Mistyrayn Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 I am sure you will do what ever richard with your dogs , and i did not say anything about letting them over heat so dont put words into my mouth , theres no need to be rude ..sorry sarah for this but needed to be said .. jackie was not being rude ... was saying it as i see it ... Quote
MyMukki Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 Oh you should never shave a husky! ...ever! The only caveat is for skin diseases like mange. The double layer of fur does protect them from both heat and cold but that does not mean you can exercise them in hot weather. We were told we can not mush at temps over 60 but actually, even 50 is too hot for Mukki and we carry lots of water -Rich has a gallon strapped to the scooter with bungies. These are smart dogs, as we all know LOL Here in North Carolina the temps are pretty bad in the summer and the high humidity makes it seems like hell, 99 and 99% humidity is not unusual. Our dogs hang out at their favorite air conditioning vent in the floor. When outside they dig little nests into the soil and rest their belies on the cool moist soil. We have a little bridge over a dry stream bed that only sees water if it rains more than an inch -they rest of the time the dogs hang out under the bridge like trolls. They play at night or in the early morning when it's cooler. The best protection from heat is a wading pool -put it in the shade and hey will stand or sit in it to cool off. Dogs have a different sweat mechanism from humans and they cool off in a different ways, mainly by panting and sweating at the paws and cooling the blood in their ears. Ours love ice cubes in the summer and will scoop them out of the water and chew. I also freeze their food and give it to them frozen, frozen bones with meat on them are a big hit. The best reason not to shave is they have little pigmentation and the sun can cause skin cancer. My friend has an albino doberman -she is constantly bringing him in for biopsies and surgeries. Another reason? Mosquitos and ticks have a very hard time navigating the undercoat. We have a lot of ticks around here and searching 4 dogs is a chore, but I never find any in thick fur -so, it's easy to check ears, face and tummies. Also, the two color coat is protection. The upper black guard hairs will absorb most of the heat and the inner white undercoat stays cool. It's like the insulation under your dark roofing tiles, if that makes sense. Also, last year we bought cooling beds on Amazon, they love them and are always lying on them on hot days. We took them with us on vacation last year: Quote
Alex T Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 Werent there some malamutes running saturday/ sunday! Some of them were the size of a bear with all that hair they had! Quote
jackie62 Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 Thank you mymukki, i would never shave a huskie and now i no why .......thanks again and a cooling bed what a good idea. Quote
Mistyrayn Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 I am sure you will do what ever richard with your dogs , and i did not say anything about letting them over heat so dont put words into my mouth , theres no need to be rude ..sorry sarah for this but needed to be said .. Where was i rude .... ??????? Quote
Mistyrayn Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 at no point have i said i will shave my girls .... i was saying if that is what is needed then so be it i will do what ever is needed for my girls..... Quote
Anne Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 I agree not to shave your husky ,I run my 2 on the bike and scooter ,about an hour before running I bait their water with slight sardines so they drink a lot and hydrate themselfs this gives the water time to leave the stomach while the dog is running ,then give them plenty when we come back from the run .I normaly run them from September - May depending on the weather, I normaly stop running them altogether the other months unless Im up at 5 oclock in the morning when its cool and that does not happen very often Quote
MyMukki Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 oh that cooling bed is a good idea! They love them! If you googleit you will find many and some look easy to make -if you are clever but the least expensive ones I found are called Coolaroo Steel Pet Beds and we ordered 2 large but I think we could get by with mediums, I need 2 more for LuLu and Quinn [ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P7JKD6"]http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P7JKD6[/ame] Quote
jackie62 Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 Going to have a look for these tomorrow ...great idea . Quote
scott Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 NEVER shave or clip there coats unless its for medical reasons, i remember reading about this and its a NO GO AREA :eek::eek::eek::eek: Quote
Bec Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 ok i have a question on this post.... so what should i do with tikaani and nikita when i run them ???? let them sweat or trimm their coat ???? Hi Richard Dogs don't actually sweat - panting is their way of releasing heat from their body. Living in a sub tropical climate where it is pretty much hot all year round, I can tell you that shaving or clipping a husky will actually make it harder for them to control their body temperature. A husky's double coat works like insulation, it keeps them warm in winter and cool in summer. By clipping off or shaving their coat, they will lose their only ability to control their body temperature. Despite popular belief, huskies actually do well in warmer weather because of their double coat. My beagle is short coated and actually suffers more in summer than my husky does. Any dog gets hot when they are run so you need to have common sense when you take them out - make sure it is not the middle of the day, go either early morning, late evening/night time, make sure you keep them hydrated and give them a break if necessary. And if you want a running or jogging companion to work them up to the bigger runs gradually. You also don't want to do anything that will remove their guard hairs, as this keeps their coat clean and protects them from the sun. Hope this helps Quote
jackie62 Posted March 16, 2009 Report Posted March 16, 2009 Smeagle , thinking about it my beagle honey gets hotter then the huskies in the summer. see you do learn something new every day on hear.. Quote
Redtress Posted March 17, 2009 Author Report Posted March 17, 2009 I ordered one of the cooling beds from Amazon today! The rescue place had them for the dogs and I tried to find one locally. I haven't been able to find a large one at a reasonable cost till now... Quote
