Shave or not to Shave
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| There is no need to shave her, especially since our summers are not nearly as hot as some members locations, who also keep their oes in full coat. Their coats protect them against the sun just as much as against the cold. Some dogs are more comfortable and able to keep cool in a shorter coat, however, if the dog is going to be left outside for any length of time it should not be shaved right down as it can get sunburned. I did shave Dancer down last summer but for different reasons, she was matting up very quickly, and wasn't fond of grooming yet for a couple of reasons. Now that I have learned more about keeping the coat mat free, I plan on keeping them in full coat. Dancer now loves being groomed so it just took some practiceo n both our parts.
If the coat is kept relatively mat free for comfort and good air circulation to the skin, the pup should be fine. |
| Hi willowsprite
Any tips you can give on keeping maggie mat free would be appreciated - she doesnt like the full grooming treatment much so a bad habit we have developed it I get the Mats out while she lays on my lap watching tv - if I try to make it a formal ordeal she wants nothing to do with it! so far we have kept most of them manageable but with the humid air in the summer I am sure it gets worse. I have just started saving her fur that is combed out - I read that animal fur layed out on your lawn is great for the birds to use for their nests in the spring. It is so soft it seems ashame to throw it out - do you know of any other uses for it? |
| For what to do with all that hair, please refer to:
All about the Old English Sheepdog, by Jean Gould It has a chapter on spinning OES wool to make knitted items !!! |
| I would love to get together sometime and I can show you as was shown to me how to make grooming a whole lot easier. I never would have thought Sky would lay still for it, but she does. LOL
In the meantime, if you refer to Carl Lindon's posts in the grooming section he has posted detailed step by step instructions on the best way to groom an oes. He has photos posted on his site as well, which were a huge help. |
| We live in Florida, so it makes sense to keep Sam in a puppy cut. I let her grow out for a few weeks while we had winter weather...she still loves it outside when it is 30 degrees! Brrr.... |
| Sheepish,
Willowsprite is certainly correct, with adequate precautions there is no overwhelming need to clip a Bobtail for Ontario summers. Both Martin Zephram and Virgil Tiberius are kept in full show coat all year round and we live in Ottawa, just as hot as the Toronto area and perhaps a bit more humid overall. You will need to monitor Maggie's reaction to the heat and adjust her heat exposure to make sure she doesn't suffer from heat prostration or dehydration. Limiting her exercise during daytime hours and rescheduling walks/playtime to the early morning before the heat of the day or later in the evening (but before the bugs come out in force) will ensure she gets adequate exercise without excessive exposure. It is also good to keep them out of the strongest sunlight hours to avoid sunburns, both to the coat (red-brown tips) and the skin (the muzzle top especially tends to burn easily as it is not heavily coated). Of course it goes without saying to never let her out unsupervised, for reasons of weather and safety. It is also important to have at least one area of your home air conditioned (if you don't have central air) to give Maggie a comfortable sleeping area and general refuge from the heat. This for reasons of humidity even if the daytime temperature isn't too bad. All of our pack love their air conditioners, especially Martin who is both a big OES and is very heavily coated. (New air conditioners are becoming relatively inexpensive to buy and the new energy guidelines have resulted in them becoming much less expensive to operate. Either way Michele and I just lump the summer air conditioning costs into the "miscelaneous" costs of having a pack. In truth we would have them for ourselves anyway, the pack just means we air condition more!) The other thing to remember is not to give her very cold water, even if she is in heat distress. Water should never be less than 10-12 degrees C as very cold water will almost always cause stomach cramps and frequently vomiting. If Maggie does somehow end up overheated first aid is to both provide cool water to drink and dip a towel in cold water, wring it out as much as possible and then place it over her body and head. This should cool her freeing her from distress in less than 20 minutes. Refresh the cold towel at about 10 minute intervals and seek emergency veterinary help if she is still distressed after 20 minutes, 30 at the absolute maximum. Finally, dive in to use and expoit this list ruthlessly as it is full of great information on all aspects of Bobtail husbandry. I most frequently post on grooming, thanks Willowsprite for your vote of confidence and recomending my posts, but I do chime in on other forums as well. Many many members have made this site both an excellent resource and a close community of support and friendship. If you, or any other forum members are in eastern Ontario pleae let us know and hopefully we can arrange a meeting. Our boys love new playmates and Bobtails and their people are just plain good company!! Cheers Carl. |
| The long and fuzzy hair insulates the sheepdog from the cold and the heat. I wouldn't cut him unless you wanted to keep it short to help with the grooming. If not, you just need to monitor them just like any other dog in the summer. From my understanding and from what I have read, their hair isn't any worse than other dogs, but that it actually helps them in the heat. |
| I have been researching this. From what I've been able to glean, in the summer, the dog's coat protects them from direct sun, from the heat of the sun directly beating on them, and from sun burn.
