How Short Should You Shave Your Dog?<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\nIf your dog is matted badly, the kindest thing to do is simply to shave it off and start over. If it’s cold, put a sweater on her. If it’s hot, be sure to keep her out of direct sunlight to prevent sunburn.<\/p>\n
It’s important to keep the skin taut as you shave the mats off the dog. Mats can be so tight that they pull up skin and you can nick or seriously cut your dog if you aren’t careful. If you are using scissors, put a comb between the mat and the skin and cut off only what is on top of the comb.<\/p>\n
If you cannot get a comb underneath the mat, you need to use a very close blade such as an A5 blade number 10, 15, or higher to gently get under the mat. Be careful around the belly area, the tuck-up where the hind leg meets the body, as there is loose skin in the area that can be easily cut.<\/p>\n
Try to clip with the grain of the hair when possible. If it’s not possible, clip in reverse or against the grain to get the mat out. It all depends on the degree of the matting and where it’s located. The important thing is to try not to cut the dog’s skin.<\/p>\n
How short you need to take the coat and where determines if you can make the dog look good. If the head and ears of the dog aren’t too badly matted, you can leave a cute head and face and maybe leave the tail longer and shave the body short. This look is often requested at grooming shops in the summertime; some groomers call it a smoothie.<\/p>\n
Let’s say you have a Schnauzer and his chest and belly have mats. You could shell out this dog, leaving the fringe on the sides but shaving off the hair on the belly and chest. Nobody will see the shaved-off portion unless your dog rolls over.<\/p>\n
This works on any dog with longer side and leg hair such as Cocker Spaniels, Yorkies, and Afghan Hounds.<\/p>\n
If your dog’s ears are matted, you can shave them short and leave a little beard on the dog’s face and call it a German trim. Remember, it’s just hair, it will grow back!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There comes a time when a dog has matted hair and you need to make a decision: demat or shave the coat? This depends on the degree of matting. If the matting isn’t too severe, sometimes you can comb out the mats with a little work. 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