I never suggested you were harming your dog, just that they may well use their whiskers and so why cut them

I have long nails usualy, if one breaks it feels odd for a while, I have to remember I dont have a nail there, I do 'use' my long nails. I get used to not having one in a wee while, it dosent harm me to have one broken - but I prrefer to have the use of them

So in the great big scheme of things it prob isnt a big deal to cut the dogs whiskers - but why do it?? Why on earth would a breed standard have that in it - it dosent help the dogs working ability


I was thinking about the other grooming things
1st, I think its wrong the way humans manipulate animals for nothing more than fashion so they are unable to care for themselves and need human help - its cruel when the animals find themselves in situations where they are not cared for
not just dogs but all animalss

I think if you are grooming to remove hair then you are hiding something - the judge dosent get to judge the whole dog - as has been said in this thread there could be anything in the ring from totaly hairless CC to powderpuffs but they are clipped to look the same
Why not just show them natural, if the excess hair causes skin problems then thats a fault - and should be corrected in the breeding

I know many will disagree with me - fine - its my opinion

I dont think everyone who shows is cruel, I dont think all the dogs are badly treated but if for winning a show a dog has to have an unatural life (hair in papers) if its grooming means a huge unatural haircut - some even with extra hair added to make them more poofy
Thats not right IMO

If dogs are underexercised for fear their coats will loose condition
If the dogs are benched for a full day
and lots of other things - That is wrong!

Please show me where i said there was anything wrong with owning a mongrel, cross breed, or what ever it is you call them?
I grew up around all sorts of cross breeds, when my mum had them in for foster..I certainly dont have a problem with them or any one owning them..Its just simply what a refered to them as..you see even when owning cross breeds i did not have a problem with people calling them mongrels why would i? just the same as i have no problem with anyone calling my cat a moggie.



also with regards to the hairless and puffs they have TOTAL different dentition, so any judge that isnt judging FACES would know a shaved off puff a mile away i would have thought.

How did cross breeds get brought into a thread about grooming? Although mine say a quick brush and a run please

With the removal of hair on the HH CC, if its done for showing, and those who do it, don't you ever feel like you are lying when your presenting your dog to the judge, as you've had to alter your dog to get it to conform to breed standard? I mean I know that all dogs are groomed before entering the ring, into a show clip, which I suppose that the removal of hair is a show clip to the CC, but I don't know, to me its almost like you are making the dog look better then it is, when doesn't health and temperment mean more then some extra hair? If true hairless have bad mouths shouldn't a hairy hairless still be placed higher then one even if they have extra hair? As surely the best example is one of the breed type, and healthy, extra hair to me at least does not make the dog worth any less

Also I don't know if I'm comfortable with the dogs whiskers being removed, I'd never do it, a dog senses things with its whickers, it may not be neccasary in todays world, but they have them, they've evolved with theem, and they are part of the dog, and I don't see why they should be removed, what benefits does it bring to a dog to have the whiskers removed? If it doesn't benefit the dogs I think you have to question whether it should be done, as dogs do not look horrible with them, infact I think if I were to see one without wiskers to me it would look strange, and personnaly I'd not remove them on any of my pets, a removal of wisers suely doesn't make the dogs a better example of the breed either

Dogs didn't evolve naturally though did they? We made them the way we wanted them, big, small, long, short, short faces, long faces, prick ears, drop ears and so on. It doesn't benefit the dog, but it's not detrimental to them either - I have proof of that in my Springer. I do it because that's what I choose to do and considering it's not harming my dog I'd continue to do it if I choose to.

I'm willing to bet if it had never been mentioned and you saw a dog without whiskers you wouldn't even notice. I've never had anyone comment on the fact my dog has no whiskers and only 1 lay person comment on the fact my Spaniel is in a show trim as opposed to left natural.

So no, I don't think it looks weird at all, she looks blimmin' gorgeous, but then I'm biased!

Is there any reason apart from the breed standard that you'd cut the wiskers, and is that a good enough reason?

It's not in the breed standard, none of the trimming requirements are mentioned in the breed standards (apart from breeds like the Spanish Water Dog to prevent over trimming). It's personal choice and as it doesn't affect the dogs quality of life, harm or upset the dog I don't have a problem with it.

At the end of the day nothing I say will change people's misconceptions about crossbreeds and the whole reason we are all on here is because of our dogs... pedigree, crossbreed or mongrel they are all dogs and pedigrees only came about because of human interference; luckily dogs don't have any conception of bias towards pedigrees or against crosses and mongrels. I didn't get a poodle type looking doodle because if I wanted a poodle I would have got one; I wanted what we got, 2 f1s who are health tested and healthy. More importantly, they are happy and well loved; they will live with us forever and they will get the best they deserve. We don't clip their whiskers off nor cut them into poncy styles; we don't show them as they are our pets and we prefer dogs to have the life of a dog - end of...we are entitled to our opinion as are everyone else and as no-one has managed to explain why their dogs are epilatored, shaved, whiskers cut off etc then I have no reason to change my opinion.

Because it's a free country and that's how I choose to prepare my dogs for the show ring. It doesn't harm them or upset them so no problem!

I sincerely hope you did buy your dogs from a reputable breeder and not a designer dog breeder out for monetary gain, cos if you didn't there will be many pups from the same litter probably dumped by now after being mis-sold. Poor little devils.

As for a dogs life, my dogs live better than that! Out and about every weekend meeting friends old and new, 2 hours walks every day getting absolutely filthy as often as possible, the best raw feeding available and sleeping on my bed every night.........but then they're show dogs so none of that can be true, right?

Seriously, you need to stop making such huge assumptions and open your mind a little. If you don't judge others quite so much you might find you receive less of it yourself.

On the whiskers note, my girls whiskers are tiny and short and close to the face, all of the girls, hardly noticeable and Bear's even more so, they are hardly here nor there. Charlies are huge like cat whiskers. Point is, could the whiskers be 'evolving' away anyway, they are nothing like a wolfs, but then a domestic dog is nothing like a wolf...

For those saying it's cruel, shows how little you actually know about showing.

On the OP, sorry I know diddly squat about CCs.

We loves our Whiskers



I understand the theory about the dog not 'needing' them....but I'm afraid I like the whiskers....I do have a couple of dogs I cut where the owners specifically want the face shaved which is their choice at the end of the day. I am sure the dogs cope fine....but not something I like doing.