The Coat
The Bergamasco have a very special coat. The coat is a combination of 3 deferent types of hair there together gives the tight, flat and felt similar mat or band, the coat will grow all the dog’s life, but when the dogs is about 5-4 years it will get to the ground.
The coat unusual looking has a protecting effect for the dogs. The band protecting against cold and water, which mean that the Bergamasco can be outside in a long time, both in frost and rain weather without getting ill. But the coat protect also the so against attack from wolf or other dogs but also against kick and punch from sheep. The coat is also protecting against tick and insect bide. The bands have to get spilt up all the way down to the skin, so the air can circulate down to skin and the skin can breathe.
Many people think that this is a difficult coat to keep, but that is not true. The coat requires smaller care than coat there have to be brush. The breed has puppy coat about a year, the puppy is soft as an old English sheepdog. When the puppy is about 8-10 moth, starts the really coat to come. The coat gets gross and the wool start to come at the bottom of the skin. When the coat looks like this pictures, are the coat ready to spilt up, this will happened about 11-13 moth old. The spilt up can take several hours or maybe days. It is a good idea to take this spilt up in the dog’s tempo, but when this spilt up is done it is down of the life. In the next 6-7 moth you need to control at the coat every week so the coat not grows together again. After these moths the coat will stay spilt up and the band is now getting tighter an stronger so things will not get stuck in the coat. Even after the dogs have roll around in a stack leaf, bough or something like that the Bergamasco just have to shake their body and then there are nothing back in the coat.
Bathing should be done with respect, with this I mean not too often but when it is necessary, if it is done to often they will lose their grease in the hair and Bergamasco coat must be grease. Dry shampoo is no go, normal shampoo can be use, here we use shampoo to dreadlocks dog.
Drying a Bergamasco is important to avoid smells from the coat, that is why is dry my dogs with a dog dryer call “Blower”, but you need to be careful with it, if not you can burn the coat. Here is it important to buy a good quality else it will take too long time to dry the dogs.
The special coat is a big part of the breed, although development of the coat takes many years. Brushing of the coat is only necessary on the tail and head. The breed does not shed, because they not throw there coat, like many other breeds. After the separating, they can lose a little bit hair, but when the coat is set, they done lose more hair than people do.
People there have allergies to dogs, can often tolerate Bergamasco because of there aren’t bothered by their coat.
Look pictures from the spilt up of Eccola’s coat, Here.
Eccola's extra wool/coat are making to yarn, look more about this Here.