Grooming the coat of a Rottweiler at home doesn’t require special skills, but will require regular brushing at least three days a week to keep the coat at its best. The Rottweiler has a shiny double coat, which consists of a topcoat and an undercoat.
The topcoat is of medium length, coarse and flat. The undercoat is essential on the neck and thighs but should not show through the topcoat. The hair is also permitted to be a little longer on the back of forelegs and the breeching.
The color is black with clearly defined markings of rich tan to mahogany — a spot over each eye, on the cheeks, as a strip around each side of the muzzle (but not on the bridge of the nose), on the throat, two triangles on either side of breastbone, on the forelegs from the carpus to the toes, on the inside of the rear legs from the hock to the toes (but not completely eliminating black from the back of the legs), and on the undertail.
Procedure of Grooming
Equipment needed: Bristle brush, hound glove,fine-toothed comb.
Breed tip: If the dog is being shown, bathe it a couple of days before the show to allow the coat to settle, as the coat should not be soft.
- Brush with a hound glove or a bristle brush, or both, against the lie of the coat, (i.e., the
wrong way) in order to remove loose and dead hair. Then brush back the correct way to
induce polish. Finish with a comb to encourage the coat to lie flat and to remove surface hair. - Bathe the dog with a pH-balanced natural shampoo and use purifying shampoo and a mask a couple of times a year. Or use a shampoo especially for black- or wire-coated breeds. Alternatively, walk the dog in the rain then finish off with a dry, rough towel. This works wonders!
- Make sure you rinse thoroughly.
- Use a hound glove when the dog is in the bath to help remove loose, molting hairs.
- Towel- or cage-dry.
- Check the Rottweiler’s nails and keep them short.
- Check the dog’s ears and teeth.
- Go over the coat with a velvet pad or a silk cloth after using a spray conditioner very lightly, if required. If your dog is to be shown, conditioner should not be allowed to remain in the coat.
Here’s video about how to bathe your Rottweiler at home.