Bear's not growing her shaved hair back

That sometimes happens when you shave dogs- the blade apparantly damages the follicle. It's why groomers advise AGAINST shaving double-coated dogs, in general. :(

Hopefully the follicles will recover and she'll grow out again. But sometimes dogs don't.

Well yes...it is insulation. Nature always provides, and the double coat is the common garb of Jackals and Coyotes, Wolves and Foxes...all of which live in areas that can have extremes of weather...both heat and cold. It comes and goes on it's own, as needed. I shave Cleo's underside and never, ever anything more...in summer.

She (your girl) is older now...things take longer, healing and such...IMO it might not return...but if she is on a good food and getting proper exercise then who knows...maybe...

Sorry tho...

She eats Taste of the Wild. She stays good on exercise too. geez. That is really a bummer.

 I've seen dogs be shaved ONCE and grow back like that. Repeated shaving almost always makes double coats grow back weird (different texture, almost always, and moth eaten only sometimes). I generally advise that if you like the coat, and are able to keep it in good condition, leave it! I'll shave the underside of the dog, to allow it to touch the cool tile/dirt with it's belly.

The vet suggested thyroid testing. Said it could be low. Does anyone think this is possible. We were at the vet a while back for HW, and I hate to make her make the trip for nothing. SHe gets SOO sick when she rides.

Thyroid testing isn't going to hurt anything, and, sometimes, low thryoid will cause skin/hair/coat issues.  With a history of being shaved though, I doubt that this is a thyroid related issue.

I feel really bad now that I have read some about shaving double-coated dogs. it just seemed simple. She had a lot of hair and she was hot, so I shaved it off. It wasn't a matter of how hard it was to care for. She actually is an easy care dog in that respect. She sheds a lot, but Kota did too so whatever, I didn't mind. i wish I would have found this out when she still had hair instead of trying to figure out how to get her to grow it back. I read some stuff from groomers who were saying it's almost always a health issue when a dog doesn't grow the hair back, but that differs from what experience you all have had. J

See how pretty her coat was?

 Tootsie, my corgi has a lot of hair also. I shaved her belly this summer and her potty area, she was fine heat wise, I would never shave her completely because it would never grow back the same. Aesop, a chow on here lives in Arizona and has a full coat. Dogs adapt.

Take a look at this link, a lot of my poms have a condition like this.

Is she spayed?

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_alopecia_x.html

 I wonder if the grow hair on a doorknob recipe would help this issue?

 http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/grooming/hair.htm

Of course, I'm not a vet but I have a chow and she's had her fur come and go over the years for several different reasons.  And, just looking at that, that doesn't look to me like that is from shaving her.  I'd get her the blood test to be sure.  Is she on any medication that could be causing that? 

Also, Willow uses Welactin and it works really well.  You can get it without a prescription too. 

Bear has epilepsy, but she has only ever had 2 seizures so she is not medicated for it. SO she is on no meds at all except HW. It is $105 to get a thyroid test and vet visit so I was wanting some input here before jumping that way to find out it is from shaving her. I am guessing it could go either way, and the only way to know for sure is probably to get her tested. SHe has had trouble growing back different patches before but has years when it all grows back nicely, so it is hard to tell. If it is from thyroid being low I would think she would be a little listless and her coat would not look so good, but she is full of energy and her coat is beautiful and healthy when she has it. ??