# What types of coats are okay to shave and what aren't?



## jersey_gray (Dec 8, 2011)

I used to work kennels at the vet's office. We shaved many dogs (and cats) come summer, Golden Retrievers in particular. I've read that you shouldn't shave certain dogs. I am curious what breeds/coats are okay to shave and what breeds/coats should not be shaved. We had a long-haired dog when I was a child and my mom shaved her every summer. She was a mutt. Friends of the family found her pregnant small Spaniel-looking momma and took her in. Momma gave birth to a huge litter of HUGE puppies, nearly killed the momma dog. Connie full-grown was double the size of her dam. She looked like a big sheepdog with a Schnauzer's head. She had horrible skin, poor thing-she was half bald by the end of her life. It was always attributed to allergies. Whether or not the vet said that or my mom just thought that I do not know. Was reading an old thread on here about shaving a Bearded Collie which sparked this question. I always felt bad for shaving those Goldens-did not look cute on them.


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## Tankstar (Dec 30, 2006)

Anything with a double coat should not be shaved. (golden, GSD, collie, pom ect

Anything with a single coat can be shaved. (poodle, lhasa, shih, ect)

The difference is. Double coated dogs need that coat for insulation from hot and cold. While single coat dogs do not get that beneifit from their coats. Double coats for the most part never grow back normal after being shaved (which may be exactly why your dogs coat was in bad shape nearing her end of life)While a single coat will grow back.


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## Jacksons Mom (Mar 12, 2010)

Tankstar said:


> Anything with a double coat should not be shaved. (golden, GSD, collie, pom ect
> 
> Anything with a single coat can be shaved. (poodle, lhasa, shih, ect)
> 
> The difference is. Double coated dogs need that coat for insulation from hot and cold. While single coat dogs do not get that beneifit from their coats. Double coats for the most part never grow back normal after being shaved (which may be exactly why your dogs coat was in bad shape nearing her end of life)While a single coat will grow back.


So true!

We have a long haired dachshund/spaniel something mix and my stepmom had him shaved last summer. While I DO think he looks cuter... the hair never grows back in the way it used to, he gets very fluffy and poofy and frizzy now.

This is him shaved/right after haircut (which, I DO admit, I really like the way it looks):









This was him at the shelter before we adopted him:









I can't find a picture of him when it's grown out... but yeah, it gets all fluffy and poofy. So now we have to shave him every 12 weeks or so for him to look not a mess, LOL.


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## mom24doggies (Mar 25, 2011)

Tankstar said:


> Anything with a double coat should not be shaved. (golden, GSD, collie, pom ect
> 
> Anything with a single coat can be shaved. (poodle, lhasa, shih, ect)
> 
> The difference is. Double coated dogs need that coat for insulation from hot and cold. While single coat dogs do not get that beneifit from their coats. Double coats for the most part never grow back normal after being shaved (which may be exactly why your dogs coat was in bad shape nearing her end of life)While a single coat will grow back.


 Tankstar pretty much said it.  As a sidenote, I'm of the opinion that a light trim/shaping (as in taking off the tips on the rear pants, ruff, and belly) on a doublecoated dog just to make them look a little neater and cuter is ok. But actually cutting into the coat is a big no-no.


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## MariJoy (Nov 10, 2011)

I fostered a Wire Fox Terrier some years back, and ended up getting him groomed, now I wonder if I may have made a mistake & ruined his coat (I now know those overcoats are to be hand-stripped)...he got a "forever home" before I had a chance to find out.


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## WFT (Dec 11, 2011)

MariJoy said:


> I fostered a Wire Fox Terrier some years back, and ended up getting him groomed, now I wonder if I may have made a mistake & ruined his coat (I now know those overcoats are to be hand-stripped)...he got a "forever home" before I had a chance to find out.


I would also like to know this, I am planning on getting a WFT in two weeks.


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## cshellenberger (Dec 2, 2006)

Any wire hair should be hand stripped, be it a Schnauzer, WFT, Airdale. they should NEVER be shaved as that is fast track to a ruined coat.


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## Nargle (Oct 1, 2007)

So if it's okay to shave a single coated breed does it mean that it would be okay to shave a Papillon? NOT saying I want to lol, but I'm curious. I figured that it would mess up Basil's coat if I were to shave him, because he has a more feathery coat as opposed to like the continuously growing long strands of hair you see in shih tzus, maltese, etc. 

BTW, one of my family members has a senior miniature american shepherd, and they have her shaved every summer. And she looks just awful! She is tricolored, but her body is always gray and fuzzy like her undercoat. Her head still looks normal but her body looks very strange, she looks like a big stuffed gray teddy bear and not so much like a shepherd, lol!


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

I have a standard schnauzer that I keep stripped, never shaved. But FWIW I used to clip my Australian Shepherd and my spaniel mix myself with my horse clippers. Back in the day when I obedience trained with choke collars and fed IAMS..... Both coats grew back in just fine and glorious every time. I only shaved them 1x a year in the summer though. Maybe that was enough time to let the double coat grow back in. It did look odd, as in both under and top coat with clipped ends the same length. While they were shaved the coat lost a little bit of it's luster. But once it shed out and grew in it was the usual lustrous gorgeous coat. My Aussie had a sparse coat, not the big fluffy show dog coat. More like a working dog coat from the early 80's.

I agree that a double coated dog should not be shaved, they need the insulation. But my dogs were strictly house dogs. but I did want to point out that my dogs coats always grew back in beautifully.


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## MariJoy (Nov 10, 2011)

NRB your "...from the early 80's" comment got me wondering: are there dog grooming "styles" that go in & out of fashion?


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## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

Nargle said:


> So if it's okay to shave a single coated breed does it mean that it would be okay to shave a Papillon? NOT saying I want to lol, but I'm curious. I figured that it would mess up Basil's coat if I were to shave him, because he has a more feathery coat as opposed to like the continuously growing long strands of hair you see in shih tzus, maltese, etc.


From what I understand, even though papillons have a single coat, it's not continuously-growing hair like shih tzus or yorkies have; it's fur. Most papillon people I know think it's wrong to shave it. It can take a couple of years for a pap to get its full coat back! I'm not sure if shaving actually _ruins_ the coat, though.


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## NRB (Sep 19, 2009)

I dunno. the groomers can tell us more there. My comment was more referring to the fact that Aussie coats looked different before the AKC recognized the breed in 1993.


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## Graco22 (Jul 16, 2007)

MariJoy said:


> NRB your "...from the early 80's" comment got me wondering: are there dog grooming "styles" that go in & out of fashion?


There absolutely are! For instance years ago bichons were to have bell shaped heads, now they are to be totally round. Cocker spaniels trims have changed too...look at some current show photos of a breed and then find some from the 70-80s. Poodles especially have tweaked the shaping of their show grooms as well. Alot of the changes come about because of a big winning dog that may be groomed just a little different, and everyone starts doing it too thinking it will give them an edge.


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