I recall a thread not too long ago here in which someone described shaving a rather shaggy-haired horse to help it cope with hot weather. The result was an enthusiastically appreciative horse.
Is the same true of dogs? I sometimes see dogs out in the sun on hot days with thick, black fur, and I feel bad for them. I understand they pant to keep cool, but doing so means they are uncomfortably hot - just like sweating means we’re uncomfortably hot.
Some breeds naturally have very short hair (e.g. boxers), but others are insanely shaggy (e.g. newfoundland). Can a newfie be helped by a buzz cut that makes them look like a boxer, or have they evolved to tolerate the heat retained by their thick fur coat?
My mom’s yorkies get a buzz cut at the beginning of every summer. The groomer remove most of the body hair and leaves the head hair and legs just a little longer. We wouldn’t want to buzz all the hair off.
Clippers pretty much go to the skin. But its not like a razor shave.
I was recently at a show that had a Newfie demonstration and the speaker said that they didn’t need to clip the hair because the coat was designed to protect from the heat (despite being black - something about the outer and under coat hairs), but they did sometimes give it a bit of a trim for cleanliness. Apparently their skin is white so if you clip too much, you expose the delicate skin to the sun, which isn’t good.
I used to give my golden a buzz cut. I remember hearing many folk insist the hair worked as an insulator against the heat. Over 3 decades or so and 4 goldens, I never really noticed any difference in my dogs’ behavior/apparent mood whether shaved or not. So I stopped - primarily out of laziness. Now I’ll furminate him every once in a while.
It depends on the type of dog. We have a Husky, who has a double coat. Clipping a double coat dog is not recommended as the coat often grows back differently/poorly. So we just use the Furminator on him and make sure he’s hydrated and stays in the shade during the hottest part of the day.
I’ve run in to plenty of golden retrievers who get a summer buzz.
My girl would probably like one but she has a lot of fatty tumors and skin problems and I think she’d look really weird with less hair. As a trade-off, I let her spend most of the summer either indoors or in the kiddie pool.
A friend of ours shaves her collie except for the head. She sure looks different until the hair grows back out, but she is much more comfortable. Our dog looks a lot like a black lab; however, he has a thick double coat. We brush him out a lot especially when shedding. Fortunately we have a doggie door and he can come inside for AC when it’s too hot for him outside.
We have a chow mix and we shave her twice in the summer, once at the beginning and once in the middle of it. We do notice a difference in her energy levels when she’s shaved, DC summers can be brutal.
I had a dog that I shaved every spring, but not so much to protect her from the heat. Her hair would get really badly matted. Shaving during the spring got rid of all the clumped hair, and gave time for her to grow it back for the (relatively short, here) winters.
We’re considering giving Sadie a haircut. She’s a mutt – golden/poodle/lab – long hair, wooly coat except under her chin, which is silky.
I’ve cut the hair on her legs and it grows back in tight curls that are difficult to comb out. If we clip her and all her hair comes back like that, it’ll be a bitch to keep her combed out.
We shave our spaniel-mix mutt. We bring him to a groomer. Not so much because of the heat, but it is easier to see ticks, there’s less burrs, and he dries faster after swimming. When his hair is long all sorts of debris (leaves, twigs, etc.) stick to him and short fur is just easier. We let it grow out in the winter.
I find a straight razor works effectively on my golden AND the resulting blood loss precipitates a convenient lethargy that mitigates overheating-through-exercise for weeks during the healing process!
Actually, puppy demonstrates a marked increase in energy and activity post-shave, so I’ve purchased a good trimmer and cut him 4 or 5 times b/w April and October (we suthrn fowk)/katie
We used to give our miniature poodle a buzz-cut a couple times a summer, and he was noticeably more energetic and boisterous with the shorter hair. I really do think he was hot and uncomfortable and lethargic if we didn’t give him the haircuts.
I had a poodle-mix-mutt when I was a kid, with long curly hair. My Dad used to shave him with a trimmer a couple times every summer. You could tell the dog loved it- he’d dance around jumping and rolling for an hour or so every time he got clipped.
Nowadays, I have pugs, so don’t have to worry about it.
I am a dog groomer and many people do want their dogs buzzed down for the summer. For many dogs this is fine but it isn’t great for all dogs. I do get requests to shave down Goldens (sometimes called a cottage cut here) but try to avoid it. The one thing that kills me is when the owners say that the dog is panting. Clearly a dog panting in warm weather is a good thing because it means their cooling mechanism is working.
I would never shave down my dog Duncan. He is a Cavalier King Charles who looks a lot like this. He has a beautiful long, flowing coat that would NEVER grow back the same smooth way if it were cut down.
ETA: Many times it is excess undercoat that causes the dog discomfort. It can also lead to matting which is bad. Things for so many dogs and people would be improved with the weekly use of a slicker brush.
We clip our dogs, a Husky mix and and Australian Shepherd a couple times a summer. We have our own clipper. Summers can be brutally hot here. Our dogs have much more energy when clipped. The difference is noticeable and immediate.
