Long haired hot dog

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cowboy43

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I have a 2 year old half Austrailian Shepard half Lassie Collie he is a outside working dog , he has long hair about 3 inches long as thick as can be, and he is a beautiful dog ,the Texas heat is tough on him because he is so active. Would cutting his hair short help. My concern is what he would look like , would it ruin his looks and what would it look like when it grows back? Has anyone done this and was it worth it.
 
I used to clip my old Springer every spring/early summer. Hair grew back just like before it was clipped. She looked like a Springer that had had a haircut, no big deal.
 
cowboy43":6tswbui4 said:
I have a 2 year old half Austrailian Shepard half Lassie Collie he is a outside working dog , he has long hair about 3 inches long as thick as can be, and he is a beautiful dog ,the Texas heat is tough on him because he is so active. Would cutting his hair short help. My concern is what he would look like , would it ruin his looks and what would it look like when it grows back? Has anyone done this and was it worth it.

I don't know whether this applies to Aussies, or Collies, but shaving/short clipping of a double-coated dog can cause the undercoat to not grow back properly. You might want to call a reputable groomer and ask them.
 
I was watching Animal Planet one day and some lady said that if you cut a dog's coat in the summer they cannot insulate themselves properly???? but to me I would think that clipping them would help a lot more...
 
I don't know, but you really need to check it out good before you do. That hair may be insulating him from the heat as well as the cold. Long haired dogs in our type of heat just normally don't do well. Make sure he has plenty of water and a cool shady area to recover in.
 
How short?

You Might need to take into consideration that if you clip your dog that he might get a sunburn. :(
 
Back when I was a hippie, I got my hair cut for my wedding and even though it was still to my shoulders, I felt like I lost my best friend. Your dog may be embarassed to have no hair. gs
 
If you don't want the dog to loose it's look you can just trim their belly, we did that with our Aussie and like it. We had her shaved once and that didn't turn out real well, the bugs bothered her. Just doing her underside worked will. You could also look into using thinning shears
 
I had a lassie collie for 14 years ... if you trim off their coat it tends to grow back thicker each year. Best thing to do is strip the undercoat, and just wet him down with the hose or chuck him in a trough periodically. We also gave ours a wet blanket to lay on.
 
K2011":3uaighe8 said:
I was watching Animal Planet one day and some lady said that if you cut a dog's coat in the summer they cannot insulate themselves properly???? but to me I would think that clipping them would help a lot more...

That has to do with the double coat. Huskies, Malamutes, Samoyed, American Eskimos, I think maybe Labradors, and some other breeds have double coats that serve to insulate them from both heat, as well as cold.
 
We shave Cole in the summer and while he looks odd, he seems to really appreciate it. It's easier to get flea stuff to work on him, too. And he's easier to wash.

He's due for a shave now. We just clip him along with the donks.
 
When I was looking to adopt a rough collie, I was told to NOT shave them, that the hair acts as insulation and helps to keep the dog cool.
 
cowboy43":2ds04f5v said:
I have a 2 year old half Austrailian Shepard half Lassie Collie he is a outside working dog , he has long hair about 3 inches long as thick as can be, and he is a beautiful dog ,the Texas heat is tough on him because he is so active. Would cutting his hair short help. My concern is what he would look like , would it ruin his looks and what would it look like when it grows back? Has anyone done this and was it worth it.

I take our Great Pyrenees to the groomer every year and she clips her down so short she looks like a greyhound. Only probelm in the short run is that the sun may actually blister the skin but after a week or so she's very contented, quits digging holes everywhere....she just looks like hel. :help:
 
msscamp":3gf2x22y said:
K2011":3gf2x22y said:
I was watching Animal Planet one day and some lady said that if you cut a dog's coat in the summer they cannot insulate themselves properly???? but to me I would think that clipping them would help a lot more...

That has to do with the double coat. Huskies, Malamutes, Samoyed, American Eskimos, I think maybe Labradors, and some other breeds have double coats that serve to insulate them from both heat, as well as cold.

I had a Siberian Husky for a number of years (she died couple years ago). It was not advised to clip or shear them since their undercoat serves as insulation in both winter and summer. We just frequently brushed her starting in the Spring to "pull out" the loose undercoat...probably got close to a full trash bag throughout the spring, summer before cooler weather returned. We just made plenty of water available and good shade for her to lie in when the temperature was in the 90-100 deg. range.
 
Running Arrow Bill":tj6l02sp said:
msscamp":tj6l02sp said:
K2011":tj6l02sp said:
I was watching Animal Planet one day and some lady said that if you cut a dog's coat in the summer they cannot insulate themselves properly???? but to me I would think that clipping them would help a lot more...

That has to do with the double coat. Huskies, Malamutes, Samoyed, American Eskimos, I think maybe Labradors, and some other breeds have double coats that serve to insulate them from both heat, as well as cold.

I had a Siberian Husky for a number of years (she died couple years ago). It was not advised to clip or shear them since their undercoat serves as insulation in both winter and summer. We just frequently brushed her starting in the Spring to "pull out" the loose undercoat...probably got close to a full trash bag throughout the spring, summer before cooler weather returned. We just made plenty of water available and good shade for her to lie in when the temperature was in the 90-100 deg. range.

I used to keep a kids splasher pool full of water available for my 3 American Eskimo's. Having lost Sugar Bear and Cia in the last few years, Huck is now with me all the time, and the splasher pool has been replaced with the irrigation ditch, and the water in the fields from the flood irrigation. I also brush him year round on a regular basis to keep the loose hair and mats under control.
 
cowboy43":3iv97hvu said:
I have a 2 year old half Austrailian Shepard half Lassie Collie he is a outside working dog , he has long hair about 3 inches long as thick as can be, and he is a beautiful dog ,the Texas heat is tough on him because he is so active. Would cutting his hair short help. My concern is what he would look like , would it ruin his looks and what would it look like when it grows back? Has anyone done this and was it worth it.

Clipped my Border every Summer, at least twice, to cool her down. With our heat and humidity, it made big differnce. Otherwise, she laid and swam in the pond most of the time. The clipping did make her look kind weird but it did grow back very nice.
 

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