“Grooming the Bergamasco is not complicated

but will take some practice.”

 

Between the age of 6 and 9 months you will most likely notice the coat on your Bergamasco puppy is starting to mat. OK…. some breeders will call it flocks or maps (bioccoli in Italian) and that is also correct. I will mainly refer to them as mats because basically that it what is happening with the hair. It is matting together. All Bergamascos mat because they have a mixture of 3 kinds of hair. With this said….. they are all different and depending on the hair mixture, some will mat more than others and at different rates. So…. take a breath… don’t panic! This will not happen everywhere at once. You will want to pay particular attention to a few key areas that are the first to start this process. These areas are on the head, chest and rear hind quarters. If your puppy is in need of a bath, do it now before the matting really starts. When much of the coat starts to mat, we recommend holding off on bathing for awhile unless it is absolutely necessary. Also take note that a Bergamasco coat naturally mats about ¼ to ½ inch from the skin. This allows the skin to breath and also helps keep the hair from pulling on it. If you see the hair matting much further away, most likely this is a tangle or knot and not desirable. These need to be pulled apart or combed out. In addition, we also recommend talking with other owners and breeders if possible. There is no perfect or exact method so other input can certainly be helpful. So lets dig in and first discuss the head ~