water loivng sheltie... with undercoat!

R

ruckusluvr

Forums Enthusiast
my shelties love the water. we go to the creek a few times a week, and the occasionally jump in the pond in the cow pasture. (i live on a farm)

I am worried, their undercoat seems to stay wet a long time after their topcoat is dry. i am worried that this will lead to hot spots.

should i be worried about undercoat staying damp? my dogs have no skin problems, and their coat does not seem to get soured.

i know i am not supposed to shave a sheltie, but i am considering it... since they are staying wet, and keeping burrs in there fur.
 
I wouldn't shave them. The two coats are there to protect them, cool them when it's hot and protect them from the elements. they could get sunburned also I don't think on the farm you would have time to keep applying sunscreen
before they go out,after they swim, and every couple hours. Try just giving them a good brushing to get that undercoat out. My 2 dogs have blown their coats in the last couple weeks as have many others on the forum.So maybe if you just get some of the loose hair out they will dry more quickly.
 
Everyone here on the forum will vouch for my water loving sheltie.

He jumps out of the canoe into 15 feet of water. He plays constantly in the Black Swamp of Sucking Death and then there is Alden Brook which is fast flowing which is another of his favorites. This is daily with me. Wet, icky, smelly sheltie dog. This is why (partly) we call him the Mess Maker.

I brush McKinley every day. His coat has really gotten thin this summer. Not sickly, mind you. There is almost no undercoat left in him at all. It has all come out. He is still pretty though. I will try and get a picture posted later tonight of him today.

My best advice is brush, brush, brush, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum (the floor not him!) and then comb, comb, comb out that undercoat. I am thinking that the water is what is making so much of MMM's undercoat come out.

Personally, I do not like the look of a shaved sheltie and I don't think it is necessary and it takes a long time to grow back in.
 
I have no tips for water loving shelties but my pup got neutered and they shaved an area on his front paw to put in the IV. It's been 2 weeks but there has been very little hair growth on his front paw where it was shaved, you can still see bare skin, What's grown back so far looks like less hair than I have on my face the day after I shave.

Just to give you some perspective on how long it'll take to grow back.
 
actually i groom dogs. here lots of people shave their shelties. :eek2: its ugly. i try to talk them out of it. and it usually takes about 8 months for them to get back to normal.

but i guess i can see why people might want them shaved. since mine stay wet with burrs! :biggrin2:
 
Mine have their pool time every day...in fact today I tried to forgo pool time but at 4pm Noah called it to my attention that he missed pool time today as I heard a ruckus and turned around to see what it was it was Noah in his pool mind you with no water just standing there looking like uhhhh mom you forgot something:lol: So I had to drag the pool and him in the pool over to the hose to fill it up as he refused to move!!!

But as far as the undercoat it should be working its way out any day now...Noah lost about 75% of his within the last 2 weeks...finally. Just keep raking and when you think your done rake some more:wink2:
 
Lightplum said:
Mine have their pool time every day...in fact today I tried to forgo pool time but at 4pm Noah called it to my attention that he missed pool time today as I heard a ruckus and turned around to see what it was it was Noah in his pool mind you with no water just standing there looking like uhhhh mom you forgot something:lol: So I had to drag the pool and him in the pool over to the hose to fill it up as he refused to move!!!

But as far as the undercoat it should be working its way out any day now...Noah lost about 75% of his within the last 2 weeks...finally. Just keep raking and when you think your done rake some more:wink2:
Click to expand...

Noah, you are too funny!
 
could you believe that Ruckus is actually getting his winter coat. its thicker and his shedding is pretty minimal. he blew his coat right before spring.

poor dog doesnt know what his fur is suppose to be doing! LOL :biggrin2:

but lynn does not have any undercoat anywhere but her pants.
 
Deska often grows in undercoat during summer - and then drops it again, Ruckus is probably just having a trial run.

With potential hot spots. Dont put a collar on them while they are still damp as this seems to be a common place for a hot spot after swimming. Fluff them up as much as you can so the air can circulate through their coats as they dry. I doubt cutting their coats will help with hot spots as hot spots seem to be more common in short coated dogs (maybe because its harder for the air to circulate under their coats to dry).
 
Sadie has been swimming daily for the past 3 weeks to rehab her back legs. As a result, she has almost no undercoat left. Her fur still looks beautiful, but almost all of her undercoat is gone.

My advice would be to brush him after every swim and towel dry him. Its likely he'll start losing under coat if he's in the water a lot too, then he won't be staying wet for hours any more.

Sadie was staying wet for half the day after a swim, now its only an hour or two.
 
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