Bearded Collie grooming in Gloucester, MA

The AKC breed standard describes the Bearded Collie's coat as double: a soft, furry, close undercoat beneath an outer coat that is flat, harsh, strong and shaggy, with a slight wave allowed. It falls naturally to either side of the body. From the cheeks, lower lips and chin the hair lengthens toward the chest to form the beard that gives the breed its name. The AKC gives a weight of 45 to 55 pounds, so all that hair sits on a lean, medium frame.

The harsh outer coat hides trouble well. Tangles begin in the undercoat wherever something rubs: behind the ears, under a collar or harness, in the armpits, between the back legs and where the beard meets the chest. A Beardie can look tidy from across the room while those spots felt against the skin. Puppies add a phase of their own; the Bearded Collie Club of America says the adult coat grows in between 9 and 18 months, and that the coat mats easily during the change.

The AKC lays out a two-part routine for the breed: a daily brushing of five or ten minutes to clear tangles and debris, and a weekly session of half an hour to an hour with a pin rake, brush, comb and perhaps an anti-tangle spray. On the AKC's grooming scale the Beardie scores four of five, toward daily. The breed club adds that adult Beardies shed their coat about once a year over two to four weeks, when extra brushing helps.

Book the full service when the coat is dirty or the home brushing has started to slip, and treat the yearly shed as a fixed date. What moves the bill is time spent on mats. Dematting is $15 per 20 minutes on top of the full service, so 40 minutes of work behind the ears and in the armpits adds $30 to an $85 groom. Where a mat lies flat against the skin, clipping that patch shorter is often kinder than combing it, and the final price is set at check-in once the groomer has felt the coat.

Brushing only the top of a Beardie's coat is how mats survive. Work in layers instead: part the hair with one hand, brush what lies below the part from the skin outward, then move the part up and repeat. The breed club advises misting the coat with water or conditioner first, to cut static and keep the hair from breaking. Our how-to on handling a mat before it spreads shows how to split a small knot without scissors.

Cape Ann gives the coat plenty to collect. At the time of writing, Good Harbor takes dogs on even-numbered days from October 1 to March 31 and Wingaersheek on odd-numbered days from October 1 to April 30, and a shaggy dog carries the sand home in its legs and beard. Rinse with fresh water and dry fully before you brush. From April to November, a walk through Dogtown Common should end with a tick check, starting at the armpits and ears where the coat is deepest.