Quick, name all the corded breeds you can think of.

If you included the Bergamasco in your list, you’d be wrong. Technically, the Bergamacso is a “flocked” breed that combines three kinds of hair to its signature form dense, flat, and felt-like mats. The three hair textures include a fine, dense, oily undercoat, a long, harsh hair called “goat” hair for its similarity to the goat’s hair, and a top woolly outer-coat. 

Typically, “felting” doesn’t start until the dog’s undercoat begins to grow at the same time the puppy coat starts “molting,” and the wooly coat and goat hairs combine. The process can start in a dog as young as 7 months of age, but it’s more common for it to begin in a youngster closer to its first birthday.  Puppy hair starts to work its way into the incoming undercoat, the wooly coat shows up on the base of the tail and the withers, and the goat hair begins to grow over the withers and the saddle. From this point on, time, and the light separation of flocks is all that’s needed. Once the dog has matured,  the coat requires very little care except for maintaining the separated flocks.  The coat continue to grow over the course of the dog’s life, and usually by the time the dog is five years old, the coat reaches the ground.

As with the Puli and Komondor, the Bergamasco’s unique coat has purpose: It’s an efficient insulator that keeps the dog cool in the summer because air can circulate between the mats and allow the skin to breathe. It also protects the dog from the cold and damp. The flocks serve to protect the dog from the bites of a predator,  and frustrates tics from latching on too easily.  The Bergamasco Club of America has a couple of wonderful pictures showing the process.

This print of a Bergamasco by Olde Time Mercantile is available for purchase here.