I love a Cocker in full coat and groomed for the show ring, but it isn,t really practical or comfortable for running through thick undergrowth, swimming or running through thick muddy ponds my Alfie loves to swim in the river and tramp through mud and i spend as long cleaning him up afterwards as we spend on the walk. Our other Cockers are a little more reserved and usually a quick brush through when we get back from our walk is enough. A lady brings her two pet Cockers to me for a trim every six weeks and asks me to clip them right off. She goes out walking alot and prefers her dogs this way as it gives them a little more freedom and comfort. The first time she asked me to clip them both off i was a bit worried and thought they would look awful, but they don,t. They are both lovely Cocker Spaniels and still very attractive without their Cocker furnishings

Does anyone have any pics of a show clip and a full clip ?

For example...here is a Yorkshire terrier with a full coat, and in a show...(click here)

And here is Kingsley, with a 'number 2' lol.
I think he looks cute! And who would want to swim with that long hair dragging you down!

Not sure about cockers or any other spaniel coats as I have no experience there, but in regards to broken coated terriers I would always recommend handstripping. I have met so many terriers who have terrible skin problem that in my opinion is caused or aggraviated by clipping. The dead hair is left in the skin and the coat can become very smelly and the skin unbalanced. Handstripping is certainly a timeconsuming job but it was something I considered seriously when I took on a terrier. I also have very bad allergies to dogs and handstripping Olive's coat helps alleviate many of the symptoms, I find that dogs that are clipped irritate my eyes and nose very much, as all the dead hair and debris is left behind when a dog is clipped, the coat is not renewed or freshened. I also love the fact that Olive has a wonderful hard wiry waterproof topcoat that even after heavy rain is dry in two minutes, this is lost in a clipped terrier, that is only left with an undercoat to protect it from the elements. I would always handstrip a terrier, if I was not prepared to do it I wouldn't have got a terrier .

Thats a huge difference Hevvur
Cheers for that

Must add I prefer to see a yorkie with a short coat than with a full coat, Kingsley is just adorable

Thank you

Yeah, it is a massive difference! His coat isn't *as* short in winter, probably 1-2" long.
I prefer them with a short coat too! You can see their features better!

Yip, their cute wee faces are hidden behind all that coat, although some of them do have lovely long coats, I wouldn't mind my hair looking like that....must be awful hard work though .

Yeah, very hard work I imagine!
Not good when the little un likes to roll in poo, and swim in dirty water! lol

I hate to say it...... but i am one of those people who believes if you wanted a long haired dog, you learn to groom it properly and take care of its coat,NOT shave it all off.

However..... there IS a difference between shaving your dog bald because you cant be bothered, and trimming it a little bit shorter to make life easier for the dog.

I was HORRIFIED the other day to see on another forum i use, a pair of long coat GSD's who had been SHAVED BALD...... why???

Because the owner is fed up of hoovering her house.

The dogs looked depressed and miserable (as my own have done when they have had to have bits shaved for surgery) and i highly doubt their coats will grow back any better when they do grow back, in all likelyhood they will be fluffy and matt easily and become MORE work than they were before.

All because she cant be bothered to groom them outside everyday and hoover her house???

My pet hates are traditionally stripped breeds being shaved, it ruins the coat, it doesnt do the skin any good at all, and it looks bloody awful!.
Shaving short, rather than bald, doesnt actually do anything to cool the dog down in hot weather either. Thats down to the density of the coat, not the length and shaving just shortens, it doestn thin out.
IF you have a long haired dog suffering with the heat, pluck out all his dead hair, use an undercoat rake every day and remove all the dead fluff that is causing him to overheat. If the coat is STILL too dense, then use something like a coat king, or even hand strip it (most breeds CAN be stripped, cocker spaniels should be, and their coat is nothing LIKE a westies or an airedales!).

What might seem like a quick fix with the clippers is frequently not so!

Em