The magical Sammy coat
Samoyed's very much give the impression of being a lot of work to keep beautiful and this is a little deceptive as they are rather easy to keep clean and looking lovely.
I will start with the aspects that make up the Samoyed coat.
Samoyed's have a double coat a thick woolly undercoat and a longer harsh over coat, the coat predominantly comes in white but can also be shaded with cream and biscuit which can range from very delicate to quite heavy patches, you might also find a mystical black hair which is a throw back to when they use to come in all colours and shows the good pigment of the Sammy's even now, on the tips of the over-coat should be a silvery gleam, the silver tips on the Samoyed's coat is very important as in warm weather it reflects the light of the coat it also is one of the reasons they are blindingly beautiful.
The soft undercoat is what the Sammy shed and shed they do once or twice a year, they 'drop coat' (usually twice for females). While I find that when they ARE NOT dropping coat, you don't have hairs every where and they are low shedding, but when they ARE dropping coat, it is a flurry of white hair everywhere, don't wear black and pack rollers to clean clothes. They do have to be brushed a lot more frequently when they are dropping coat, the magic part of their undercoat is that you can take the brushed out hair and have it spun and then knit beautiful warm clothes from it, the Samoyede people often did.
One of the things I get asked often is "how do you keep them clean, they are so white, don't they get muddy all the time" and it is surprisingly easy to keep them clean, the harsh overcoat of the Samoyed acts as a protective layer. They can go and get disgustingly muddy at the beginning of their walk and as it dries over the walk, I find by the time I get home they are almost clean again, but if not a quick brush over the coat and they look wonderful. The mud doesn't stick to their coat so comes off really easy once dry, because of this you don't have to wash them often, they are a couple of times a year bath kind of dog unless they get into something really stinky, Samoyed's don't have a normal dog smell, it is not that they are completely odourless, just that they don't carry the normal dander and oils that other dogs, do so don't have an obvious odour. This does mean that they pick up other smells, I find if someone with strong perfume hugs the dogs, I can smell it for the next 12 hours on them, the same thing happens with nasty smelly stuff they roll in and then they do need a bath to remove the smell.
My next bit leads a slight misconception of the Samoyed fur that they are hypoallergenic, I believe that there is no such thing as a truly hypoallergenic dog. But there are breeds of dogs people are less reactive too, what people usually have a reaction to is the dander in the dogs coat, Samoyed's produce little to no dander, because of this most people with allergies find that they then don't react to them, if you do have allergies and want to see if the Samoyed is right for you, please feel free to contact me as I am more then happy to have you come and visit or send you some of the brushed out hair so that you may see if you react.
Samoyed scarf made from the brushed out fur.
This image is not my own.
The Samoyed coat works that while the double coat keeps them warm when it is cold, it also helps them regulate their temperature and keep themselves cool when it is warm. This infrared picture explains how a dog's coat is important to heat regulation, the image shows a dog having been partially shaved, by shaving the coat you are removing the dogs natural defence to the elements, the image shows that the dogs temperature is now higher and the dog will have trouble naturally bringing this temperature down. So while most would think that removing the coat would make them cooler it doesn't, and you are more likely to risk heat stroke and due to the pink skin you might even have to put sunscreen on the dog.
Shaving the coat can also change the texture of the coat and it might not grow back to how it was before.
With this in mind the only time to cut or shave a Samoyed coat is for medical reasons and even then if you can go for trimming over shaving, it will leave a better result. The other thing that can change the Samoyed coat is neutering, the change in hormones tends to make the coat thicker and woollier, they also tend to drop coat less.
I think one of the not so happy things about a Samoyed coat is that due to the big fluff on the backs of their legs (knickers or pants), when they go to the toilet they can get a little wee on them, especially the females as they squat, a wet wipe and a quick comb through the insides of the legs will clean this up. The really unpleasant grooming job is sometimes if the dog has loose stools then they can catch some on the fur of their pants, wet wipes can be a quick fix for this if it is only a little bit sometimes its not easy as that and then the leaving it to dry and just brushing it out can work, or if really necessary a quick wash.
This is not something that should happen to often and if it is then maybe looking at your dogs diet is needed, but if you are feeding a good diet I find sometimes a spoonful of Greek yogurt to one meal a day for a couple of weeks can solve this.
It is not a pleasing thing to deal with, but there is no point in saying that the breed is perfect and without any fault, it is better that you know these things and then you know every little quibble.
