One of the most common things I hear from people when they meet my Cockers is, “that’s a really cool dog, but I don’t think I could handle cleaning picking all of the burrs off of them when I got done hunting!” So, I thought I’d take a post to discuss how I maintain their coats and the amount of trouble their long hair is after a hunt.
I’ll never forget the first time Macy really got into the burrs. I took her for a walk down a local trail and let her off lead. When she came out of the brush she was absolutely COVERED in burrs. They were the small kind, the ones that are about half the size of a pea (I have no idea what their technical name is), and her ears were almost green from the sheer amount of burrs they contained. She also had them on other parts of her body, but the ears were by far the worst. I tried picking them out with my hands, but it only caused pain for her, and I was getting them out at a rate of about one every ten seconds. At that rate, it literally would have been a two hour job getting her de-burred! Her ears were so thickly matted I didn’t think there was anyway that a comb would do any good, but my wife (I have to give her the credit) suggested I try it anyway. I started running the comb over her at a rapid pace, without trying to dig the comb into her hair, and the burrs started flying. It turned a two hour job into a ten minute job, and although Macy came out of it with some pretty bushy looking ears, all of the burrs were gone. I’m now an avid user of the comb!
While the comb is certainly the most effective tool that I have discovered for removing burrs, there are a couple of other preventative measures that I use to minimize the amount of burrs they bring home with them in the first place. First, I keep their hair trimmed. While I refuse to take my Cockers to a groomer, if I keep their hair trimmed they look nicer and pick up fewer burrs. I pay particular attention to their ears, but also trim the feathering behind their legs. While I wouldn’t enter them in a show contest after one of my “home cuttings” I also haven’t had anyone criticize my work either. I would caution against using a clipper to cut their hair. I have never used a clipper on either of my Cockers, but I have known others who clipped their Spaniel’s hair and it came back as a big, puffy, mess. While it was great when it was trimmed, when it grew back they were absolute burr magnets. You’d be much better off just using scissors and only trimming the long areas (legs and ears).
Second, I have discovered a product call Show Sheen that does an excellent job helping their coats repel burrs. You can find it in about any farm store, or just order it online. It’s original purpose was to make horses look shiny in the show ring, but it works great for Cockers too. Follow the directions on the bottle, but you essentially just spray them down and comb it through their hair, then let it dry. It leaves their coats feeling extremely soft and silky, and my experience has been that they don’t pick up as many burrs, and the burrs that they do pick up are removed relatively easily. I generally apply Show Sheen on a weekly basis so that they are always ready to get in the field.
Third, the healthier you keep your Cocker’s coat, the more naturally resistant they will be to burrs. I feed them a high-protein food, and regularly add eggs to their diet. This makes their hair naturally shiny and soft. I’m sure that feeding fish oil would have the same effect as eggs, but I find one or two eggs per weeks does the trick and they are cheap if you buy them on sale. Besides, my dogs absolutely LOVE eating them!
Lastly, regardless of what you do, the coat on a Cocker will always be higher maintenance than a short-haired dog. There is no way around that. However, I don’t hold it against them at all. In fact, I kind of like the “mandatory socialization” that I get with my Cockers after a hunt. It gives me a chance to praise them for their hard work, helps them trust me as I pull out burrs in painful locations (like in an armpit—err legpit), and gives me a chance to look for any injuries incurred in the field. It also helps to keep in mind that it ain’t easy lookin’ that purty!
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