Never Cut The Whiskers

[giraffez]

I heard a while back that you should never cut off the whiskers of your pet. Having a schnauzer, the mole on the dog's side is one of the guides to clip up to and the mole often has a whisker on it. and i also noticed there are several whiskers that are mixed in with the beard.....so hard to avoid not cutting.

I'm trying to recall the reasoning behind it and i think it had something to do with balance.... however it applies more in cats than dogs. I don't know whether this is a myth or fact, anyone care to clarify or confirm?

Edited July 19, 2009 by giraffez

[WreckitWhippet]

We whisker whack all of the show dogs each time they are shown. They are just as agile and have no troubles regardless of them having whiskers or not.

[tlc]

I dont know about in dogs but I think with cats it is that the whiskers are as wide as their widest part of thier body so they help with them not getting stuck in places such as drain pipes etc if the whiskers cant go through easily then their bodys wont fit!! Not sure if that is right but it is what I always believed to be true!!

[The Spotted Devil]

Many show people trim their dogs' whiskers with no apparent issue - I wouldn't worry too much :D

Cats rely very heavily on their whiskers, especially getting through small gaps as they are generally in proportion to their body. That said, my Burmese girl, Brontë, had her whiskers chewed down when she was a kitten by her mother, Lilly (who now also resides with us) - it didn't slow her down as a kitten I can tell you!!!

[SkySoaringMagpie]

It depends on the breed with dogs. Some breeds take them off as a matter of course, in other breeds you will be shot at dawn if you do.

No doubt a DOL schnauzer expert can tell you what is the done thing with schnauzers.

[Gayle.]

That said, my Burmese girl, Brontë, had her whiskers chewed down when she was a kitten by her mother, Lilly (who now also resides with us) - it didn't slow her down as a kitten I can tell you!!!

Apparently that's what mother cats do with their favourite kittens. Chew the whiskers down so the kitten doesn't leave the "nest".

Totally OT as far as dogs whiskers go, but here's my little story of cats whiskers:

We got Sophie as a 10 week old kitten, a gorgeous little pedigree brown Burmese. We were so thrilled with her that within weeks of bringing her home, we'd put in a request to her breeder for a brown boy, preferably from the same parents. Six months later, we got our wish and when he was 11 weeks old, we brought Bruno home. Sophie adored him from the outset and lavished him with love. She was completely besotted with him, and it was so cute to watch.

When he was about 4 months old, we went away for a weekend and left the cats in the care of my older kids (they were aged about 22 and 17). When we got home, the cats were very happy to see us, but Bruno looked a bit strange.....he had no whiskers on his face. I reamed into the kids, thinking they must have let him get near the stove or something (he was a bugger of a kitten for getting into mischief and he hasn't changed)

but they swore up and down they'd watched him very carefully.

From then on, every time his whiskers started to grow a bit, they'd mysteriously vanish. Then one day I saw Sophie chewing them off. Mystery solved. When I told their breeder what she was doing, and told her it started when we'd gone away for a weekend and left the cats at home she said Sophie must have been a bit upset that we'd gone, so chewed Bruno's whiskers off so he wouldn't leave as well!

Poor Bru didn't have a full set of whiskers til he was about 18 months old and she finally stopped her motherly ways with him.

Ummm...but having no whiskers didn't slow him down, he was still like a little brown monkey, getting into absolutely everything.

Edited July 19, 2009 by GayleK

[redarachnid]

We whisker whack all of the show dogs each time they are shown. They are just as agile and have no troubles regardless of them having whiskers or not.

Ditto. Myth.

[The Spotted Devil]

GayleK - that's gorgeous

Sorry for going OT, but some of the literature suggests that whisker trimming in mother cats may be caused by anxiety (Lilly had a caesarean). However, I did a very basic straw poll on a cat forum with breeders and there was every scenario of kitten whisker trimming that you could imagine - blew my theory out of the water I can tell you :D

[WoofnHoof]

I trimmed the whiskers on a horse once he'd never had it done before (it's commonly done for showing) and he had obviously been using them a bit because he kept bumping the sides of his feed bin and scaring himself! It was pretty funny but he got used to it pretty quickly, I have heard of some clever horses needing their whiskers trimmed because they use them to check if the electric fence is on!

[becks]

No problem to trim the whiskers. In show dogs we pluck out the whiskers in the beard and eyebrows so they will lie flatter (not something you need to do on a pet though!)

[sas]

I don't trim whiskers but the dog will survive without them. Dogs do use whiskers and there are there for a reason, whether or not your dog will behave any differently is an individual thing.

Some horses whose whiskers are trimmed will bang their chins on feed dishes etc. and some dogs whose whiskers are trimmed may not judge distances as well i.e. how close they are to walls and items when they're zooming around.

If you wanted to learn more before deciding whether to trim or not you can read up at difference resources such as:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Do-Dogs-Have...&id=2538451

Edited July 19, 2009 by sas

[voloclydes]

this counts as whiskers ......no i don't trim... or shave em...

[Dogsfevr]

We dont touch the whiskars on our show minis unless there so big there annoying.

Like Becks aid no need to worry

[tomas]

I never cut off whiskers.

Imagine cutting off all the skin on your fingers, THAT is what it feels like for a dog if you do. I have Vizslas and they would run into stuff if I did that. They are all trained in the field.

These are also multiple BIS and BISS winning dogs and it never seemed to hinder them doing well in the ring.

The whiskers, or more properly, vibrissae, are important sensory mechanisms that the dog uses in several ways. Each individual whisker connects to a specific brain region, so that the dog can actually perceive movements of each whisker. About 40% of the part of the dog's brain that handles tactile information is devoted to the face, and a big piece of that to the region where the whiskers are located. Any time that much brain tissue is devoted to one thing, it's a sure sign that it's an important sensory mechanism.

