Short hair or long hair?

My little Yorkie is not quite so little now. At 7 months old his coat is growing nicely BUT he's just a pet; no plans to show him or anything like that but I do like his long coat.

I think the real question is am I being cruel leaving his coat long which means that it does get wet / dirty / need daily grooming / requires regular baths?

Every other Yorkie I see (I do see Ted as a dog - walks everywhere, runs on the moors and, next summer I'm hoping he'll swim in the river with the other dogs and rarely gets picked up) out and about is short coated ... but I just don't like that look!

So should I keep his long coat or not (and why)?

As long as you don't leave the long coat to get matted and filthy, and being groomed/bathed doesn't stress him out, I can't see why it would be cruel at all!

I've never owned a Yorkie but when I had a Cavvie I used to just get little paw and ear trims done (her ears reached the ground!)

Then, when I moved to Cyprus where it is VERY hot for most of the year, I had her trimmed right back regularly with her ears back to 'velvet' and just a bit left on the tail. For no other reason than HER comfort. I loved her long silky fur but her comfort was more important to me than her 'appearance' and it did have the plus of making her look like a puppy again!

If it's not 'comfort related' and you are prepared to do the daily grooming etc. to keep his coat nice - well your decision really. It's not going to harm him to be left au naturel.

Having just returned from his evening walk in the park he arrived home with only two dried leaves attached to his undercarriage!

He sits in the kitchen waiting for a sink/bath and then, while he's being dried he knows that he can devour the cat biscuit left in the cat's dish (just along from the sink).

We use decent (dog) shampoo's, dog brushes, a great Wahl drier on a stand and a variety of dog towels - because he knows he'll get the cat food he's quite happy to let us do anything!

And now, I'm being watched by a very large mass of fur!

My Cavvy used to come in and go straight to the edge of the bath and put her front paws on it! We lived in Devon where it sometimes rains for about 3 months non stop and she got filthy. Fortunately she loved all the bathing and pampering. When I moved to Cyprus she was showered off every day because of salt and sand and she'd leap up onto the sofa and wait for me to turn the fan on to dry her and the look on her face can only be described as 'ecstatic' lol!

I have two Tibetan Terriers who should have long hair. I kept their coats long for ages but scissor trimmed (called a puppy cut) them about 6 months ago (because they don't do well in the heat although the long hair should act as an insulator for heat and cold, and one suffered terribly with harvest mites and his brother has a high grade heart murmur) but I am now growing them again for the winter.

If you do clip or scissor cut your Yorkie you have to remember that he will no longer have a water-proof coat and may well need to wear a coat when its wet of very cold.

If you feel you can keep his coat 'under control' long I'd leave it and he obviously isn't too worried about being bathed or having the hair dryer on him. I'd love to see a photo

Oh he's gorgeous. And lucky boy with such a great place to walk. All my dogs adored beaches.