Q: How to shave my Saint Bernard in hot weather?
Last year we tried with regular clippers, but her double layer fur coat is too much for the clippers. It will be really hot in California in summer, and she needs to be shaved sadly :( any tips?
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Answers and Views:
Answer by kykymommy
It may be very hot there....but sadly many people dont know that by shaving a dog with a double coat to make them ''cooler'' you are actually taking thier air conditioning away. Which will result in your dog overheating more easily. However if your dog is matted badly and needs to be shaved and thats the only option then you need to invest in a undercoat rake (which is a brush for doublecoated dogs) it takes the underlying dead and old hair off of them and also grooming clippers for dogs that is specified for thicker coats.
Answer by Silly Rabbit Tricks
No No No… DO NOT SHAVE that dog… No she dose need to shaved… Shaving dose not cool a dogs down.. Coat length has nothing to do with it, if this were the case short coated breeds like pugs would not get hot.. The only thing you are going to do is cause damage to your dogs coat.. Shaving a double coated breed WILL damage the coat.. This is why dogs shed and double coated breeds blow coat to get rid of all that coat they grew for the colder months..
Yes I live in calif and yes we get hot but you don;t shave a double coated breed you will damage the coat even to a point where the dog may not blow coat and this can become dangerous… If you wish to help your dog make an app with a groomer and get your dog in for a good bath and coat blow out..
Your dogs coat works as insulation. By shaving you are doing more harm than good…
Answer by Dear.Dannii
Please don't! With all your best intentions you'll be making it worse for her! the dogs coat is designed to protect them from the sun and the hair should trap cool air between it (like our own hair). if you clip the hair down.. it'll grow in thicker and you'll destroy the guard hair, which means you'll have a thick horrible fluff that will need shaved every 6-8 weeks and brushed everyday to try and avoid matting
The only reason this wouldn'tnt be enough is if she had undercoat..in that case you should get her to a groomers where they can blast out and brush out the undercoat, solving your problem.
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Also…and rather worryingly, if your clipparen'trent going through the coat it could mean your undercoat is really thick and has matted – or it can just be your clippers aren't good quality or you're using the wrong blade.
Find yourself a good groomer for a consultation.. be careful, it'll cost you more to clip her and it's alot of work to blast out the under coat so dont let them talk you into the easy option.
You dont want to make the problem worse, especially since you're trying to be responsible and help her.
Also, you can get Rock sulpher from pet shops to put in their waterbowls it works to help keep the dog cool and lasts a good while!
Know better? Give your own answer to this question!
Jennifer says
I recently saved a saint bernard, she has LARGE mats that I can cut out, however she is missing so much hair down her body, i dont know what else to do but shave it. she has very thin hair along her tail, i’m at a loss. shes covered in ticks, she is a inside dog now. what else could i possibly do to help her coat?? They were puppy milling her. She was gorgeous before they bred her twice in 8 months.
RussianDog says
Frankly, the best thing you can do is to take her to a good vet without delay. The vet will decide whether to shave her or not. The ticks should be removed ASAP too but it’s not so easy to do it yourself.
Anyway, thank you for what you’re doing.
Kirsten Dammie says
Absolutely DO NOT shave a dog. Especially if it is hot! Their fur cools them down, and if you shave them, they are more hot then with their fur. Don't shave the dog at all. I know it may seem like a good idea, but it is not.
Put a sprinkler for her to run through, and put ice cubes in her water bowl.
CanineTruth says
You DON'T. The double layered coat acts as insulation from the heat. Dogs don't cool down through their skin like humans anyway, so shaving won't actually do jack squat. Plus the coat will more than likely grow back poorly – patchy, thin, etc etc. While it's clipped the dog is also more susceptible to over heating and sun burn.
As for grooming the dog yourself…. BAD idea. There's more to it than taking a pair of clippers and hacking away. You could seriously injure the dog if you don't know what you're doing.
The BEST thing to do would be have a professional de-shed your dog. They'll remove any dead undercoat and that will thin the coat out and make the undercoat insulate better. Shorten a small patch on the stomach ONLY so when the dog lays down, there isn't a lot of coat between the dog and the cool ground. Keep the paw pads neatly shaven as well (dogs sweat through their feet.)
Cookie The First O says
Unless you are leaving your Saint out in the blazing sun, by shaving her coat you are exposing her to the suns rays that her coat protects her against. She does not need to have her coat shaved.
Think about the hottest place on earth……….the desert, right? What do the people that live there do? They use layers and layers of fabric to protect themselves from the heat.
God gave dogs a heavy fur coat to protect them.
jtexas says
hate to break the bad news to you but, she needs that coat for UV protection.
believer_in_jesus374 says
Contrary to popular belief, shaving your thick-coated dog during summer does not make him cooler. It makes him hotter. Strange as it may sound the coat acts as an air conditioner in the summer. You shave the coat you will cause his skin to burn.
believer_in_jesus37421(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)yahoo.com
Mage Brown says
One word. Razor?