I had my dog shaved- was this wrong?

I've seen a shaved husky, it's NOT pretty! I thought it was a saluki with mange at first....omg it was SO UGLY!

I'm sorry you goofed, but his fur will grow back and I'm sure he'll be okay.

I saw a shaved aussie at the picnic on 4th of July. It was too hot the poor thing, but the chow/husky mix wasn't too hot and had loads of fur. I don't think the Milan site has this right, sorry. It was VERY hot that day, edging up to 90 with high humidity.

We've had to shave parts of our Maine Coon cat before (surgery). I have *never* felt fur as thick and dense as that cat's undercoat. He looked pretty terrible for a while, but ya know what? After enough time had passed he looked exactly the same as before.

Just as a precaution I'd make sure your dog is on a good quality food and maybe supplement with fish oil and vitamin E to encourage healthy coat growth. But don't freak out - I'm sure he'll be just fine!

Don't feel bad...I didn't know either.  I took my new Pyr to Petsmart to get shaved and the guy there actually recommended I not do it.
He explained why and I just had her trimmed a little instead.  Glad I didnt shave her.  Her hair is shorter than most Pyr's cuz I had it cut but she was also a mess when we rescued her. 

I was really surprised to learn what I did today. It isn't something one would consider and obviously it was sheer ignorance on our part. However, I am going to place a call to Petco and remind them that although they are trying to make a buck off of their clients they may be well-suited to educate clients and let them know when it many not be a good idea to shave pets.

Despite what Cesar Millan says, I still think that the best thing is to leave the dogs' natural coat and protect him from the hot weather.  Plenty of shade, a cooling pit, a solar cover over his pen (www.cleanrun.com), a wading pool, etc. will help him stay cool and preserve his natural beauty.   And, good for you for wanting to educate Petco, but I'm sure they already know this stuff, and have simply gotten tired of being overruled by owners who hate the summer shedding, and think that this is fine.  IMO, it is ok to clip dogs with a haircoat, but once you damage the guard hairs and the undercoat, the dog never quite looks the same for a very long time.

I shave my double coated dog very short, very routinely. I've been doing it since she was 5 months old. She is no worse for the wear. Her coat *is* softer (she's a terrier), but that's from repeated, close shaving. I clip her with a #10 in reverse, which anyone who has groomed will tell you is VERY close. She grows back looking exactly the same, every time. I see a *lot* of dogs who are shaved and "shouldn't" be. I've not seen more than a couple that didn't grow back right. I suspect that those who don't have some sort of health issue (thyroid, poor food, whatever).

Petco isn't going to start "educating" thier clients because you decided that you weren't happy with your haircut. That's exactly how they're going to see it, too. You decided you didn't like it, so you're calling about it. They won't see it as an educational opportunity, because they shave double coated dogs every day. They see them come back, time after time, with totally normal coats, and not dead of heatstroke or sunburn.

Me too, Jennie! I have both of my dogs shaved (clipped short) and they are so much happier for it. And their fur grows back the same way every single time. My female is miserable if/when she gets too hot. Her hair is like  a sheepdog's and if I let it go, she is miserable (too hot to move, too hot to play, too hot to do anything but lay).
 
Perhaps it's a breed thing?
 

I shaved down -with about a number 3 guard, my Brittany for most of his life.  He looked better groomed smooth and it helped with the massive shedding in our home.  His fur always grew back the same.  Never a problem with that.  But it was like a full fur collar around his neck that looked way to uncomfortable for him in the warm weather and I never shaved it down to expose his skin to the sun.  It was just like a shorter version of his normal coat. 

ORIGINAL: nfowler

Perhaps it's a breed thing?

 
No need to shave my Great Danes.

i shave mine in the summer too. always come back the same. i was also thinking it might be a breed thing.

Shaving a dog is not going to affect how the hair grows back one bit.  Every hair on the dogs body, just like the hairs on our head, has a life cycle.  When the life of the hair is about to be over, a new dormant hair is growing in the follicle underneath the skin, ready to surface and push the old hair out.  Whatever you do to the length of the growing hair is not going to affect what happens in the hair follicle below the skin.  That is a myth.  Now if you pulled the hair out by the root, than possibly it would have an effect by traumatizing the follicle, but not shaving.  So don't worry!

We did this to our Bichon late lat month.  He is much better now!  I haven't even seen him lying on the tiles.  Then again, we have had A/C on a lot lately.

Well between my two dogs, Crusher has the massive husky coat, all over.  Onyx' is limited to around her neck and butt.  She has no undercoat to speak of after she blows her winter coat.  Crusher grows a new coat in the summer and sheds it in the fall to be replaced by his winter coat.  I can't imagine a reason for this if its not to keep him cool.  Plus he will lay outside in the heat for hours surveying his 'Kingdom' while Onyx lays panting on the floor in front of the fan.  He's much better equipped to handle heat than her.

Ihearthuskybutts, the two dogs in your pic are just like Crusher and his brother Eclipse.  Crusher has a nice soft coat with medium length guards like yours, but Eclipse has those really long long crunchy guards like the one you described.  They are full brothers but if you know huskies you would never think it.  Eclipse has never been shaved.

It doesn't sound like they took all the undercoat from your post.  If he's still got a little fur there it will probably grow back just fine.  It's when they take the coat right down to the skin that there is a chance it won't come back the way it should.  It's the undercoat that's hard to get back once it's gone.  I have taken Willow's coat down very far leaving about an inch or so of the undercoat and the entire chow coat was back within months. 

It really isn't a myth that their hair sometimes doesn't grow back the same. Look at the picture of the Husky that ihearthuskybutts posted. In 2 YEARS the dog's coat hasn't grown back correctly. [&:] I've seen a similar coat on a black Chow that was shaved. The hair grew back sparse and wiry like the Husky pictured in this thread. Same thing with Cockers that have had their backs shaved. I guess it depends on the individual dog because I know some people have their dog's hair grow back normally.

One thing I don't understand is shaving a short haired, smooth coated breed like an Australian Cattle Dog. It just doesn't seem like it would make them any cooler. I can understand with a fluffy or heavy coated dog why people would think they were doing the dog a favor.

Anyway, I think the lady at your office got the reason for not shaving dogs a little wrong. It's not that they automatically regulate their body temperature per se, because they can most definitely overheat. But what the outer coat does is keeps the sun from beating down directly on their skin. So it acts as insulation in that way.

The best way to help coated dogs stay cool in the summer is if they have hairy feet to shave between their paw pads (dogs sweat through their pads), and shave their belly so that if they lay on a cool surface it helps to cool them down, and to thoroughly brush out their coat to remove any loose hairs. Something like the "furminator" will help to remove tons of undercoat. []

Hmmm, That's really interesting. My 3 are all related, and there are differences in their coats too. Tiku and Mochi are 1/2 brother and sister. Tiku has short, dense soft fur, shorter than I've ever seen personally on a husky. Mochi has a very long, fluffy coat and he often gets mistaken for a wooly.

I had always assumed Smokey (the dog in the pic) had been shaved because his head was still normal. There is a definite, distinct difference in the fur on his head and of that on his body.

Mals are supposed to have a harsh outer coat, but Smokey's coat is not right. What's with his tail? Does Eclipse look like that?

What I gather is that the guard hairs don't shed, and those are the hairs that don't grow back properly. At my breeder's, she has an old retired dog who has a spot on his back where the guard hairs are all snapped off. A cat sleeps on him regularly and had gradually broken the hairs off. It's the stiffer outer coat that gives the coat its appearance, and if it doesn't grow back right, the undercoat shows through too much.