MyMukki Posted March 17, 2009 Report Posted March 17, 2009 from Wikipedia: A common misconception is that dogs do not sweat. Primarily, dogs regulate their body temperature in a completely different way, through their tongue[citation needed]. That is why after a dog has been running or on a hot day, its mouth will be seen wide open with the tongue hanging out. This form of cooling maximizes heat loss while conserving moisture, because it carries heat from the hottest part of the body, the interior core of the thorax, unlike sweating, which cools the already coolest part of the body, the skinâ€â€or in less intuitive, more scientific terms, this higher efficiency of thermal loss relative to moisture conservation arises because heat flow is proportional to temperature gradient. In addition, dogs effectively sweat through the pads of their feet, since they are not furred. On a warm day and after exercise, a dog's naturally wet footprints might be visible on a smooth floor. Dogs possess a rete mirabile in the carotid sinus at the base of their neck, a complex of intermingled small arteries and veins which acts as a heat exchanger to thermally isolate the head, containing the brain, the most temperature-sensitive organ, from the body, containing the muscles, where most of the heat is generated. The result is that dogs can sustain intense physical exertion over a prolonged time in a hot environment, compared to animals which lack this apparatus; thus, a dog chasing a jackrabbit through the desert may not be able to outrun the rabbit, but it can continue the chase until the rabbit literally drops dead from overheating. Quote
Bec Posted March 17, 2009 Report Posted March 17, 2009 Thanks for clarifying MyMukki, I knew that dogs regulate their body temp differently to us and they don't sweat like humans do. I didn't know that they might sweat through their paws though! Quote
Marc Posted March 17, 2009 Report Posted March 17, 2009 I'm rather amused that everyone seems to be bothered about heat and removing fur as a means of keeping cool. Insulation is as way of regulating temperature, not a way of keeping warm. By removing or clipping the fur, you you actually allow more heat to the body and therefore your not cooling them down at all, your making them warmer. Also Huskys are not the only ones that have fur of this nature. Cats also have fur that help them regulate body temperature during both hot and cold weather. Also, if it is sunny outside this is a massive reason not to clip a husky. Clipping them to keep them cool in this case is the equivelant of ensuring a child doesnt wear sunscreen because its an extra layer making them too warm. A huskies coat has excellent sun screening quailities that enable them to effectivly protect themselevs from the sun. Quote
Bec Posted March 17, 2009 Report Posted March 17, 2009 That's spot on, Marc. Most dog groomers here refuse to shave double coated breeds like huskies because shaving their coat off will make them lose their ability to control their body temperature. And of course you will lose all the benefits that the guard hairs have, from helping keep the dog clean to protecting them from the sun. Quote
raindog Posted March 17, 2009 Report Posted March 17, 2009 Just to add to what everyone else has said. Never, never, ever shave or clip your huskies. The coat acts as very efficient insulation against both heat and cold. Without that insulation, the dogs is extremely vulnerable to heat exhaustion. Very few people who run their dogs in harness run them throughout the summer. All the race organisations start their programme in Autumn and finish in Spring - even then, I believe that most of the race organisations will cancel a race if the temperature is too high. We try to run our dogs once a week during summer, but usually at about 4am when it is cool enough - even then it is often too warm so we give it a miss. Heat exhaustion is a major problem and one of the most common causes is over-exertion in hot conditions. Once a dog has suffered from it, the dog's threshold is lowered and it becomes much more likely to suffer from it in the future. Shaving/clipping a husky will make it more, not less likely to suffer heat exhaustion and possible fatal heat stroke. Mick Quote
siberian_wolf Posted March 17, 2009 Report Posted March 17, 2009 very good advise on here I had someone suggest to me about clipping Gizmo when he had that "hot" spell (not that it lasted long or was really hot, lol) and personally I wouldnt get it done and after reading this I definately wouldnt and glad I said I wouldnt! Ive never seen or heard of clipped/shaved sibe unless it was necessary (i.e. matted coat, skin condition, etc) plus I think it ruins the sibe look aswell. Quote
Redtress Posted March 17, 2009 Author Report Posted March 17, 2009 Thanks for all the input and advice. Bear will be staying hairy.....I will just have to start bagging up the hair and sending it to the group to make socks and stuff. Quote
Mistyrayn Posted March 17, 2009 Report Posted March 17, 2009 Hi Richard Dogs don't actually sweat - panting is their way of releasing heat from their body. Living in a sub tropical climate where it is pretty much hot all year round, I can tell you that shaving or clipping a husky will actually make it harder for them to control their body temperature. A husky's double coat works like insulation, it keeps them warm in winter and cool in summer. By clipping off or shaving their coat, they will lose their only ability to control their body temperature. Despite popular belief, huskies actually do well in warmer weather because of their double coat. My beagle is short coated and actually suffers more in summer than my husky does. Any dog gets hot when they are run so you need to have common sense when you take them out - make sure it is not the middle of the day, go either early morning, late evening/night time, make sure you keep them hydrated and give them a break if necessary. And if you want a running or jogging companion to work them up to the bigger runs gradually. You also don't want to do anything that will remove their guard hairs, as this keeps their coat clean and protects them from the sun. Hope this helps hi smeagle .. thank you for this post.... Quote
Redtress Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Posted March 24, 2009 woohoo! Got our coolaroo bed this weekend. Now just have to convince Bear that he used to like the one he had at the shelter... Any advice or tips on getting him used to the bed.... Quote
MyMukki Posted March 24, 2009 Report Posted March 24, 2009 nope, the beds came natural to them LOL ours are placed in the corners of a second story screen room they love the breezes and Mukki likes to survey his domain Last summer I brought the beds inside and put them in front of a window and on top of an air conditioning vent -took them no time at all to realize it was a perfect summer retreat. I guess I need two more this summer... what size did you get? Quote
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