The Samoyed is a dog well known for its beautiful and luxurious white coat. The secret to their full and bouncy appearance lies in the fact that they actually possess not one, but two coats: an undercoat with a coarse, woolly texture, and an outer coat with longer and softer guard hairs. Because of this somewhat unique configuration, the Samoyed's coat brings with it some similarly unique grooming concerns which we'll attempt to outline in this article.
The first thing you should know is that two times a year, a Samoyed will totally (yes, totally) shed the entirety of their undercoat. This can be a very dramatic experience for someone who hasn't gone through it before as you're very likely to just wake up one morning and find huge clumps of hair all throughout your home that will need to be vacuumed up or otherwise gotten rid of. The good news is that these periods of shedding are fairly brief, and apart from this phenomenon the breed hardly sheds at all.
At first glance, the Samoyed's pure white coat might give someone the impression that maintaining the dog's pristine appearance would be a laborious time-consuming chore. Not so. The Samoyed, unique to all breeds, has a strange ability to keep itself nearly completely free from dirt and odors. Much like a cat, the Samoyed will clean and groom themselves for the most part and even the worst and most imposing stains will vanish within a matter of days. As such, it's hardly ever necessary to bathe a Samoyed. Instead, frequent brushings are an adequate substitute. If you're particularly concerned about the shine in your Samoyed's coat, look into special whitening shampoo and give him or her a thorough bath with this once or twice a year. More than that can actually interfere with the Samoyed's natural oils and detract from his or her shiny appearance.
Except during those times of year when the Samoyed is shedding his or her undercoat, they aren't a breed that requires much in the way of grooming. A simple daily brushing will produce the best results, but anything more than once or twice a week will prove satisfactory. The only thing to be concerned with is that the brush you use to groom your Samoyed must be long enough to pierce all the way through the fluffy guard hairs and remove dead hairs from the coarse coat underneath.
Generally speaking, a Samoyed's hair should never be cut or clipped, except for where made necessary by medical reasons. Especially in the summer, the outer guard hairs are necessary to protect the skin from the sun during those periods when the undercoat is shed, and without it, the Samoyed's skin is very prone to damage from the sun. As such, resist the urge to give your Samoyed a summer haircut and just keep him or her cool with brushing and a constant supply of fresh water.
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