# Clipping a Pyr?



## Whisperwindkat (May 28, 2009)

My Pyrenees really could stand to be clipped. We keep her brushed as best we can but she hates it and makes it as difficult as possible. I have always read that you shouldn't clip a pyr as their coat doesn't grow back like it should. She has several spots in hard to get areas that I noticed yesterday where the skin looks a bit raw. Not sure if the hair is an issue or something else, but I was thinking of clipping her giving her a good thorough bath and then treating those raw areas. The spots are between her back legs which is the area we have the problem of the most mats and the hardest to get to with her. Or could I just do a belly clip. Thanks, Kat


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I'm watching this thread because I want to learn more about clipping before I start doing it.


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## DaniR1968 (May 24, 2008)

I was always told you don't clip a long haired dog that is outside for any length of time as that hair actually protects them. Clipping it can allow sunburn and heat stroke. I was told it was okay to clip the belly and legs, just not the main body.


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## Rockytopsis (Dec 29, 2007)

I clip my Pyrs, they just do not shed their coats fast enough in this East Tennessee spring/summer weather. I have started shaving them now and have their backs shaved and will work on the legs and tail in the next few days.

My dogs sleep in the barn with the goats an in the woods and their hair gets hard mats that can cause hot spots and that is a miserable condition for a 130 pound dog to be in. 

I do not clip to the skin and I leave their mane. I start about the shoulders and take the rest off.

The hair goes into my garden to deter rabbits.
Nancy


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## Wolfy-hound (May 5, 2013)

I've clipped a LOT of prys and similar breeds here in Florida. Their hair always grew back in just fine. If a dog's coat doesn't grow back in, there's usually an underlying health issue as hair is dead, and cutting the dead hair doesn't affect the roots, otherwise none of us would have hair on our heads either. (yes fur is different in some ways but it's still dead hair).

The best thing would be to have it clipped short at a professional who has the equipment and set up. It sounds like she probably has matting which can be dangerous to try to dig under, and hot spots from either a skin condition or from matted undercoat(think of it like diaper rash since the matted hair can become damp and stay that way for days under the matted spots).

If you clip it yourself, use a set of dog clippers(not human ones) with sharp clean blades. It's best to clip clean dry fur, but if the coat is in bad shape, bathing and drying might be a royal pain. I would advise TRYING a #4F blade to begin with, moving to a #5F if you cannot get the #4F under the undercoat, and a #7F if you really need to go even shorter than that.

FOr blades, always use a F blade, they're safer. Get some spray to lubricate and clean the blades too, otherwise they're rust to uselessness when you put them away. 

But best, easiest, safest is to get a pro to do it. It would take them a few hours total, while I've seen owners take days to get it done, with plenty of frustration in the process.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

I have mine shaved every spring before hot weather gets here. It keeps the mats away, and keeps them cooler, plus it helps with all that coat loss mess.


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## Hexe (Mar 8, 2007)

I do this for a living, so here's what happens:

The coat on double coated breeds DOES help to insulate, against either cold or warm, BUT - and this is the clincher that nobody ever mentions - this ONLY works, if the coat is in GOOD shape. Once the undercoat starts bunching/matting up, the benefits are gone.
And I have to yet see a privately maintained Great Pyrenees that's in good shape, this goes double for working dogs. Please read me correctly, I'm not slamming anybody, it's just a fact of life. 

It is not a great idea to shave double coated breeds 'just' to make them more comfortable, it can mess up the coat. The coat may not grow back as well or it can grow back differently, but this mostly happens to dogs that have this done all the time, several times a year. 

However - there is such a thing that I call "the point of no return", where you can't do anything else and it's a kindness to take the hair off rather than brush it out and most/all of you are in this situation. 

GP's (and many other breeds) were used in climates different than nowadays (Texas is not the same as the Pyrenees Mountains...) and I also firmly believe that there were other factors that were different then: Dogs had a much shorter live span anyway (no vaccinations, different diet, etc) and I'm positive that the build-up of coat and the complications that that brings (skin issues, parasites like fleas and ticks, and and and) were also a factor that would contribute on the shorter life span of the animal. Also, who says that the dogs wouldn't be shorn when the sheep were shorn? 

Anyway, for your purposes - please DO get them clipped, you are making their life much more pleasant. The coat will grow back and you don't have a show animal, but a working dog with a job to do. 

