Well said - I loves their whiskers but even if I didnt like the look of them I wouldnt lop them off just to make the dog look better

I was just about to say about how much Ben in particular moves his - he is deff aware of them and in control of their movements - so vastly different from normal hair

We cant totaly know what dogs feel and what they cannot
but we do know that if someone looses a finger or even an eye they learn to adapt really quickly
would you say its better to remove them?

I would say that chances are the dogs ARE using them but they can adapt without them
like I always have long nails - if I break one I stub my fingers lots in the first few days until I get used to it

would it be cruel for someone to cut of my fingernails?
no - not in the great big scheme of things

but it would be annoying

Have you ever clipped a dogs face Gnasher?

Cos if you had you would realise that you cannot shave AROUND the whiskers without leaving a clump of hair at the bottom of it"

Same with horses, I used to clip lots of horses right out and polo ponies for example are clipped so nothing is left but the tail, so the mane is hogged and all whiskers removed.

I can tell you that clippers heat up (at least they used to in my day) and horses sweat, and time is of the essence, so you do not fart about clipping around whiskers!

i dont go out of my way to trim my dogs whiskers, however i did notice once ty had one that was bent and curly so i trimmed that one down.

i dont see how it could be cruel

When Molly goes to the groomers, it depends which of the girls cut her.

One of them cut her whiskers. I hate it. When her whiskers are long, and she nuzzles up for a snug, her face is nice and soft........ but when she has had her whiskers trimmed, her muzzle is all prickly

Can't see a need for it...

ah right, I understand now. No, I never have clipped a dog's face, wouldn't see the need for it

And when I had horses with the exception of the hunter, I never had them clipped because they were kept out in the winter and were not doing heavy work. As for hogging, I won't even go there! I fully understand the need for polo ponies to be hogged, but I love to see flowing manes ... and whiskers!!

No, definitely not cruel, but I would argue totally unnecessary to trim any dog whiskers - I agree with you though about the bent and curly one, that would have definitely had to go if it were my dog!

Incidentally, I did the stroking test on Ben's whiskers when he was half asleep this morning - resulting in rapid blinking and a very grumpy look!!

Something I have remembered that Hal used to do - if you gently pulled his ruff outwards, it would result in an automatic reflex where his lips would wrinkle up as if in a grimace and his whiskers would twitch like mad!

Hey, when you have mutliple splits down your fingers from plaiting manes day in and day out, hogging is a groom's DREAM!

I can see you do not know many poodles

The hair grows very fast and thick on poodles, some people leave a moustache or beard on the dogs, personal choice - although this is still has to be trimmed partly for the sake of the dog being able to see and partly for ease.

Although I know you can cord a poodles coat if you leave it totally untrimmed - I have not actually seen any one choose this route - I would imagine that cording around the face would be quite uncomfortable -but looking at images they do seem to cord the faces of Pulis.

The cocker spaniel looks like a woolly mop when I see her - her owner likes her to looks tidy, I cannot make her tidy whilst leaving the hair (not the actual whiskers) on her face. I would think it is probably impossible to cut the actual hair and avoid the whiskers.

I tried the test - mine must have defected whiskers - it doesn't work! They just looked bemused and disinterested by it all, however, if you lightly touch a patch of fur behind the dogs head - in between the ears, Sadie flicks her ears and Louie shakes his head No whisker blinking.. though

We have a springer spaniel who comes into the office where I am working - he has beautiful whiskers - and when I tried the stroke test he too blinked. His whiskers are long, but I would no way describe them as massive. His owner was horrified at the very suggestion of anyone wanting to trim them - he uses him for shooting and the whiskers are a very important part of a gundog's toolkit for not just smell, scenting, judging distances etc.., but to protect the dog's eyes from brambles, burrs etc. - as we now know, when you gently touch a dog's whiskers, an automatic blinking response is triggered - so when the spaniel is working through brambles and other hazards, his whiskers will automatically cause his eyes to close, thus protecting them.