To Clip, or not to Clip - Summer Shave downs

To Clip or not too Clip; That is the Question…
Should I have my dog clipped off really short in this heat?
With this Heat Wave Summer we are having, the temptation to have our dogs clipped off skin short is alluring.
But look at it from this point of view, what do we do when we get hot?

We seek the coolest place; we cover up to stop the suns rays from burning our skin.

The last thing we do is to is strip off naked and walk around in the sun, with NO WAY of choosing to cover up when the heat is too much for us.
We realise that flimsy loose clothing that flaps and moves as we move, cools us quickly, and provides us with our own generated breeze, however slight, that keeps the suns heat away from our skin, like a thermal barrier.

The same goes for our dogs, choosing the right level of hair to remove is a must!
Take too much off, and our dogs Cook!
Too little and you achieve little, or the dog is even hotter, especially if the thick undercoat is not thinned out to allow the “breeze effect” to work.

The ideal choice is to take the hair back to a length whereby the hair is still protecting the skin, but allowing the hair to bend and form thermal pockets of cooling air against the skin.
Each breed of dog has specific needs.

For example;
The Labrador, bred to help catch fish, etc, has a short dense but coarse coat just the right length to protect it from freezing temperatures and the blazing sun, the coat bends, provides thermal pockets against heat and cold, and water.
The northern breeds, Gsd’s Huskies, etc, They too have a coat designed to protect against heat and cold, and being so closely related to the wolf, they still do it naturally, shedding their coats 6 weeks before any weather change.
In summer their dense undercoat almost disappears to allow their top course coat to provide a cooling system from the snatched cooling air in summer breezes against their skin.
Even Chihuahua’s bred as rat catchers in their country of origin, have coats made for extremes of temperatures.
Shizu’s and Lhasa’s too bred for the extremes of heat from the sun and cold from the night time and winter temperatures.

The common denominator is the way these coats have been developed by breeding from the canine design for practicality to the human design for looks.
What has been overlooked and not fully explained during this passage from practical hound to pawfect pooch is the need for human help in keeping the pet happy and its coat fully in working condition.
This HAS to be done to every dog, regardless of coat type, be it the short haired Labrador or the fluffy Lhasa. They are no-longer charging through undergrowth, swimming daily in water, or play fighting and group grooming with pack mates.
We as owners are their Pack mates, and as such, should take care of the daily brushing and combing to remove the excess hair that stops the coat from being able to perform its job.
We can also help by having our dogs clipped down for summer, but to a length that will still allow the coat to do the job it was designed for. Not something that simply looks good to us, or saves us time.
I know I’m guilty of that with my 3 dogs, I got caught out this May, clipping my Maltese and my Yorkie TOO short, thinking by summer’s heat, their coats would be long enough to protect them……hmm
Poor things were so hot!
Didn’t know what to do with themselves.

Consult with your Groomer the best length for your particular breed, and your lifestyle.
I tend to stick to around ¾” inch and no less with most breeds.
And just thinning out and scissoring back to the under coat with the northern breeds or retrievers, though you can go shorter, but not skin short, this can cause the hair the grow back twice as thick, twice as quick, or in some cases, only the fine undercoat re-grows, not the top coarse coat. And this then means it could take upto 3years for the coat to return and before the dog looks like its breed again.

Poms, are a breed that one really takes a gamble with, most are ok, but if you get them clipped down during a shedding stage, they can remain almost bald for a good couple of years! Something I don’t think is fair on them at all.
Far better to take on board your groomers advice and not have certain breeds clipped down, but just groomed out to thin the coat right out, as this is just helping nature speed up a bit.
as this is just helping nature.

Groomers have to follow owner’s instructions, even if they have warned the owner it may ruin the coat afterwards or risk sunburn, sadly then, it’s the Groomer that gets the blame.

But the last thing a Groomer wants is to cause distress to their doggy client, by taking them too short, and maybe allowing the risk of sunburn or heatstroke.
Yes its harder work wise, on the groomer to leave the coat longer, but oh so much better for their client, whose true needs and welfare must ALWAYS come 1st!