Sometimes breeds with long hair might just not fit in with your lifestyle. If you hunt with your English Setter, you may not want all the excess furnishings on the body and legs because they will gather leaves and debris, but you may want that flag on the tail so you can see your dog point.

If you can’t keep up with brushing and maintaining a long coat, a shorter style may work better for you. If the long, shedding hair is driving you crazy, you can always cut the hair. This won’t make the dog stop shedding, but the hairs he does shed will be less noticeable.

Maintaining Breeds with Long Hair

Most groomers have some clients that have long haired breeds, yet want them shaved short because they don’t like the long, shedding hairs in their house. Some just prefer the look of a short coat.

There are those who have long haired Dachshunds but like the look and the break in vacuuming, so they have their dog shaved short to resemble the smooth coat.

There are some dogs who won’t tolerate brushing, no matter what. In the best interest of both the dog and owner, a short haircut may be best. Long hair is pretty, but so is a nice, smooth short cut. For comfort’s sake, it’s easier to remove it than keep it up.

Dogs with beards tend to get rather messy when eating and drinking. If combing out a dirty beard annoys you, a short face works well to combat a messy beard.

Long ears are notorious for dragging through the food and water dishes and they end up matted and filthy. Unless you are willing to put a snood on your long-eared dog—a fabric tube that fits over your dog’s head and holds her ears close to her neck—to protect the ear hair when she eats or drinks, it may be easier to go with a short-eared style.

Long hair on the feet tracks in dirt and leaves. Long hair under the tail tends to accumulate feces, and it can go unnoticed until you—or the dog—lifts up her tail. Feces left under the dog’s tail can cause sores and reddened, irritated skin. Keeping the area short can help prevent this.

Long hair on the head tends to get into the dogs eyes, causing tearing and eye irritation and impeding the dog’s vision.
Long hair is high maintenance. Unless you are willing to devote the time to caring for it properly, a shorter style may work better for you.

Matted hair hurts, and untangling long tresses is a chore. Not to mention that if you take your dog to a professional groomer and the dog is matted, your groomer may either demat the dog and charge accordingly or your pet may have to be shaved short whether you like it or not.

Keeping Your Dog Comfy

When the weather heats up, long haired dogs get hot. Sometimes it’s best to give a shorter style in the warmer months to help keep him comfortable. One way to keep a dog cooler without sacrificing the look of a breed trim is by shelling out the dog by shaving the belly and chest up to the armpits.

You can leave long hair on the sides of the dog to hide it. Nobody will know unless your dog rolls over on his back. This makes it easier for your dog to get cool by lying on a cool floor.

If your dog is active outdoors and tends to get into dirt, mud, weeds or brambles, trim that hair short so she won’t have to endure dematting—or possibly sitting on a cocklebur you overlooked because it was hidden underneath her long hair—Ouch!

If your dog is tender skinned and doesn’t appreciate you brushing her, keep her comfortable by giving her a shorter hairdo so she doesn’t have to endure painful dematting.

Breed-Standard Trims

If you have a pedigreed dog, you may have fallen in love with the breed due to its look. You may love the look of a Yorkshire Terrier and want your dog’s hair to grow down to the floor and be put up in a topknot daily. If that is what you desire, then you have to be prepared to deal with keeping that coat in good condition.

If you neglect a long coat, your dog is certain to develop matting, and if you brush out matting, you are sure to break off some hairs, which damages the hair and ruins the look.

If you can manage a fifteen-minute brushing session every night on just the problem areas, such as under the front legs, the chest, the insides of rear legs, and under the tail, you will be taking care of the hardest part and your dog will thank you for keeping those tender parts combed out before the tangles begin.

Some breed-standard trims aren’t too high maintenance for those without show dogs. For example, the clipped breed trim on a Schnauzer will give you the look you want without the time-consuming hand-stripping that show dogs must have done.

Most Schnauzers aren’t too hard to run a comb or brush through between full grooms every six weeks. It also depends on the coat’s texture. A wiry coat doesn’t get as matted as a softer coat.

It all depends on your breed and your level of dedication to keeping the coat maintained. That said, if you cannot keep up the maintenance on a high-maintenance breed, don’t torture a dog with hours of dematting or expect a groomer to do it, because that is unfair to the dog. Remember, sanity before vanity.

Going Through Coat Change

Coat change, that is. All puppies have soft, nonshedding coats until they begin to reach maturity. Some breeds, such as Yorkies, tend to begin going through coat change before five months of age. Other breeds go through coat change between six months and eighteen months of age.

One telltale symptom of coat change is matting. It begins as tiny little pin mats, but they are very hard to brush out. They seemingly pop up overnight, and the coat’s texture changes from soft, downy puppy fuzz to a coarser adult coat that can be a different color in some breeds.

The easiest way to deal with coat change is to give the dog a short haircut and start over. This prevents pain to the puppy from dematting and is the most humane option. Matted coats pull the skin and are painful! Remember, its just hair, and it will grow back.