A double coat deceives from above. The topcoat can look smooth and finished while the dense undercoat beneath it is packing down into felt, and a house move is exactly when the deception takes hold: routines scatter, the comb lives in a box somewhere, and by the time life settles, the undercoat has a three-week start on you.
Two coats, one routine
Comb in layers, two or three times a week, lifting the coat in sections and working from the skin outward so the comb actually reaches the undercoat instead of skating over it. A session that leaves the surface glossy but the roots untouched has groomed the wrong coat. Work methodically — one side, then the other, then the chest and trousers — and tease any beginning felt apart with your fingers while it still separates willingly. Leave the clippers alone entirely: a double coat is insulation in both directions, protecting against cold and heat alike, and a shaved double coat can regrow patchy and changed in texture.
Settling the routine in a new home
While the house is still strange, groom in the one room she has settled in, on familiar bedding carried from the old home, at the same time of day she knew before the move. Predictability is the reassurance — same place, same sequence, same ending — and it is worth more than thoroughness in the first fortnight. Keep sessions short, and if she is still hiding for much of the day, skip the session rather than extracting her for it; a missed day costs the coat little, while a forced one costs you her cooperation for weeks. As she claims more of the house, the grooming spot can move with her.
Layers, checks and the shared rota
The layered comb-out doubles as a health check that suits a thick coat, because your hands reach skin that eyes rarely see: run your fingers against the grain for lumps, scabs or tenderness, part the coat at the neck and tail base, and check ears and claws while she is settled. In a household unpacking in shifts, agree whose grooming days are whose, and what 'done' means — combed to the skin in layers, not brushed over the top — so a busy week does not quietly become a surface-only week. Felting begins invisibly; a shared understanding of the standard is what prevents it.
Through Care Teams in KinsLe, the next helper sees the timestamped record and picks the layers up where the last session ended, even while the home still feels new.