The biggest task is when they loose their coat, it really isn't any different to how you normally would groom, you just have to do twice as much. I have added some photos so that you can see how much coat can be dropped, this doesn't mean that coat gets everywhere, you do have to brush it out and the quicker you get it all out the less you have little flyaway's around the house. You might think this is too much for you to cope with, as most breeds of dog lose some of their hair regularly, but Samoyed's don't and if you brush your Samoyed regularly you won't find many on your clothes. If you want to see a Samoyed dropping its coat there are plenty of video's on YouTube showing how much can come out and the fun of a forced air dryer on the coat.
Its best to start with the equipment needed for grooming, I have many pretty brushes and am always getting more, but for the most part all you need is:
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Three brushes
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A comb (this you will use the most)
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A pin brush like you would use on your own hair (make sure it is without bobbles on the end)
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A slicker brush (again without bobbles)
These are the basic equipment needed, the extra bit that I consider important is a grooming table (you can use any table though), having your Samoyed lay on a raised surface means that they can't run away and they learn that going up on the table means grooming time, you can get a better angle with them up on the table, I find its quite a struggle with them on the floor.
The other piece of equipment that I think is good to have is a forced air blow dryer, this is different to a normal hair dryer as it is a lot more air then heat, making it easier and quicker to dry. It's not good for your Samoyed to stay wet for long as it can cause hot spots to break out and mats to form, so the quicker they are dry the better, The forced air dryer can also help you remove some of the coat when they are dropping.
It really is important to start the grooming when they are young and have a nice easy puppy coat that is not big and difficult to manage, the more you get them use to being brushed and staying still, the easier it is for you when they are adults. It can be really difficult with a wiggling puppy that it isn't laying down and being still, is to want to brush it or not get annoyed. I think one of the most important things I do for the grooming is to always give one doggy sweetie after every groom, I give this to them once I'm done while they are on the table, they soon learn that I do the brushing and they get a sweet, my Nim now comes running over to the table to be groomed. If you brush your puppy while they are sleepy this can help you or bring a toy they can play with up to the table so they aren't biting the brush, its all about persevering and carrying on with.
You can see in the photos above how much Caro loves being groomed he just lies there and sleeps.
It is truly easier to show, then to write it down and explain but I will try to explain how I groom mine.
I start first with them lying on one side, so you have a whole flat side to brush. This gives you better access to the dog from this position, start first with brushing the pin brush over all of the dog, then I like to start at the back leg and work my way up the leg (if you start at a marked spot then you don't miss bits accidentally), taking the slicker brush to the hock hair, brushing the hair up and then out from the bone, then slicker over the short hair on the front bone. From here is the start of line combing parting each layer of hair and combing through the parted layer, your combing the hair with the grain and downwards, this will flatten the hair as you go, continue up the back leg until you reach the hip. Then the pants on the backs of the legs go from a different angle, you still need to part the fur on the pants into layers, brush it outwards away from the dog. Then work on the middle section before reaching the front leg (this isn't the belly or spine, its the rib cage area), once you get to the front leg you then want to take the slicker to the short hair on the front of the leg, you comb the feathers on the back of the front out and away from the bone, taking the comb and brushing up the front leg parting the hair again, this leaves you with the head to comb work from the forward most point and work your way up and around slicker the hair behind the ears and comb through well as it can get knotted easily with the soft hair here, slicker the cheek hair pulling it forward towards their nose, slicker the inside of the ear, this is one side of the dog then done. Roll the dog onto its back with the belly exposed, you can the brush through the belly, make sure to comb under the armpits and the insides of the legs, once the belly is done, continue rolling to get the other side. Work on this side as you did the other side, the last bits to comb through is along the spine, to do this have them sit forward but the rest of the body stay laying, this position opens up the back for you to comb through, you can also then comb through their chest better, always parting the hair and combing through. The last bit to do is the tail, I don't comb this but instead use the pin brush to brush through it, I find the comb catches and hurts, then get the Sammy to stand up you then take the pin brush and brush all the hair upwards and towards their face to fluffy them up as much as possible.
This is a full groom and should be done once a week, during the week a quick brush over with the comb or pin brush will keep them in good condition especially after a walk. It really is quite simple and they love it.
I hope this goes towards explaining some, but I am more then happy to give a personal demonstration.
The last little bit of grooming is to brush the teeth and nails, a normal human toothbrush is fine but dog toothpaste is a must, the nails you should be able to see where the white tips need trimming if you feel unsure get your vet to show you. Again start young and they will get use to it.