Bernese Mountain Dogs & Shedding: Exactly What To Expect

Are you thinking about getting a Bernese Mountain dog? Then you need to consider the amount of shedding and be ready for regular grooming and brushing.

Do Bernese Mountain Dogs Shed A Lot?
Bernese Mountain dogs shed a lot because they have thick fur and they are big dogs. You will need to brush it daily and during the main shedding seasons, you can use a de-shedding brush to reduce the amount of fur in the undercoat.

Here are some more tips and facts about shedding in Bernese Mountain dogs.

How Much Do Bernese Mountain Dogs Shed?

The shedding level of Bernese Mountain dogs is pretty high compared to other dogs for several reasons:

1. It has a LOT of hair
2. It is a pretty big dog
3. It is double-coated

When you combine these three facts you will understand why the Bernese Mountain dogs shed a lot.

You will need to brush the dog daily in the main shedding periods. You will also need to use its de-shedding brush in order to get into the underlying coat.

Bernese Mountain dogs are double-coated which means they have two layers of hair. The undercoat will grow in the weeks leading up to the winter months.

When spring arrives, the dog will shed extensively to get rid of some of the warm winter coat before the warmer summer period. This is normal for all dogs with double-layered coats and especially for bigger dogs like this breed.

You will need a really good vacuumer that doesn’t get the long hair stuck in the brush roller.

Here are some vacuum cleaners we can fully recommend. There’s also a handheld vacuumer that is great for getting into the corners of your furniture or when you need to get rid of the dog hairs in your vehicle.

3 Great Ways to Reduce Shedding Indoor

There are several ways to reduce this shedding from a Bernese Mountain dog. It’s a rather big dog with an undercoat so we need to use two brushes to get the job done.

1) Use anti-itch shampoo

If your dog is shedding more than usual it’s a great idea to use anti-itch shampoo. This way you can limit the amount of hair that ends up on your sofas and floors.

Use a good de-shedding tool (more below) to get the hairs off outdoors or in the shower. And then you can use this shampoo to make sure the dog doesn’t scratch itself too much indoor.

Here’s a link to some great anti-ich shompoo options. You can also find it on our helpful list of must-haves for dog owners here. It’s a great checklist to run through!

2) Reduce the undercoat with a de-shedding brush

The best way to reduce shedding is by using proper de-shedding tools (brushes).

First, we comb the coat with a curry brush.

This is a brush that it only works with the top layer of the coat. We want to straighten the hairs and get rid of any tangles and knots in the fur. You can do this with a curry brush.

When you have done this it’s time to use the de-shedding brush.

The de-shedding brush is a brush with long teeth that goes deeper into the coat in order to grab the undercoat. We want to get rid of some of the fluffy old hair in the undercoat in order to reduce the amount of shedding.

This tool is great and you can find a link to it on our page with recommendations for brushes and de-shedding tools.

When does use this de-shedding tool you get deep into the fur so you need to be careful not to go over the same area for the coat too many times.

You should only use this tool a couple of times per week otherwise you will remove too much just undercoat.

3) Use Coconut Oil For Healthy Hair

You can also use coconut oil in order to create a better moisture balance in the skin and fur.

This is really easy to do.

You just take 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and you blend it with 0.2 gallons (around one liter) of water. Make sure to shake it really well every time you use it because said two substances will not mix.

You put the water and oil blend into a spray bottle which you can get at the pet store or in the pharmacy store. Now you can spray the substance directly onto the skin of the dog.

You can also give the coconut oil orally with a tablespoon. Here you need to make sure the dog can handle it so you should start with a small amount the first couple of times.

You can read much more tips here on how to reduce shedding in dogs.

Do Bernese Mountain Dogs Shed All Year?

As we will show below (next section) most dogs shed much in the spring and fall seasons than in the winter and summer seasons.

But you should also expect some shedding all year round because of the thick fur. New hair will grow out regularly to replace the old hair and when that happens the old hair will fall off.

The lifecycle of the hair on the Bernese Mountain dogs is not very long.

You will have to brush off the fur at least two times per week, outside the shedding season and daily in the main shedding seasons (as we will look at below).

Sometimes domesticated dogs like the Bernese Mountain dogs will start shedding extensively all-year-round. If nothing is physically or mentally wrong, this typically happens when the dogs are being denied access to time outside.

When dogs lose the sense of changing seasons and the amount of sunshine and heat in the air they will often start shedding all the time. Otherwise, they should be shedding more in the early spring and late fall in order to change the winter coat for the summer coat (and vice versa).

That there can be a number of reasons why bigger dogs like the Bernese Mountain dogs start shedding extensively. Here are some common reasons:

• Poor diets
  All dogs should be served food that is primarily based on meat and not corn. Make sure to find some food that is rich in fatty acids and good nutrients.
• Stress
  When docs are being stressed or if they feeling anxiety they will start shedding much more than regularly. Make sure your dog is not living in a stressful environment with too many people passing by all the time. Dogs should not be kept at an open office with new people coming and going constantly.
• During pregnancy
  This is closely related to the stress we mentioned above. It is always stressful to go through a pregnancy and the female dogs will shed a lot more if they are pregnant. So, this is something to check as well.
• Fleas & Mites
  If your dog has been bitten by a parasite it might get irritated skin and the dog might also start scratching itself. You need to take the doctor a vet immediately to get the parasites removed. You might also have to treat the dog for infections

The are many more common reasons why dogs start shedding extensively.

Here’s a complete list of what to check for including solutions to each problem.

Main Shedding Seasons For Bernese Mountain Dogs

Bernese Mountain dogs will typically shed the most during early spring and late fall. These are the main shedding seasons for all dogs and cats alike.

Here you can see the shedding seasons for dogs and cats:

How Much Do The Poppies Shed?

The Bernese Mountain dog puppies only have one layer of coat. All puppies start off with one layer of coat and then some breeds eventually develop double-layered coats.

So until the Bernese Mountain puppy has shed the puppy coat it will only have one layer of hair. This also means that the amount of shedding is not as much among the puppies when the dog gets the adult coat.

When the Bernese Mountain dog puppy sheds the puppy coat at the age of 7-9 months it will shed extensively. It will need to get rid of that old puppy coat in order to develop the grown-up double-layered coat.

This will take a few weeks and you should be prepared to show a lot of patience. You will need to de-shed the dog daily in this period.

First, you brush the dog gently with a curry brush, and then you can use a rubber glove. The rubber gloves are great because they let you have full control of what you are doing. You can feel exactly how much pressure is transferred to the skin and the puppy will enjoy the petting:

You can find a link to the de-shedding gloves here. They work really great on puppies and the other dogs with sensitive skin and dogs that don’t like the regular de-shedding brushes.

They also work really great’s the main brush type for big dogs with short hair such as Dobermans and similar breeds.