Sheltie Tails and Other Hairy Stuff!

[Smudge]

Yeah, I made two threads in the same category in less than a few hours. You know you love me for it.

This has been eating my lunch for a while though.

Back around the middle of June I caught a wild hair and decided to trim whiskers for the first time. Did a fairly decent job on Fluffy's. I attempted Smudge's. I only cut a smidgen off of some of his black whiskers and I cut almost all of his white whiskers off on one side. He HATED me touching and grooming him there. He showed teeth, and I backed down. Not worth it, and it's not something that has to be done anyway.

Here's the dill, pickle. The boy has uneven whiskers. It's not even this that bothers me, but that fact that his black whiskers are not growing back. They are the exact same length as when I snipped them over a month ago! When I cut Fluffy's within a day or two she gets whisker stubble. Not Smudge! His white whiskers grew back, but his black whiskers did not.

Why are they not growing back?! I always thought if you cut facial hair it grew back thicker and longer.

Picture examples. Notice the long white whiskers, and the black stubble. The black stubble has been the same length since the middle of JUNE.

http://www.sheltieforums.com/album.php?albumid=233&pictureid=3130

http://www.sheltieforums.com/album.php?albumid=233&pictureid=3128

 

[dawns2shelties]

If his whiskers are anything like Gypsy's neck you'll be waiting a while. Her neck was shaved for surgery Feb. or March I forget the exact date and still hasn't grown back.

 

[Justicemom]

I have no idea. I've trimmed the whiskers on all my dogs and they always grew back fast. Too fast. Diva can have hers trimmed off for a show and be poking me mid week. I hate the pokey stage of whiskers. That's why I no longer do Justice and Ember's whiskers even though I like the clean look better. All I was doing was trimming whiskers. Fur can take a long time to grow back. Never had that with whiskers.

 

[RonandJan]

Just a note of reference: I trim about 1/2" to 3/4" every two weeks off of MMM's whiskers. I keep them trimmed in between most weeks, but they have gotten ahead of me and two weeks have gone by.

I love the cleaner look too, but it really is a pain to keep them trimmed. Right at the moment, MMM is shaggy. His ears, nose, feet and poop chute ALL need trimmed.

 

[Furmom]

Smudge looks cute with his stubble. Of course Smudge looks cute all the time. Sorry, I don't know anything about the whiskers. I leave my girls alone.

 

[Caro]

I love my puppy whiskers - would never think of cutting them off.

However, humans do not grow much ancilliary hair at certain times of year - summer being one, and even our head hair growth is seasonal. I imagine for dogs its the same, there would be no need to waste energy growing fur in summer. Wait until autumn rolls in and things should start growing again. I know when Deska's mane was (erroneaously) shaved in Spring it didnt really grow back until the following Autumn.

 

[Smudge]

I think in this picture here it shows the black whiskers better:

http://www.sheltieforums.com/album.php?albumid=255&pictureid=3013

I don't know. I thought maybe there was a reason they weren't growing back. I trim Fluffy's whiskers weekly. In a day or two she is stabbing me with whisker stubble!

I really have no plans to trim Smudge's whiskers again. If I trimmed his whiskers on a regular basis I wouldn't worry so much. He doesn't like it so I won't make him do it again.