For what it's worth - I usually recommend to have this done in early spring, before it get's really hot (that way the coat can come back a bit before the sun get's to intense and causes sunburn) and again in early fall. The coat will grow out with the season: as it gradually get's colder, the coat gradually get's longer and the dog will have enough coat when he really needs it. 

Good Luck.


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

You could take her to the vet. They will clip the problem areas, treat them, and be better able to tell you why she is getting raw areas. If it is between the legs, it could be from urine.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Hexe said:


> I do this for a living, so here's what happens:
> 
> The coat on double coated breeds DOES help to insulate, against either cold or warm, BUT - and this is the clincher that nobody ever mentions - this ONLY works, if the coat is in GOOD shape. Once the undercoat starts bunching/matting up, the benefits are gone.
> And I have to yet see a privately maintained Great Pyrenees that's in good shape, this goes double for working dogs. Please read me correctly, I'm not slamming anybody, it's just a fact of life.
> ...


we used to have to clip our Pyrs in the summer but we've finally found a terrific groomer and we take him in once a month for bathing and grooming. He looks fantastic now and no longer need to clip him for summer.

But when we did clip, the coat grew back in perfectly by fall. They also never sunburned or had skin issues. But , they free range (we live way out) and were able to lie in the shade all day.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

Hexe said:


> again in early fall. The coat will grow out with the season: as it gradually get's colder, the coat gradually get's longer and the dog will have enough coat when he really needs it.
> 
> Good Luck.


If you get it shaved in early Oct, it would have enough hair for Dec/Jan? I've always had mine shaved April, but not in the fall. That would be great to do though just for shedding control if the dog would be warm enough in winter.


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## secuono (Sep 28, 2011)

I would never shave a long haired dog, we did that to our 16 lbs black mutt, she looks just like a GP. Her fur grew in totally different and isn't the same anymore. 
Knowing that the fur keeps them insulated from heat, I wouldn't shave them.

But.
If you had to, do it BEFORE they start shedding. It's a lot harder to cut when there's thick patches layered over and all weird. We shave sheep before it gets too hot in the spring, so they aren't hot and they grow in some wool to protect them. 


Brushing does take a long time, but great bonding time and you can sell the undercoat.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

I wouldn't shave again in early fall. I don't think enough would grow back. ETA: I see that the OP is in Alabama. Clearly a different situation than I have here in the northern Rockies. If we clipped again in the fall, the dogs would freeze.


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## Wolfy-hound (May 5, 2013)

For the "hair insulates them from the heat", please remember that a dog's internal temp is 103F. If a dog needed to be protected from the heat, wouldn't the dogs that have slick coats need a insulated coat in summer to wear lest they get overheated? We don't put coats on dogs to protect them from the heat. We don't wear coats ourselves to protect ourselves from the heat either.

I've been told the "insulating from heat" story a long long time. I've been shaving down miserable double coated dogs in spring/summer here in florida a long long time. I've never ever once seen a dog act hotter after being shaved. Not once. I often see dogs that were lying in the shade panting all day, turn to running around playing with kids all day once they were shaved. So my personal experience tells me that at least in humid Florida, that is just a old wives tale and doesn't apply.

The hair coat does insulate from the Sun's direct rays. But in two decades, I've seen one case of a shaved dog getting sunburned. But it was a white dog, with pink skin, shaved at home with a mustache trimmer... then taken to the beach for 6 hours midday. It had sunburn.

Otherwise, shaving really does seem to help most dogs, especially when the undercoat is unmanageably thick or matted. It is absolutely true that a properly brushed out coat is less hot than one matted with unshed undercoat.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

secuono said:


> I would never shave a long haired dog, we did that to our 16 lbs black mutt, she looks just like a GP. Her fur grew in totally different and isn't the same anymore.
> Knowing that the fur keeps them insulated from heat, I wouldn't shave them.
> 
> But.
> ...



How does a 16 pound black mutt look like a Pyr? We did shave our Pyrs for several years and every single time, the hair came back normally. Shaving a dog doesn't affect hair growth at all. That is all done internally in the dog.


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## Whisperwindkat (May 28, 2009)

Thanks everyone. I think I am going to give her a good belly clip and along her back legs. I don't worry about her getting sunburned too much as the goats return to the barn midday for shade and heat relief (that is naptime and cud chewing time) and she lays under the porch where she can watch the chickens and enjoy the cooler concrete. The worst areas are her belly and back legs. She hates for them to be touched and really puts up a fuss. I think that will really help her. Thank you all from both me and Dakota. Kat


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