German Shepherd grooming in Gloucester, MA

The AKC describes the German Shepherd's coat as a medium-length double coat: a dense, harsh, close-lying outer coat over a softer undercoat. Day to day it is easy to keep, needing a quick brushing every few days, but the breed sheds more heavily once or twice a year, and the AKC's shedding scale rates it 4 out of 5. Males weigh 65 to 90 pounds and females 50 to 70.

Shed hair that is not brushed out collects in the ruff around the neck, the trousers on the back legs and the underside of the tail, where it can pack against the skin. The AKC says a shepherd needs only an occasional bath. What it does need is the loose undercoat out before it reaches your sofa, and nails kept short: the AKC says to trim or grind them every month if walks do not wear them down.

The AKC says a shepherd only needs an occasional bath, and a breeder quoted in its shepherd grooming guide goes further: in that breeder's view once or twice a year is sufficient, and the more a shepherd is bathed, the more skin issues tend to follow. So the routine is built around the sheds. Book the bath with Shed Release as each heavy shed starts, keep up the brushing at home, and add a bath in between only when the beach, the mud or a roll in something calls for one.

Skipping the de-shed has a cost. Undercoat left to pack in the ruff and trousers can felt against the skin, and working it out is dematting at $15 per 20 minutes on top of the bath, so 40 minutes of it adds $30 to a $75 bath. Rebook at pick-up, timed to the next shed, and $5 comes off that visit.

The AKC's routine is a quick brushing every few days, more often during the heavy sheds. Work down to the skin in the ruff and the trousers, and finish with a comb through the tail. For a senior, brush while the dog lies on its side on a mat rather than asking it to stand, and stop before it tires. Our how-to on de-shedding a double-coated dog at home covers a full session for the weeks the coat is pouring out.

For a shepherd that walks the woods, Cape Ann has plenty: Ravenswood Park in West Gloucester welcomes dogs, and Dogtown Common offers 3,600 acres of trail. Both are tick country from April to November, when a dense coat hides a tick easily, so brush and check after every woods walk. In winter, rinse salt from the feet after salted sidewalks and keep the nails short, since long nails give a stiff older dog poor grip on ice.