My friends poodles both have their faces shaved and they give no reaction when cut. I have cut a broken whisker off Teg before but wouldn't cut them otherwise. He doesn't seem to use them for anything.

Using my imagination , its telling me that if a dog is focused on following his nose, its usually down on the ground (the nose) .... so find it difficult to imagine the whiskers warning the dog of anything that might take its eye out...as the whiskers are usually contected to the muzzle area, so in effect will be on the ground along with the nose

Exactly......................

There are more wiskers then whats at the end of the dogs nose, there are the seven hair warts around the dogs head, that are placed in blind spots, there was also mention of a part of the brain thats function is to decifer messages from the wiskers (can't remember whether for dogs, but I mentioned the main parts of wiskers in the original article in question already, haven't really looked into too much, as I wouldn't do it, and don't know people who do, and would get strange looks if I even mention doing anything like this for cosmetic reasons ), but I haven't looked into the brain part at all, so don't know, but its perfectly reasonable to think that the wiskers above the dogs eye could be touched by something when going through the undergrowth, transmit messages to the brain causing the dog to move its head a fraction. Unless of cause people only trim the wiskers at the end of the muzzle, leaving the seven that make a circle around the dogs head alone, meaning we don't have to talk about them ones aswell .

My dog's whiskers are shorter than his ears, and do not stick out beyond his head,

The others to the side of the dog's face do not stick out but lie flat against the face.

So again, I am at a loss to see how, if I chose to trim them, they would adversely affect them.

No - the whiskers are erect on the muzzle, stick out sideways and act as a measuring tape for tight spots - such as bramble wires - that may become tangled in the coat, or scratch the eyes.

They do when they are hunting

I think you will find that I actually said this info was from my work colleague I don't believe I ever made any claim that this was from a serious scientific sight. As you say, research in the field is just as valuable as internet research - more so, according to you!!

The other stuff, that I put in bold, that was from serious scientific research and was obviously so. What is wrong with that?

Well, coming from someone who poo poos the net, that's rich. I have said it before, and I will repeat myself again - you are obviously a very intelligent person, you are far more capable than I at sorting the wheat from the chaff on the internet. But you like to stick to what you learn in the field - very unscientific. I am a medical/legal secretary, and all the Consultants I have and do work for use the internet extensively to research cases past and present, and subscribe to a whole host of medical research sites, including Amadeo.

I am just an ordinary jo with a few O Levels. It is my hubby who is the medical scientist and the clever clogs. I don't profess or pretend to be anything other than what I am. But I am highly suspicious of any intelligent person who decries the benefits of internet research.

Well said - neither will I.

I saw a poodle cross outside Waitrose today, and I had a good look at his muzzle. No whiskers - and I could see if he did have any how very difficult it would be to trim his beard without cutting the whiskers too.