Even though a dog doesn't sweat from most of its skin, it still loses heat through the skin. That's why they have full coats in the winter, to prevent that heat loss. A full coat doesn't protect them from environmental temperature (the temperature of the air), and actually prevents the transfer of heat away from their bodies. A coat also hampers any breezes from assisting in heat transfer as well. If your dog doesn't need to be in a full coat, and you want to keep your dog as cool as possible, the best compromise probably is to leave at least an inch to protect from the sun ESPECIALLY over any pink skin/white hair areas. Good luck! |
Quote: A full coat doesn't protect them from environmental temperature (the temperature of the air), and actually prevents the transfer of heat away from their bodies. A coat also hampers any breezes from assisting in heat transfer as well.
Ron, all I just posted under "Medical and Nutrition" about how the Bobtail's coat does not protect against heat and reviewed the mechanisms by which dogs cool and their cooling limitations as temperature rises. (The last few posts here came while I was preparing that "epistle" and didn't check here before pushing submit!) As you and Willowsprite pointed out the hair protects them from the sun and my opening quote drawn from this should thread have been a bit better edited. Nevertheless there still seems to be widespread acceptance of the "old wives tale" that the coat protects them from the heat which was why I submitted the "Medical and Nutrition" post. No offense was intended and I did label the post "sticky" because of this. I hope that it helps someone and perhaps one less OES will be overheated this summer. Cheers Carl |
| I just wanted to reitterate a point from Carl's post. If your dog has overheated make sure to use COOL towels and water. If you use ice or extremely cold water it can send your dog into shock which is an even more life threatening problem. |
| Thank you willowsprite and Carl for your helpful advise and resource information. I would love to meet you and sky and perhaps you can share your succcessful grooming with us. Maggie will allow me to brush her but never for very long and sometimes if there is any real work to do - small nats etc I have to really bribe her to allow me to continue. Her patience for sitting still seem to be little to non unless I catch her in the cuddle mood. I have noticed since her surgery that where they have shaved maggie the longer hair around it is starting to come loose and you can actually watch it come off in the brush - I guess you were right her coat is changing right on schedule. Do you have formal grooming sessions with sky or do you groom as needed a few minutes at a time? |
| What kind of grooming tools are you using? When I converted to a straight pin brush Roger although very tolerent of grooming is now thrilled and seems to like not just tolerate brushing, except on his feet he still doesn't like that. So if you are using a brush or comb that is pulling the hair it may be part of the problem. |
| Sheepish,
A few weeks ago I posted to the "Can you get them to enjoy it??" thread here in the grooming forum. If you haven't read it yet, it might have a few ideas for you to try. And as Roger's Dad has said the right tools go a long way in obtaining good results, both in the actual grooming and getting Maggie's cooperation! Firm persistence with generous amounts of praise and bribery are the essential ingredients here. A few minutes of grooming "stolen" on the sofa, bed or in the middle of the floor just won't be enough as Maggie's coat grows out. Good luck Cheers Carl |
| thank you Carl, I have read your comments and again, very helpful. I am really starting to get the feeling that I have to seperate grooming from love time - when Maggie comes and sits with me that is when I will tend to reach for the grooming tools as she is calm and sitting (or laying) on me but I dont want to have her always associate cuddles with mom as grooming time. I will follow your advise and see if I can get her into some kind of routine starting slowly offering treats, love and reinforcement for her patience. My god as of tomorrow I am going to have 2 and I am certain that I dont know what I have gotten myself into - lol Hopefully Molly will be able to teach Maggie a little something about grooming and and being able to sit still for more than 5 minutes! appartently Molly is a very good dog during grooming sessions. I will keep you posted! |
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