Way back in this thread I said that I don't agree with showing dogs and that I think it is cruel and I explained why! Now off to walk our dogs for the 4th time today.

if you are trying to make a dig at walking your dogs 4 times a day well done to you. obviously mine cant go out four times a day because she is shown and ponced up for grooming.... not the fact that today my dog has been with me all day at college doing as she pleases.... but again you musnt believe that either because shes shut in her cage all day open up that small mind of yours.

4th time mine only get one walk aday poor dogs, I must be a terrible mummy!!

I have proof in my Spaniel that removing there whiskers doesn't affect them. Her behaviour hasn't changed one iota from having them removed to leaving them intact. Like jackbox said, as you're not a dog you can only speculate and until you've experienced a dog that does and does not have whiskers in it's lifetime than you'll have no physical evidence either.

You're more than welcome to express your opinion on the removal of a dogs whiskers, but please don't try and infer my dog is in some way harmed/disadvantaged by their removal. I would not do it if I thought it was harming her.

Re dew claws: Isla has had hers removed, Oscar has not. There is no difference in the turning ability whilst out running and Isla is in no way disadvantaged by being without them.

Couldn't see a smilie for YAWN..... I am not going to bother with childish, pathetic comments misinterpreted as usual. Some people just have to lower the tone but hey, each to their own eh

how am i lowering the tone? and my comments are not childish. this thread is about grooming yet you comment that youre taking your dogs out for their 4th walk. woop de do for them. you were the one that brought in the ammount of excerise and then suggested i was cruel for only walking an hour a day. so may i suggest it is you that is being slightly pathetic not me.

That is not a extreme angle, nor is her leg broken, everydog when running will have its front leg go like that, but because it happens so fast the human eye can't see it, but it does happen, and actually I think that if the third photo of gizooty's post was more in focus on the front foot you'd see that her dog is doing the exact same thing, when a dog runs its tendons strech more, thats all, and when the dogs legs are fully streched the legs bend forward, a perfectly natural thing to happen, but when the dogs legs are streched to this extent the dogs dew claw helps to give the dog extra balance as it digs into the ground, and no offence but I'll trust studies and research into this over someone saying that there dog didn't suffer no affects, also the fact that you said

Says to me that you don't fully understand the running motions of a dog if you think that something that is perfectly normal and natural appears like this, I won't pretend that I understand all of the way of the dogs body, but I do know that that is natural, not taken from any extreme's and not broken, and what about the picture on the second link? Thats not taken from a extreme angle, and it also says this to explain why that happens.


http://www.angelfire.com/nc2/Mestena/dewclawsInjury.pdf

So when your dogs are running this will happen to them, apart from the fact that they wont have the dew claw to give them extra grip, and you wont see it unless you watch them on a slo mo camera or have a picture taken at the right time, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't happen to your dogs, and that dogs are not affected by the removal of the dew claws either.

Also just as a extra point when I was younger we had a deerhound, Trampus, and even then the vet wouldn't remove the dew claw, that was at least 17 years ago, I've heard more agaisn't the removal of dew claws then for it, and tbh have never seen or heard of a dog personally that has been injured from having it stay on.

To me every thing that is on a dog is there for a reason, removal of organs like testicles for example can affect the dog, studies show that removal of dew claws affect the dog, so to me the removal of wiskers makes sense to also affect the dog, as we don't know how they feel, and wiskers are sensory, I'll never do it, and have also not seen a good enough reason to do it IMO.

Clo can I also ask why a five week old pup had already had its face shaven?

Here I must disagree with you. I have seen injuries which were pretty horrific. Not every dog is high energy - your dog you show is obviously a very active dog and fair play to you both. The dogs I am talking about are Toy/Lap dogs - dogs that dont have either the weight [as in a bigger dog] or high energy to do all that racing about.

I have seen the dew claw nail torn off at its root or torn and hanging off or just torn - not a pretty sight. I have seen the dew claw nail curled right round and digging into the dogs flesh where the nail has not been clipped. OK you could say the owner was negilent to let the nail get that bad but it happens so while I am not totally for removing the dew claws I am not totally against it either as I have seen the damage, pain and discomfort they can cause if left on

One of my own dogs had her dew claws removed when in the nest however whoever did it didnt do a good job on one of the dew claws. The "toe" was not visible but a nail had grown, it was not growing normally, as it grew it was digging into the dogs leg, it was not a nail you could "lift", it was growing straight down, curling under and digging into her leg. Should I have left it and not bothered about it and let her spend her whole life in discomfort? The vet said it would never grow normally and should be removed and that is what happened. I dont feel guilty about that at all as I know if left it would have caused a lifetime of pain and misery and no she isnt a Toy/Lap dog [well she "thinks" she is a lap dog ] she is a Boxer!

Obviiously your dog/s do well with theirs but unfortunately not all do.

They shave the faces of Poodles (and feet) at 3 weeks! THAT I think is very wrong!