injuring your Berner is to use a nail grinder like this one. It is less likely that you accidentally cut the blood blood vessels on your Berner’s nails if you use a grinder. The only catch is that grinders can be a bit noisy. Some dogs are put off by the noise the nail grinder makes.
Cleaning a Bernese Mountain Dog’s Ears
Regular cleaning of a Berner’s ear will prevent ear infections in your Berner.
You can prevent ear infections in your Berner by applying the Dechra Aqueous Ear Flush to your Berner’s ear two to three times every week.
Gently pour the ear flush into your Berner’s ear, plug the air with a ball of cotton wool, and gently massage the ear of your Berner from the outside to let the flush sink into the Berners ear.
Cleaning a Bernese Mountain Dog Teeth
It is important to keep the teeth of your Berner clean. You need to brush the teeth of your Berner at least once a week. Use a very soft toothbrush and dog toothpaste to brush your Berner’s teeth. DO NOT USE HUMAN TOOTHPASTE ON YOUR BERNER. Human toothpaste is poisonous to dogs.
If you do have the time to brush your Berner frequently, you can give them these dental greenies every day or every other day to keep their teeth in good health. These greenies also double as treats. Dogs love them!
Also, some Berner owners give their dogs raw beef marrowbones or raw beef knucklebones as a natural way to maintain their teeth.
