Be on the lookout for the potential side effects of shaving. Labradors naturally have a soft and thick inner coat, but once it is shaved and grows back, the undercoat is rougher, heavier, and prickly.
So, instead of those soft short hairs that have kept your Lab insulated during winter and summer, the new harsher hairs will only irritate their skin. Also, whenever you shave your dog, the undercoat will start to grow immediately, but the outer layer grows much slower.
The new coat usually ends up being unruly and more susceptible to attracting dirt and debris. Since dogs have more sensitive skin than people, shaving your Lab puts it at a high risk of getting sunburns and hot spots the first time it goes out in the sun. Without the coat and the protection it offers against UV light, your pooch is also at risk of getting skin cancer. Furthermore, consider dressing your dog in a t-shirt that will offer some sort of protection, and also use dog sunscreen to prevent sunburns and other more serious problems.
In this case, shaving a lab to reduce shedding might seem like the best and the only way to deal with pet allergies. Pet dander is, in fact, small specks of skin that your dog sheds, whether they have a coat or not.
In fact, shaving your dog increases your contact with dander, since now no fur can trap it and keep it from becoming airborne. If after shaving your Lab your allergy seems way worse than before, know that this is a common side effect of shaving a dog. Truth be told, hair regrowth is rarely pleasant for both people and dogs and can make your Lab extremely uncomfortable. While the new coat is growing out, the hairs will be harsh, prickly, and make your dog itchy.
Itching and scratching go hand in hand, and your dog might inflict painful self-injuries by scratching their sensitive skin. If this happens, your pooch might even transfer bacteria from their paws to their skin and end up with a skin infection.
Furthermore, the new coarse and prickly hairs will probably scratch you whenever you try to pet or cuddle your pooch. If you carefully observe a recently shaved Labrador retriever, you will quickly spot the negative effects of shaving. Due to the lack of coat and the protection it offers, your Lab will become more sensitive to heat, cold, humidity, and wind.
The thing most owners realize too late is that shaving makes their dogs more vulnerable to weather conditions, not the other way around. The main reason your Lab becomes sensitive is that they no longer have the undercoat to keep them insulated and help regulate their body temperature. Furthermore, the undercoat has been insulating your dog from birth, and your Lab has gotten used to this function.
So when their coat is shaved, everything changes and your dog no longer has that basic level of insulation. There is also a chance that once you shave your dog, the quality of the new coat will not be as good at keeping them insulated. If this happens, you will notice that your Lab is panting more heavily on hot summer days. The inner coat, or the undercoat will get thinner as the months become warmer.
The outercoat also gets thinner during the summer months and it will get thicker as it gets cooler outside. Shaving can also cause spots to form on the coat and it can be painful for your Lab when the hair starts to grow back. This means that their hair will less likely get tangled or really long and this means that they do not need to have a haircut on a weekly or even monthly schedule. Since your Lab has a dual coat, it is important to really, really brush their fur, getting down deep to the inner layer of fur so that their coat stays healthy.
Since your Labrador does not really need much in terms of haircuts, there are other things that you can do to help make sure that your Labrador Retriever is healthy and clean. Some of these include:. If you walk your dog over a surface in your home or outside that is hard and you hear nails making a clicking noise, then this is a good sign that your Labrador Retriever needs their nails clipped. Since Labrador Retrievers are so active, it is important to make sure that they have healthy nail care and if their nails get too long then they can get hung up or torn which is painful for your Labrador Retriever.
If you see that your dog is acting weird about walking or limping, take your dog to the vet and let them check to see if your dog has a nail injury. Make sure that you wipe the outside of the ear and that you lift all of the ear flaps to make sure that all of the areas are clean. Use a cotton ball or a washcloth with warm water. If you notice that your dog is pulling at the ear or rubbing their ear on the sofa or the carpet, take your Lab to the vet and let them check to make sure that your dog does not have an ear infection.
Most of the time, bathing will be an exciting time for your Labrador Retriever because they are a breed that loves to swim. Make sure that you take the time once or twice a month to really give them a good bath. Try not to bath them too often because it can cause the oils to leave their coat and make their skin irritated.
Neither is true. It could also make them uncomfortable. So, the only way to truly curb shedding is frequent grooming. Fur certainly does grow back, but the in-between can greatly irritate your pet. Labradors are notorious for being shaved, and many pet owners will passionately defend their right to shave their labs.
However, the fur of any animal is an extension of their skin. It is an essential mechanism of protection from external factors such as the weather. Though Labs shed all year long, their fur will completely blow out twice a year. When Labradors blow their coats, they transition from a thick winter coat to a lighter undercoat meant to keep them cool in the heat. Conversely, in the fall, leading up to the winter, their undercoat blows out once more to make way for a warmer undercoat.
Like a host of other double-coat dog breeds , Labradors have two layers of fur or hair. The primary, top layer known as a top coat is more wiry and rough or abrasive to the touch. Under this second, softer undercoat, there is a layer of fine hairs that run very close to the skin. The undercoat provides a fantastic summer cooling mechanism and winter insulation.
In essence, the undercoat is protection, and when you shave your Lab, you strip them of this vital protection. Image Source. Each hair follicle is attached to a muscle known as erector pili, which raises and lowers the hair in an ingenious natural ventilation system. Worse still, you could risk pulling back the follicle and opening it up to exposure through shaving. This is a prime gateway for bacteria or fungus to slip inside the skin.
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