In order to keep the fur on a dog’s coat long it cannot have any mats. That means we must be able to get a comb completely through it. It is painful for a dog to brush out mats, especially if it is not brushed and combed on a regular basis. While we want you to love our grooms, our first concern is for the health and well-being of your pet. Sometimes a matted pet must be shaved as a first step toward a great coat. With proper grooming, over time we can achieve the groom style you would like while giving your pet the best care it deserves.

 According to the Mayo Clinic, there’s no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog breed, although some individual dogs may cause fewer allergy symptoms than others. Many people think that pet allergies are caused by a dog’s or cat’s fur, but the real source of pet allergies is often a protein that’s in saliva and urine. This protein sticks to the flakey, dried dander from your pet’s skin which ultimately, is released into your home environment or attached to your hands while handling your pet.

Hair is a sun and wind barrier. When your dog gets overheated, small muscles in the hair follicles lift the hair up to create an air space that helps regulate your dog’s temperature. When you shave your pet, there’s not enough hair length left to adequately control its temperature. It may even affect the ability of your pet to regulate its temperature in stressful situations (surgery, hit by a car, or severe temperature change) that could even cost the animal its life.

And let’s not forget, shaving leaves your pet vulnerable to sunburn as well so you need to make sure you don’t leave them outside without protection for a couple weeks until the hair grows out a bit!

Breeds that have fur instead of hair have a coat that grows to a predetermined length and then stops. Common breeds in this category include many in the Hound family like Beagles and Basset Hounds, Mastiffs, Shar Peis, Labrador Retrievers, and German Shepherds. These breeds rarely need trimming and cutting, just regular brushing and bathing.

As far as “hairy” breeds, there are at least 36 recognized breeds of dogs that grow hair instead of fur. If their coats are not trimmed on a regular basis, they’ll continue growing to variable lengths. These are the breeds you typically think of when you think of getting a dog “groomed”. Poodles, Yorkies, Schnauzers, Bichons, along with the “mopsy” dogs like the Maltese, Shih Tzu, and Havanese are the most common.

To throw a wrench into everything, there are now some mixed-breed dogs, (like doodles) that have a combination of both hair and fur which is more inclined to mat.

While the “hairy” breeds tend to shed less, there is no such breed. All dogs shed. Some breeds shed more than others. The hair cycle for dogs is every 21 days. The old hair falls out and the new hair grows in. Regular grooming will help control the shedding and keep your dogs skin and coat healthy.

 Because we’ve loosened everything on your dog by bathing, brushing, and furminating, it can take approximately 72 hours for the shedding to slow down.