Arnt we trying to give small /minuscule edges to our dogs in keep and for show all the time? Even if it just makes U feel better in your head? lol.
Its not that black and white. Everyone understands that it doesnt prevent a dog from running hot at all.
Lol, superstition does make people feel better (I know, I have OCDOriginally Posted by Nut
)
Honestly though, I would think shaving a dog would make its skin more sensitive/vulnerable.
The armor-factor would concern me more than "overheating" does.
If you breed long-winded dogs, you don't have to worry about it when things go awhile
As far as the "weight" goes, I didn't say anything before, but there is NO WAY that "dog hair" weighs half-a-pound
It very likely weighs less than an ounce ...
Jack
IMHO it’s a waste of time.
I have seen it done, it’s like most things in keep, and you want to establish and maintain consistency. If you are going to shave him/her the day of the race, it makes since to do it through the keep. So you know if you are shaving 3 ounces vs a half pound off the poor dog. I am pretty damn sure, you could shave a bulldog down from his head to his nuts and never get close to a half pound of one.
People develop their own methods and superstitions, some steeped in experince other in tradition. Six in one half dozen in the other, at the end of the day, I don’t think it hurts anything other than his pride.
I am just not going to look at my dog looking like he got ahold of my hair clippers. Really if it’s the very hair on his back that keeps him on the end of a chain, I am thinking I have bigger fish to fry.
Overheating is ALLWAYS a function of conditioning. It is going to happen; it is more of a function of when. Words to the wise athletes make a HARD distinction between “conditioning” and “training”….
That is incorrect thinking. Shaving a dog for weight purposes only needs to be done once and it will be near the end of the keep.
There are two reasons someone would shave a dog for weight purposes. The 1st is the day of the race they see that they wont make weight and start shaving their dog to get off whatever they can. The 2nd way is what i do and it is for an advantage. For example lets say im bringing in a 40lb male and he is sitting at 41-1/2 a week out. I already know how much feed and water to gelive the rest of the keep and come show night i will be 40lbs on the nose. I'll empty my dog out and weigh him he weighs 41-1/2 then i shave him and he weighs 41.3 i removed 5oz of hair. If i continue with the current feed plan i will fall under weight on show night so the food and water intake is adjusted accordingly. Show night comes and i still fall dead on 40lbs but i was able to give my dog more food/fluids than i would have been able to had he not been shaved. It may not seem like a big deal but it is an advantage. If you bring Gr Ch Buck and hook into my Gr Ch Buck with identical keeps but my Buck weighs 5oz bigger I would win.
Not necessarily.
1) Who says dog hair weighs 5 oz?
2) The idea that a 5-oz advantage of two otherwise identical individuals = a 100% success guarantee is insane.
3) You cannot ever be guaranteed to able to beat yourself, twice in a row. The other "you" has the same chance.
Jack
Gotap_d I respectfully disagree with you, but to each his own, no harm no foul on my end. However, riddle me this. If a conditioner takes the time to put a hound on a scale twice a day, weighing his feed, and regulating his water, for 8-10 weeks, why would you change anything at the last minute? That makes zero since to me.
I have two full grown Akitas (90 and 110 lbs) and I could guess what 5 oz of hair looks like, and I don’t see that coming off of 40 lb bulldog.
REALLY! If you think that 5 oz of hair is going to be difference maker in a hound’s performance, more power to you. If I bring ANYTHING and 5 oz stands between me and a win, I would seriously have to reconsider my position on a whole lot of things.
I have won more than once with what I thought was an inferior hound, not because I shaved him down to his nuts chasing 5 oz. I don’t care what “lane” you are in it boils down to conditioning. Bringing the bigger dog is as much science as it is an art when it comes to conditioning, and then their still is not guarantee that you are fielding the bigger hound.
Assume for a minute that you have two equally matched opponents in all areas; the athlete in superior condition will win the majority of the time.
Weight does not equal size. That is a common mistake that MANY people make. I've seen so many dogs BIGGER at a weight, yet both dogs weigh the same. Weight is weight. It doesn't equate to a bigger dog. It means a heavier dog.
The only way to accurately answer how much a dog's hair will weigh when shaven is to weigh it like Gotap_d has done and the dogmen who practiced this method that I know and asked to make a response to this post.
Also think about this, how does a woman's prickly leg, or something else feels in your mouth when she is not clean shaven?
To think dog hair is armour against the pearly whites is kind of laughable to me, protection from the elements yes.
S_B
I will call anyone who says dog hair weighs 0.5 lb a liar.
I tend to agree with you on this, that is a stretch. I know some of the dogs that were shaven had rough, long wavy hair. I'd lean more to what Gotap_d said 3-5 oz. just based on pure common sense. I've never weighed the hair to make a 100% factual statement though.
I personally have never been so technical to need every ounce of weight to use as an advantage. I was never in that lane and never will be. But I know men who were in their day and it is fascinating to discuss their methods of gaining even the smallest of advantages, whether scientifically or just in their mind.
S_B
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