Summer grooming

[wolf_Q]

I wouldn't have her shaved either. I know there's arguments on both sides of the fence but I have personally seen many coats ruined from shaving. I've seen some grow back perfectly fine as well. I would have her feathers (legs, belly, tail) trimmed up well and get her undercoat brushed out really good. It's all up to you of course but that's just my opinion.

Nebo has an extremely dense undercoat...it may not be long but it is very thick, he survives in the heat and it does get very hot here in the summer and we don't even have air conditioning (just a swamp cooler). When going on walks Sydney and Reggie seem a lot less tolerant of the heat than Nebo and they are shaved bald where he has a thick coat.

[lv4dogs]

I think that if a dog is well brushed it does help with keeping hte heat out. Nanook has long hair, very thick too. He'll lay in the sun for hours (when he has access to shade even) his hair is hotter than hot but his skin is nice & cool.

If it were up to me I'd just have him trimmed and MAYBE IF I was really worried & really thought that a shave would help I would start slow, with a half shave, like shave the underside (belly). See how he deals with that at first. If it really seems to help than thats all you probably need, if it helps only a little then maybe go back for more shaving, if it does not help at all your best bet would probably be to just leave it be & just brush well.

[IRescue452]

I've seen shaved shepherds but I agree that a little hair is important for sun protection. I use a strippig knife all over Autumn to get out the undercoat which she doesn't shed and leave in the topcoat. The before and after pictures look just like those shown above but I don't think anybody is going to use a stripping knife on a big dog. They must have been brushed out good and shaved in some spots.
I think its just a myth that a dogs coat is ruined by shaving. Cutting a piece of hair does nothing to make it grow in thicker or thinner. I'm sorry but new folicles don't pop up when a piece of hair is cut. I think there are many other factors that can affect the dogs hair growing back though. If hair hasn't been shaved since the dog was a puppy and now the dog is older, yes the hair might be growing much thinner but that was even before the dog was shaved. Different foods and health problems affect hair growth and if you shave it and start anew then it may not look as good as before because the old coat was covering those problems.

[ParNone]

hi IRescue!

I have to disagree with you about ruining coats by shaving or cutting being a myth. It actually can and does change coat texture. My Cairn Terriers had the appropriate wirey coats, until I started scissoring their hair vs hand stripping, which is the correct method. They both ended up with cottony, soft coats as a result.

It wasn't a huge issue to me since they were companion dogs vs show dogs, but it did lead to more grooming for me, because the cottony hair can mat, whereas the wirey coat they were suppose to have really doesn't.

So in essence I did ruin their coat, by cutting it. I could easily see something similar happening to a Collie coat too, where the outer coat is suppose to be Rough vs Soft.

Par...

[cali]

Rather then shave I just clip, , I trime Happys feathering shorter on her legs and belly, and trim her ears, her tail, and I thin out her Ruff, and shorten her pants, he looks better after, and she seems to feel better too.

Before:






After:





I do the grooming myself, but thats just me lol

[jenluckenbach]

Originally posted by Shelteez2
I agree mostly with what you say as well, except that I do believe a properly brushed out coat does help insulate a dog from the heat.
My shelties can go lie out in the sun and come inside and their hair is so hot I can barely touch it, but if I push my fingers through the hair and feel their skin it is cool.

This may well be true, but keep in mind that the dogs I see (at the grooming shop) NEVER come in to the shop in a brushed out condition. And not having dogs living at home with me I cannot attest to the coolness of the skin. I am only going by customers reactions to the shaved hair cuts and how they feel their dogs are reacting.