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Shaving my Siberian Husky



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 2nd 06, 05:11 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default Shaving my Siberian Husky

I have a 4 year old Female Siberian Husky. She's been with me since
she was 8 weeks old. We lived in Florida for two years and then Texas
for two more. The heat here in Texas is noticably more intense than it
was in Florida. Last year I had her shaved. She didn't look as
majestic, but she seemed more comfortable. Her coat was back to normal
just in time for cold weather. She looks just as beautiful as she ever
did.

Anyway, a few weeks ago at a routine checkup our vet told me that due
to the coming heat I needed to have her shaved soon. I decided to do
it myself this year, so I went and ordered high quality clippers.
Yesterday, I started browsing the internet on tips for shaving her
thick coat. It seems that everyone who is involved with Siberian
Huskies agrees that I absolutely should NOT shave my girl. So, I put
away my fancy new clippers.

What should I do next? My Husky has an extremely thick coat. Do I
tell my vet that I think she is misinformed? Does anyone in the Dallas
area know a good vet for a Siberian Husky?

  #2  
Old May 2nd 06, 05:28 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default Shaving my Siberian Husky


What should I do next? My Husky has an extremely thick coat. Do I
tell my vet that I think she is misinformed?



I don't know a LOT about this, but I do know that shaving a dog can alter
its ability to handle heat and opens it up to sunburn risk, and what I've
heard is that the recommendation is to shave the belly and insides of the
legs to cool the dog down. Hopefully someone with some hands-on information
will respond to you soon.
--Katrina


  #3  
Old May 2nd 06, 10:42 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default Shaving my Siberian Husky

In article .com,
leskaPaul wrote:
What should I do next? My Husky has an extremely thick coat. Do I
tell my vet that I think she is misinformed?


I wouldn't insult her, but tell her that breed specialists
and veterinary researchers disagree with her. The one
recommendation I've received that may be useful to you is
that if you *must* shave, shave only the belly.

I have seven Siberian Huskies. During the summers, which
admittedly are usually pretty mild here in way upstate NY,
we ratchet back the activity level and enjoy yummy summer
treats like frozen low-sodium chicken broth.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community
  #4  
Old May 2nd 06, 10:52 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default Shaving my Siberian Husky


"leskaPaul" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 4 year old Female Siberian Husky. She's been with me since
she was 8 weeks old. We lived in Florida for two years and then Texas
for two more. The heat here in Texas is noticably more intense than it
was in Florida. Last year I had her shaved. She didn't look as
majestic, but she seemed more comfortable. Her coat was back to normal
just in time for cold weather. She looks just as beautiful as she ever
did.

Anyway, a few weeks ago at a routine checkup our vet told me that due
to the coming heat I needed to have her shaved soon. I decided to do
it myself this year, so I went and ordered high quality clippers.
Yesterday, I started browsing the internet on tips for shaving her
thick coat. It seems that everyone who is involved with Siberian
Huskies agrees that I absolutely should NOT shave my girl. So, I put
away my fancy new clippers.

What should I do next? My Husky has an extremely thick coat. Do I
tell my vet that I think she is misinformed? Does anyone in the Dallas
area know a good vet for a Siberian Husky?


I don't mean to be rude, but your vet must be an idiot.
Buy a nice big floor fan, keep your girl in the house with you (which I
assume is air-conditioned) and exercise in the coolest parts of the day.
Comb out dead hair as necessary.

Margaret
Chow owner


  #5  
Old May 2nd 06, 11:59 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default Shaving my Siberian Husky

On 2 May 2006 09:11:15 -0700, "leskaPaul" wrote:

I have a 4 year old Female Siberian Husky. She's been with me since
she was 8 weeks old. We lived in Florida for two years and then Texas
for two more. The heat here in Texas is noticably more intense than it
was in Florida. Last year I had her shaved. She didn't look as
majestic, but she seemed more comfortable. Her coat was back to normal
just in time for cold weather. She looks just as beautiful as she ever
did.



I'm in the same boat as I live in San Antonio with Chows.
I noticed that some handle the heat better than others.
From what I've seen It's the ones with the thick dense
undercoat that run hot.

For the past two year I've been trimming my heavy coated
girl's coat down to about an inch or so leaving enough that
she doesn't get sunburned. She's been so much more comfortable
and doesn't pant as much on our evening walks that I wish I'd
started sooner. Having her trimmed makes keeping the undercoat
combed out much easer.

I know this is a controversial subject and it comes up occasionally on
Chow lists I'm on. Some trim/shave and some don't but not one of the
trim/shavers have said their Chow runs hotter after being clipped.
In fact the say just the opposite. So much for this theory that their
coat insulates them from the heat. :-)

In the end it's a personal choice so I recommend using your own
judgment as to what works on your girl. As long as her hair grows
back and she doesn't get sunburned and she seems happy I
wouldn't worry about causing any harm.

BTW, my guys have access to all the AC they want but still like to
spend time outside.