They help the dog detect when something is near his face, and may help them detect whether a surface is rough or smooth, as well as the shapes of objects. They help dogs navigate in dim light. As the dog moves, the air currents stirred up by his movements bounce off walls and other objects, and the vibrissae are capable of detecting these and helping the dog avoid walls or other objects. Each hair is capable of being moved by small muscles, and a dog will actively move these back and forth across objects, as well as move his head to get information about the things near his face. Watch how your dog behaves when he brings his head near an object, of when you lightly touch one of his whiskers.

Stanley Coren writes about this in more detail in his book "How Dogs Think". He also described an experiment in which a blind Sheltie (?) had his whiskers cut...the Sheltie was much less able to navigate his surroundings and kept bumping into various things.

So personally I don't.

Tomas.

[jillybean]

I never cut off whiskers.

Imagine cutting off all the skin on your fingers, THAT is what it feels like for a dog if you do. I have Vizslas and they would run into stuff if I did that. They are all trained in the field.

These are also multiple BIS and BISS winning dogs and it never seemed to hinder them doing well in the ring.

The whiskers, or more properly, vibrissae, are important sensory mechanisms that the dog uses in several ways. Each individual whisker connects to a specific brain region, so that the dog can actually perceive movements of each whisker. About 40% of the part of the dog's brain that handles tactile information is devoted to the face, and a big piece of that to the region where the whiskers are located. Any time that much brain tissue is devoted to one thing, it's a sure sign that it's an important sensory mechanism.

They help the dog detect when something is near his face, and may help them detect whether a surface is rough or smooth, as well as the shapes of objects. They help dogs navigate in dim light. As the dog moves, the air currents stirred up by his movements bounce off walls and other objects, and the vibrissae are capable of detecting these and helping the dog avoid walls or other objects. Each hair is capable of being moved by small muscles, and a dog will actively move these back and forth across objects, as well as move his head to get information about the things near his face. Watch how your dog behaves when he brings his head near an object, of when you lightly touch one of his whiskers.

Stanley Coren writes about this in more detail in his book "How Dogs Think". He also described an experiment in which a blind Sheltie (?) had his whiskers cut...the Sheltie was much less able to navigate his surroundings and kept bumping into various things.

So personally I don't.

Tomas.

I've read that book and remember that theory too.

I wouldn't trim whiskers, they're not that obvious anyway

[redarachnid]

I never cut off whiskers.

Imagine cutting off all the skin on your fingers, THAT is what it feels like for a dog if you do.

Tomas.

Surely this is an exaggeration?? There's blood and pain and infection when you cut dog's whiskers??

I'm not questioning your theory, just this analogy seems inflated.

Edited July 20, 2009 by redarachnid

[becks]

We are talking about a schnauzer here, a breed with long hair over most of the whiskers. I wonder if that blind shelti would have managed fine if it still had a beard? I;ve seen blind schnauzers manage just fine!

[tomas]

I never cut off whiskers.

Imagine cutting off all the skin on your fingers, THAT is what it feels like for a dog if you do.

Tomas.

Surely this is an exaggeration?? There's blood and pain and infection when you cut dog's whiskers??

I'm not questioning your theory, just this analogy seems inflated.

It probably is. However I was trying to convey the drastic change a dog would have to go through to relearn so much after losing it's whiskers.

I thought I explained it pretty well in the rest of my post.

[tomas]

We are talking about a schnauzer here, a breed with long hair over most of the whiskers. I wonder if that blind shelti would have managed fine if it still had a beard? I;ve seen blind schnauzers manage just fine!

Sure,but take them out of an environment they are used to and maybe they would'nt?

I also said personally I don't. I did'nt say " no you can't and what a horrible person you would be if you did!"

The analogy of cutting off the skin on your fingers was to liken the effect in that the vibrissae are VERY important sensory tools,just like the ends of our fingers.

If you want to cut them off,it's your choice,but after knowing how they are used by a dog I never ever would. Which is also my choice

If you feel knowing that "About 40% of the part of the dog's brain that handles tactile information is devoted to the face, and a big piece of that to the region where the whiskers are located. Any time that much brain tissue is devoted to one thing, it's a sure sign that it's an important sensory mechanism." and you still want to cut them off to make them look prettier,go ahead.

But at least now you know HOW important they actually are! If you did'nt already.

[becks]

We are talking about a schnauzer here, a breed with long hair over most of the whiskers. I wonder if that blind shelti would have managed fine if it still had a beard? I;ve seen blind schnauzers manage just fine!

Sure,but take them out of an environment they are used to and maybe they would'nt?

I also said personally I don't. I did'nt say " no you can't and what a horrible person you would be if you did!"

The analogy of cutting off the skin on your fingers was to liken the effect in that the vibrissae are VERY important sensory tools,just like the ends of our fingers.

If you want to cut them off,it's your choice,but after knowing how they are used by a dog I never ever would. Which is also my choice

If you feel knowing that "About 40% of the part of the dog's brain that handles tactile information is devoted to the face, and a big piece of that to the region where the whiskers are located. Any time that much brain tissue is devoted to one thing, it's a sure sign that it's an important sensory mechanism." and you still want to cut them off to make them look prettier,go ahead.

But at least now you know HOW important they actually are! If you did'nt already.

And THAT isn't calling me a horrible person?

Lucky I pull them out

To follow your analogy, a dog with a lot of facial hair would be like a person wearing thick gloves, so they wouldn't be relying on them to understand their environment.