Scores are our own editorial assessment, not a product rating from reviews or testing. We do not print prices — every button goes to the current one on Amazon. #ad
Which coat are you dealing with?
The short answer
A Bernese mountain dog has a long, silky-topped double coat that sheds heavily. Rake the body weekly, brush the feathering on the legs, ears and tail twice weekly, bathe and blow out two or three times a year, and do not clip the coat.
A Bernese Mountain Dog has a double coat — harsh guard hairs over soft undercoat; sheds in sheets, never shave it. Everything below follows from that, and the full set of rules for this coat type, including what will damage it, is on grooming a double coat.
Bernese coat is a long double coat: a slightly wavy, silky-looking outer layer over a dense undercoat. It sheds substantially year-round with two heavier phases, and the volume on a 70 to 110 lb dog is considerable.
The feathering on the legs, behind the ears, on the tail and around the ruff behaves like a silky coat: it tangles and needs a slicker and a comb rather than a rake. That is where Bernese mats appear, not on the body.
The tricolor pattern is worth knowing about practically: the black, rust and white areas can differ slightly in texture, and any uneven work shows up far more clearly across a color boundary.
Bernese Mountain Dog: Harsh guard hairs over soft undercoat; sheds in sheets, never shave it.
The breed-specific thing to watch
Heat, and the coat's role in it
Bernese are a mountain breed and genuinely struggle in heat, which leads owners towards clipping. Clipping does not help: the undercoat insulates against heat as well as cold and the guard coat blocks sun, and Bernese coat frequently grows back soft and matting-prone after clipping.
What does help is removing dead undercoat so air can move through the coat, plus shade, water and avoiding exercise in the heat of the day. That is the correct response, and it works.
The routine
Task
How often
Notes
Rake the body
Weekly, every 2 days during a shed
Rotating-tine rake; no bladed tools on the tail
Brush the feathering
2x a week
Dense slicker, then a metal comb
Comb test the feathering
Weekly
Behind ears, armpits, hind legs, tail
Bathe and blow out
2-3x a year
The deshedding event; budget serious drying time
Dry thoroughly
Every bath
Damp undercoat against skin causes hot spots
Tidy feet and hock hair
Monthly
Shears, not clippers; rounds the feet
Nails and dewclaws
Every 2-3 weeks
Large nails; clip the bulk, grind the finish
Ears
Weekly
Drop ears with feathering; check and smell
Where it goes wrong on this breed
Behind the ears — the finest coat on the dog
The ruff and the chest
Armpits and the groin
Leg feathering and the hocks
The tail, which is substantial and easily damaged by bladed tools
Time and effort, honestly
Fifteen to twenty minutes of raking weekly plus ten minutes on the feathering twice a week. A bath and blow-out is two hours or more, two or three times a year. No clipping.
The coat page is the one to read in full: grooming a double coat. From there the tool roundups cover each purchase in detail, and how to groom a dog at home walks a full session end to end. Other breeds with the same coat are listed on the breed index.
The picks in full
Every pick, in order
01
The body coat
FURminator dog grooming rake
Reaches the undercoat on a long double coat and cannot cut the guard hairs or the tail.
Rotating-tine undercoat rake
Tines
Rotating, long
Works on
Thick and double coats, longer hair
Action
Lifts dead undercoat without cutting the guard coat
A long double coat makes bladed deshedding tools a genuinely bad idea — the guard hairs are long enough to be visibly cut, and the damage shows for months. Rotating tines reach the undercoat with no cutting edge anywhere, which makes this the right default for the whole body including the tail.
Body undercoat9.5
Guard-coat safety10.0
Comfort9.0
Value9.0
Overall9.4 / 10
What it gets right
+Rotating tines slide through dense undercoat instead of ripping it, so the dog tolerates longer sessions
+Reaches deeper into a double coat than any slicker
+Does not cut, so you cannot thin the guard coat with it
What it gets wrong
−Slower than a bladed deshedder on short coats
−Tines can catch on a genuine mat and need working loose
−Does not finish — you still need a slicker and comb afterwards
Who should skip itSkip it on a short-coated dog — a bladed deshedder does that job far faster.
The legs, tail, ruff and behind the ears are long single-layered hair that tangles rather than sheds — a rake slides over it and a bladed deshedder would cut it. A high-density slicker that reaches the skin works through it properly, and that is where every Bernese mat you will ever find is located.
Feathering and tangles10.0
Reaches the skin9.5
Comfort8.5
Value7.0
Overall9.0 / 10
What it gets right
+Pin density is the whole product: more pins means fewer passes through a curly coat
+The pins are long enough to reach skin on a doodle, which is where matting starts
+This is the brush that makes line brushing a doodle actually feasible
What it gets wrong
−Expensive for a brush, by a wide margin
−Dense pin bed is harder to clean out than a self-cleaning slicker
−Overkill on a short coat
Who should skip itSkip it if your dog has a short or smooth coat — you will never use the pin density you paid for.
During a shed the volume on a Bernese defeats hand tools, and the ruff and feathering are exactly where a brush struggles. Moving air parts the coat and drives the dead undercoat out, and the same machine then dries the dog thoroughly after a bath, which matters because damp undercoat against skin causes hot spots.
Blows undercoat out10.0
Dries a big wet dog8.5
Noise5.0
Value8.5
Overall8.6 / 10
What it gets right
+Real force-dryer output, which is what blows a double coat open instead of merely warming it
+Enough air to push water out of a Samoyed or Pyrenees in one session
+The most airflow per dollar in this set
What it gets wrong
−Loud. All force dryers are, and this is not the quiet one
−Bulky to store between grooms
−No heating element, so your bathroom temperature becomes the dog's comfort
Who should skip itSkip it if you have a small, short-coated dog — a towel and ten minutes do the same job.
+−How often should you groom a Bernese mountain dog?
Rake the body weekly and brush the feathering twice weekly, rising to every second day during a shed. Bathe and blow out two or three times a year.
+−Can I shave a Bernese mountain dog for summer?
No. The undercoat insulates against heat as well as cold and the guard coat blocks sun. Rake out the dead undercoat, provide shade and water, and avoid midday exercise.
+−Do Bernese mountain dogs shed a lot?
Yes, substantially and year-round, with two heavier phases. It is one of the heavier-shedding breeds and no tool or diet changes that; the goal is removing hair before the dog drops it.
+−Where do Bernese mats form?
In the feathering: behind the ears, in the armpits, down the back of the hind legs and in the tail. The body coat rarely mats. Comb-test those four areas weekly.
How this page was put together
We define the coat problem the tool has to solve, shortlist products currently sold, compare the manufacturers’ documented specifications against what that coat actually needs, and cross-check against published findings from named sources. We do not test these tools on our own dogs under controlled conditions, and we will not say we do. Where a figure comes from a manufacturer, we name them; where it comes from someone else’s testing, we cite them. We print no prices — a stale number is worse than none. Read the full method.