Cheers
  #6  
Old May 3rd 06, 12:02 AM posted to rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default Shaving my Siberian Husky

In article ,
Gray_Wolf wrote:
In the end it's a personal choice


Yes and no. I've talked to a *heck* of a lot of vets and
veterinary researchers about it and they all say the same
thing, which is that shaving interferes with the dog's
ability to thermoregulate and you shouldn't do it. You can
go ahead and do it anyway, but heaven knows that there are
endless things that you can do that you probably shouldn't.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community
  #7  
Old May 3rd 06, 01:31 AM posted to rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default Shaving my Siberian Husky

On 2 May 2006 19:02:19 -0400, (Melinda Shore) wrote:

In article ,
Gray_Wolf wrote:
In the end it's a personal choice


Yes and no. I've talked to a *heck* of a lot of vets and
veterinary researchers about it and they all say the same
thing, which is that shaving interferes with the dog's
ability to thermoregulate and you shouldn't do it. You can
go ahead and do it anyway, but heaven knows that there are
endless things that you can do that you probably shouldn't.


Here's some comments from an engineer and dog owner . (OES)
His comments agree with my observation as a dog owner and a
physics major.
http://www.oes.org/page2/2554~Summer...ail_Coats.html

I don't believe in shaving. I think some fur should be left for sun
protection and possible chill in case the temperature drops that low.
This is likely what the researchers had in mind in areas where the
temperature swings between say 50 to 85 degrees.
That's not usually a problem in the hotter parts of Texas where
highs and lows of 105 to 80 degrees are not uncommon.
I don't need a degree to tell that my heavy coated dogs
aren't panting as much after a good trim. :-)


cheers,

  #8  
Old May 3rd 06, 01:35 AM posted to rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default Shaving my Siberian Husky


"Melinda Shore" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Gray_Wolf wrote:
In the end it's a personal choice


Yes and no. I've talked to a *heck* of a lot of vets and
veterinary researchers about it and they all say the same
thing, which is that shaving interferes with the dog's
ability to thermoregulate and you shouldn't do it. You can
go ahead and do it anyway, but heaven knows that there are
endless things that you can do that you probably shouldn't.


If the temperature outside was below what their coats was insulating
against, I would say this makes sense. But to insulate the dog's natural
body heat *inside* of the coat just doesn't make a lot of sense to me
anymore. And, so far, the dogs I've seen who were shaved to around an inch
*have* indeed been consistently more comfortable than their unshaved
counterparts. I used to be in the "don't shave" camp, but I've just seen so
many dogs over the years that were positively impacted by removing a good
portion of the coat.

Now, if someone were to do the world's most *amazing* job of removing only
the undercoat (and keeping it removed throughout the whole season), and
leaving the guard hairs, then I would say that is the ideal. But if that
doesn't happen, and if enough of the undercoat is left behind (which is easy
to do), then the dog suffers unnecessarily. If a combination of removing a
lot of the undercoat, coupled with shaving down the whole thing to about
3/4-1 inch helps the dog be more comfortable, then I say go for it.

Tara


  #9  
Old May 3rd 06, 02:26 AM posted to rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Default Shaving my Siberian Husky

In article ,
Gray_Wolf wrote:
Here's some comments from an engineer and dog owner . (OES)


An engineer!

His comments agree with my observation as a dog owner and a
physics major.
http://www.oes.org/page2/2554~Summer...ail_Coats.html


A physics major!

Well, then, that renders the opinions of veterinary anatomy
researchers, breed experts, and the majority of
veterinarians *completely* invalid! Why didn't you say that
you were a physics major in the first place? Here, I could
have ignored all that crap from people who've spent decades
researching thermoregulation in mammals if only I'd known
that a PHYSICS MAJOR was going to come along and let us all
know that *panting* would kill our dogs!

*Everything* you read on the internet is true!
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community
  #10  
Old May 3rd 06, 02:33 AM posted to rec.pets.dogs.breeds
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Posts: n/a
Default Shaving my Siberian Husky

In article aVS5g.3004$HN3.1772@trndny01,
TaraG wrote:
If the temperature outside was below what their coats was insulating
against, I would say this makes sense. But to insulate the dog's natural
body heat *inside* of the coat just doesn't make a lot of sense to me
anymore.


The problem is that what seems intuitively obvious is often
just plain wrong. Talk to a biker (motor) sometime about
riding across the desert wearing leather vs not wearing
leather. The people at the Cornell vet school I've
discussed this particular issue with do research into
thermoregulatory systems, and they emphasize that it is a
system with interacting components. They've said that what
they've found is that if you impair the function of one
piece of the system the other pieces don't necessarily
compensate correctly.

And of course, the breed people point out that once you
whack down a Siberian Husky's coat it never grows back
properly.

Personally, I don't think that people should have Siberians
in places like Texas or Hawaii - the dogs really don't cope
well with heat, and not just because of the coats. They're
built for cold northern environments, from the shape of the
eyes to the function of the feet. However, people will do
what people will do, and yet I don't think that messing with
something as fundamental to a dog as its coat because
someone wants a dog that's inappropriate for their climate
is quite the right thing to do.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community
 




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