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Why You Shouldn't Shave Your Long Coated Dog


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Not all double coated breeds come from cold climates. The Canaan dog originates in the middle east/top of africa and has a double coat as it has to live in an area which gets very hot and very cold at night.

I wouldn't shave a double coated breed.

--Lhok

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It's funny how different same breed dog coats can be. I have never had any BC's with the same coats. Sonny has a big coat. Huge pants etc & Stella has a really thick coat.

Not as long as Sonny's but tonnes of it. She is my little Panda bear :laugh: She is harder to groom though. You really have to work to get to the under coat. And all this is done

very much under sufferance :p She isn't a big fan.

My previous boy was so low maintance. He was a dream to groom, never had issues with mattes & only required brushing once a week. He had a very long coat but not nearly as thick as my 2 guys now.

My first girl was the same luckily as she hated being groomed period. She would run a mile if she saw a brush. Sonny & Stella both run up & wait as soon as they see the grooming bag come out Which is great never

have to call them. Same with a bath. So I can't complain really :)

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The author doesn't understand physics. eek1.gif Coat only protects your dog from heat IF the air temperature is above the dog's body temperature (38-39C). Otherwise it retains body heat. Putting hot coffee in an insulated cup won't speed it's coolingbiggrin.gif

The outer coat is a bit like wearing a parka over a jumper ... It protects the inner coat from the effects of wind and rain. Semi-waterproof shell...reduces convective cooling. This is why double coat breeds are found in cold climates or places where night temperatures are low, while dogs from consistently hot climates tend to have thinner coats. Removing outer coat should make a dog better able to enjoy cooling breezes.

Dogs thermoregulate in hot weather primarily by 1) panting = evaporative cooling; 2) finding a cool shady place to lie; 3) getting wet=evaporative cooling. Add, digging a hole in a moist place in your garden to lie in, preferably a valued flower bed.

Edited by sandgrubber
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So what double coated, long haired breeds were actually breed for warm to hot climates?

My parents are Dutch and they tell me my grandmother always had Newfies, beautiful dogs with thick coats - for the cold weather. Yes, these breeds have a thick coat to insulate them ........ against the cold.

My Annie from Sweden says, 'Thank you!' :)

I can't generalize from one case, but a Brisbane tibbie boy, imported from Singapore, had a silky coat with no undercoat. He was purebred, registered with the Kennel Club there. Made me wonder if that's what breeders in that v. hot climate had catered for.

I live in Qld and our temps in summer can reach 45+ degrees. I would not like to have a dog with a long double coat here. I just can't see how a coat like that will do anything against our temps - it doesn't make sense??

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Not all double coated breeds come from cold climates. The Canaan dog originates in the middle east/top of africa and has a double coat as it has to live in an area which gets very hot and very cold at night.

I wouldn't shave a double coated breed.

--Lhok

My thoughts exactly

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Like Mita, we also clip our tibbie girl at the beginning of summer as she has a thick dense coat. She is the daughter of Mita's Annie and has the same coat as Mum. Our girl kept getting hot spots during her first summer with us in Brisbane. Once clipped, her hot spots cleared up quickly and she has not had any since. She is much more active after she's been clipped and is not nearly as affected by the heat .Our tibbie boy has a longer coat but not thick so he has never been clipped off. I understand it is not ideal to clip double coated breeds but sometimes it is a reasonable step to take when there are health issues and comfort to consider. Our girl doesn't shed much and is not difficult to groom when she has a full coat so she isn't clipped for easier maintenance.

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Both my two have double coats. Very easy to brush and look after. Their double coat insulates them against cold and hot so I'm not going to mess with nature.

Same here, I just use the furminator and get all the dead undercoat out. Mine are fine and wouldn't shave unless I had to (vet op, ticks ect). Plus my boy isn't just the usual double coat, it is a beautiful big plush coat in an array of red,tan and black and I could never get rid of it unless it was an emergency :p

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What about Aussies? Cow dogs in America, I have a close friend from and back living in Arizona. Her family had working Aussies and never shaved them. I've heard they are popular workers in Texas too.

They (if anything like Koolies) don't really have a 'double' coat as I understand it .... we have had very fluffy koolies & border collies here as working dogs ..and they didn't seem to fare much worse than the very short coated ones ...

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Aussies have a double coat, I'm guessing most working ones would be shorter and possibly less thick than the show lines but the photos she showed me were still quite fluffy :) Although I did notice the males ruffs were not quite as full.

My boys breeder did say she sometimes shaved one of her boys belly during summer but never the full coat.

Edited by LisaCC
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Thank ok smile.gif I have to say I've never seen a long coated Koolie before, I know lots of short coats though. Are the long coated Koolies double coated?

some longer coated ones HERE and one of mine when still young .. He had a very thick coat , and didn't shed heaps in Summer ...HERE

clear-d280f94f2cf726fc7e74f24adec63ee4.gif

Gorgeous!

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A good article on hair length and temperature tolerance: http://www.lgd.org/library/hairlength.htm

I have seen many people shave off a double coated dog as it is easier to look after. Problem is that as the hair grows, it actually becomes more difficult to look after. this is because shaving cuts both the guard hairs and the undercoat to the same length. In a 'normal' double coat the thicker, longer guard hairs keep the undercoat separated. When a coat 'blows', the undercoat is relatively easy to pluck or brush out. When cut the same length, as the coat grows the guard hairs can get woven in with the softer undercoat. It creats a tighter wadded mess that is a lot harder to brush out. So shaved coats can require a LOT more brushing as they grow out to keep them from becoming matted. Don't brush regularly enough, and it becomes a vicious circle of matted coat and shaving.

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.... which is why, when I've assessed that a tibbie has good reason to be clipped right back, it's done with consistency. Not with the intention of ever returning the tibbie to totally full coat.

Our excellent groomer pointed out that a clipping right back, on a double-coated dog, is highly likely to change the type of coat radically when it grows back, exactly as you say. A good reason not to undertake full clipping without very sound reasons... & then commitment to keeping it up.

So our Annie gets at least a couple of full clips throughout our long, hot summer. Then it grows to about 1/4 full hot during our relatively mild winter.... Then spring rolls around & the sequence starts again. Definitely not something to be entered into lightly.

And why our other Australian-bred tibbies are not clipped.

Edited by mita
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