# Groomers -- A Question on Pomeranian Haircuts



## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

What is an appropriate haircut/trim for a Pom (well he's a Pom x Chi but has Pom fur) that will NOT permanently damage his guard hairs?

I gave him a haircut at home today just to neaten his guard hairs, trim his paws and his butt, but I'm reading online that even a small trim like that can ruin the guard hairs??? Now I'm paranoid D:

This is how I cut it today










And how it looked before


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

He looks good, but unfortunately -yes you're not supposed to cut their fur at all.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

BostonBullMama said:


> He looks good, but unfortunately -yes you're not supposed to cut their fur at all.


Hmm this is how they usually do it at the groomer's but it always grew back? Is it an age thing? I read somewhere as they get older it is less likely to grow back or something.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

It varies. I'm sure he'll be fine honestly. It doesn't look like you took a whole heck of a lot off and he looks fantastic, so even if it doesn't grow in exactly the same, whatever. It's a billion times worse if you shave them. I was at the dog park one day and a lady came in with a group of fluffy faced little "things" and I was like what kind of dogs are those??? and she was like oh they're pomeranians! and my heart like fell out my butt.... these dogs were shaved down beyond breed recognition. She was like "do you know how long it takes for their fur to come back? we shaved them 6 months ago" I was like... I need go... LOL I was like OOH MYY GODD NOOOOO


This dog is shaved for a medical reason (I believe) but this is basically what her group of 3 poms looked like:


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## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

It's shaving that's the big issue. Long ago someone gave me a great analogy as to why this happens. Basically the coat on a double coated dog is like a mature forest. If you chopped that forest down to the ground it would take decades for it to return to normal. Guard hairs are like the tall slower growing trees.and the undercoat is new growth and small brush. Naturally the new growth grows very quick and rejuvenates itself more frequently than the old mature growth. Those old mature trees help to block out the sun so that new growth doesn't get out of control. When a new "forest" gets replanted there's nothing to block out the sun and keep the new growth in check, so it grows out of control and will eventually get so thick that it prevents the taller slower growing tree varieties from developing.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

animalcraker said:


> It's shaving that's the big issue. Long ago someone gave me a great analogy as to why this happens. Basically the coat on a double coated dog is like a mature forest. If you chopped that forest down to the ground it would take decades for it to return to normal. Guard hairs are like the tall slower growing trees.and the undercoat is new growth and small brush. Naturally the new growth grows very quick and rejuvenates itself more frequently than the old mature growth. Those old mature trees help to block out the sun so that new growth doesn't get out of control. When a new "forest" gets replanted there's nothing to block out the sun and keep the new growth in check, so it grows out of control and will eventually get so thick that it prevents the taller slower growing tree varieties from developing.


That is a fantastic analogy!! I will be using this to explain to future clients.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

BostonBullMama said:


> It varies. I'm sure he'll be fine honestly. It doesn't look like you took a whole heck of a lot off and he looks fantastic, so even if it doesn't grow in exactly the same, whatever. It's a billion times worse if you shave them. I was at the dog park one day and a lady came in with a group of fluffy faced little "things" and I was like what kind of dogs are those??? and she was like oh they're pomeranians! and my heart like fell out my butt.... these dogs were shaved down beyond breed recognition. She was like "do you know how long it takes for their fur to come back? we shaved them 6 months ago" I was like... I need go... LOL I was like OOH MYY GODD NOOOOO
> 
> 
> This dog is shaved for a medical reason (I believe) but this is basically what her group of 3 poms looked like:


"my heart like fell out of my butt" LOLOL that part had me dying!! Yeah I would never shave him. Glad to hear his fur will grow back though phew! I can't believe people get Poms and just shave them like that... I mean, it's their dog so whatever they can do what they want as long as it's not harming the animal... but to me, a part of the allure of a Pom is the fur! Meeko shaved would be the saddest, scraggliest, most awkward looking dog ever lol! And thank you for the cut compliment! Never done it before and I was nervous that I would accidentally cut him, but he did great!



animalcraker said:


> It's shaving that's the big issue. Long ago someone gave me a great analogy as to why this happens. Basically the coat on a double coated dog is like a mature forest. If you chopped that forest down to the ground it would take decades for it to return to normal. Guard hairs are like the tall slower growing trees.and the undercoat is new growth and small brush. Naturally the new growth grows very quick and rejuvenates itself more frequently than the old mature growth. Those old mature trees help to block out the sun so that new growth doesn't get out of control. When a new "forest" gets replanted there's nothing to block out the sun and keep the new growth in check, so it grows out of control and will eventually get so thick that it prevents the taller slower growing tree varieties from developing.


That's a great analogy thanks!

I think I'm not cutting enough to actually make a difference in the fur growth so phew!


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## ForTheLoveOfDogs (Jun 3, 2007)

For any double coated dog, the most I do is trim the feet. There's nothing wrong with doing a little sanitary trim on the butt though. It doesn't look like you cut a whole lot off the body, so he should be just fine. 

I've known a lot of shaved down double coated dogs that look like that shaved Pom pic up above. Maybe not as extreme bald, but the hair comes in all weird, patchy and uneven. When the dog gets older, it seems to take longer to grow back or not grow back correctly. Then we have people call and complain that it isn't growing back the same so we must not have cut it right. No people.. this is the risk you take when shaving your double coated dog down.


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## d_ray (Nov 5, 2013)

I just wanted to say that he looks great and I want to smooch his face lol


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

ForTheLoveOfDogs said:


> For any double coated dog, the most I do is trim the feet. There's nothing wrong with doing a little sanitary trim on the butt though. It doesn't look like you cut a whole lot off the body, so he should be just fine.
> 
> I've known a lot of shaved down double coated dogs that look like that shaved Pom pic up above. Maybe not as extreme bald, but the hair comes in all weird, patchy and uneven. When the dog gets older, it seems to take longer to grow back or not grow back correctly. Then we have people call and complain that it isn't growing back the same so we must not have cut it right. No people.. this is the risk you take when shaving your double coated dog down.


Thanks! Besides neatening his ruff, the rest were just necessary "sanitary" like trims. He pees on his leg regularly so I shortened the fur there, cleaned up his paws, and trimmed around the tuck and the butt to avoid poop/pee getting caught.

My biggest fear is that a groomer is going to misunderstand what I want and shave my dog! It happened to a friend of mine and her dog's fur was never the same again. Luckily my current groomer has been great and no mistakes so far 



d_ray said:


> I just wanted to say that he looks great and I want to smooch his face lol


Thank you! He does have a very smoochable face!


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

There's absolutely nothing with with trimming the ends of guard hairs with shears to neaten them up. You don't want to cut the guard hairs back to the length of the undercoat (which is what happens when they are shaved down), but just trimming the ends isn't going to cause any harm. Dogs break hairs all the time when they get burrs in there, or whatever, and they grow back.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

elrohwen said:


> There's absolutely nothing with with trimming the ends of guard hairs with shears to neaten them up. You don't want to cut the guard hairs back to the length of the undercoat (which is what happens when they are shaved down), but just trimming the ends isn't going to cause any harm. Dogs break hairs all the time when they get burrs in there, or whatever, and they grow back.


Phew! Glad to hear it!


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