Why You Shouldn't Shave Your Long Coated Dog

[luvsdogs]

I definitely agree that desexed dogs bring their own set of challenges.

I've never seen a cocker spaniel with a coat as thick and wooly as our cocker. His coat gets left to grow in winter but is definitely clipped in summer to keep him cooler. Not to mention we like going camping and to the beach with the dogs in summer and a shorter coat means it drys quicker and he doesn't get as dirty, although apparently that's just me being lazy :p

I've had 2 border collies, both desexed, & both had different textured coats but both with thinner coats than your average BC. Both their sires had full coats & their dams average. April was easy to groom & rarely had mats. She used to have a noticeably summer & winter coat. Tilba doesn't seem to have a noticeable change in coat although she has thick pants & tail year round. She seems to take forever to blow her undercoat from her hips during a moult.

I've always believed that they are/were like that because they live inside with heating & air con. My Japanese Spitz, also desexed, has a thicker coat at the moment but not as thick as the show JS. So with these 3 dogs I think desexing has had the reverse effect than others have stated.

[sandgrubber]

The main reason I don't shave my Labbies is I'm too chincy to pay a groomer to do it :). Also, I find I can greatly alleviate their heat stress by:

(1) allowing them indoors where there is air con and (2) combing out the dead undercoat ...which also saves me from sweeping/vacuuming up dog hair.

[Leah82]

Here's our Cocker before and after his latest clip.

Big Teddy Bear to Dashing Cocker Spaniel :D