Bathing
Right then lets talk bathing if we must lol, did you know the rough collie is unlike most other dogs in as much each shaft of fur is hollow and so the air is drawn inside the shaft as the collie moves and this give the collie the advantage of keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter, also stops the collie from having the usual doggy odour that other canines have. Therefore you do not need to bath the collie very often I bath mine about 2 or 3 times a year.
You will need:-
- Good quality shampoo and a conditioner you can use a human conditioner anything that’s cheap.
- A spray bottle
- An old washing up bottle,
- A large container to rinse the collie.
- A towel
- A hairdryer or blaster
Bathing can be made easier by splitting the tasks up into steps
- The water
- The soap
- The Rinse
- The dry
Please remember collies have a water proof coat so to get them wet can be hard.
Firstly put about one third of the shampoo into the empty washing up bottle then fill with water don’t shake add water slowly. Put the cap back on set aside.
Next get your spray bottle and fill with water, now with that bottle spray close to the skin go all over the dogs so the under coat is wet,
next use the large container fill with water and pour over the collie start at the tail and work forwards do under the belly as well the feathers and don’t forget to soak the collie all over so its dripping, now you have the collie nice and wet.
Now the serious stuff begins.
Using the washing up bottle go right next to the skin and press so the soap comes out using your hands , rub soap into the coat start at the neck go all the way round including under chin, do one section on the body at a time, don’t forget the feathers, skirt or trousers and the fur on belly, as well at the tail (many forget the tail) your collie should like this especially as you rub the soap in, once your happy then start to rinse.
Rinsing can also be a problem as the coat holds the soap but you must be sure to rinse all the shampoo off from the coat, so using the large container pour the water over the collie and start at the tail work forwards.
Keep rinsing, don’t forget to work the water into the coat do this 3 or 4 times , then get the conditioner and rub this into the fur getting to the undercoat , do all the dog including the tail, feathers etc. Then rinse again a couple of times till the water run clear from you collie.
Now from head to tail squeeze the coat to get as much of the water out drape a towel over the dog don’t rub the dog then after a couple of mins you can take towel off and let the dog shake. Now if its a hot day you can let the collie drip dry. If you need to dry the collie use either a hair dryer (don’t hold the dryer too close to the fur) or a blaster please remember with a blaster its gets hot so turn it off from time to time and when you do brush the collie in between, if you have never used a blaster before then don’t , stick to the hair dryer as a blaster if not used correctly will knot the coat.
Video coming soon