Terrier coat texture is Changing

As a groomer here is what i know. Clipping him WILL NOT ruin his coat. If dose not grow back it is becaue of a medical problem not at a result of a haircut. Yes clipping a wire haired dog often sofens the coat witch is undesirable for a show dog but it dose not Ruin it.  You can clip him a many different lengths that will keep him cool but you don't have to go to the skin if you do not want to. Good luck I think some of the confusion comes because there is not always a distction between "ruining" a good show coat and doing somthing that is actually harmful to the dog. Clipping is not harmful but it will "ruin" a show coat. I hope this makes it a little clearer for you.

will say though, that bathing more than once a week is not a good idea for a dog. it creates dry skin and sometimes unhealthy hair (falling out etc).

For dogs with environmental allergies, frequent bathing helps keep the itchiness down. My dogs are bathed at least twice, per week, and do not have dry skin, at all. I bathe them correctly, and feed top quality food and supplements.

I have 2 Westies who have the terrier double coat as well.  When Tucker (my 4 yr old) was younger, he was always miserably hot, so we started having him clipped.  The difference was unbelieveable as far as his comfort level.  He never wanted to be on our laps before b/c he was just hot, hot, hot, but after he got clipped, he would always be more snuggly, b/c I think it was more comfortable for him.
 
Over the past year, he doesn't seem to be bothered by being hot, so we've been letting him grow out and his coat certainly isn't ruined from a pet owners' perspective - in fact, I love how curly he looks and how soft he is.  He also is shinier.  I think whoever said that about being "runined", was prob talking about from a show dog point of view.  As far as weatherproof, I have always heard that they lose that when you have them clipped, but I don't notice that he's much harder to keep clean than my 1 yr old, who's still got her natural coat - although he's a bit more discolored overall, but I think it's b/c he's older.
 
Here's a pic of him groomed and then one of him taken recently (he is dirty in the 2nd one - he def.  needed a bath that day, but you can see the texture of his newly grown back coat):

 

Oh, what adorable dogs!
 
I've never seen one shaved down - quite a handsome look, actually.  And cute as a button grown back in.
 
Thank you all for your experiences and information and letting me know it was a "show" world thing.
 
I appreciate the information that it is alright to do without harming the coat, and I especially appreciate the pictures.  Seeing how cute it looks is really neat!  I'm glad I got to see that.
 
And it's interesting that the coat can grow back in softer! 
 
Thank you everyone for sharing this information and telling me your personal experiences.  Even the groomer I had talked to about it last year came back with a quick "no", it would ruin the coat.  And this is pretty much the only groomer I would take my dog to.   I guess I will talk with her again about it - explaining my dog isn't a show dog (he wasn't with me at the time).
 
Thanks again,
 
Lynn

Thyroid problems can cause a coat to change texture.  [sm=2cents.gif]

Thyroid problems can cause a coat to change texture.  [sm=2cents.gif]

 
That's a very good thought, thanks for mentioning it.  I don't think it's the issue in this particular case.  He wasn't very spunky last year, so I ran a panel on him and it came up within normal guidelines, but possibly low according to Dr. Dodds.  So, we did a trial, and he seemed perkier the first 2 weeks, but I think that was just by coincendence b/c then he went back to not being spunky, and had a type of seizure, so I took him off of it and waited and just last week did another full panel thru MSU.  Am awaiting the results back.