Shaved to the cotton

Dodger, our youngest dog, is a beagle-shepherd mix. His coat is the gift of his shepherd parent, and is often an exercise in frustration: more for us than for him, because he sheds like crazy, and pieces of his cottony undercoat seem to eject themselves from his hindquarters like fireworks, especially during the shedding season. But his coat also makes him very hot in the summer.

Two years ago, he had a flea problem - it was his first time ever to have fleas, and it was because we had moved to the new house and the cats in the yard pick up fleas every year, and some of them were winding up on the dogs. Dodger was affected the worst by the fleas, and we wanted to drown them all as we bathed him, so we shaved him first.

What a funny thing that turned out to be.

His undercoat really was like cotton...short, fluffy, soft, and much, much lighter than his regular coat. His regular coat is like a shepherd's - long, somewhat bristly, and multi-colored - and lighter at the base than at the tip.

So we decided that this summer, we would document the shaving for you so that you could enjoy the results, too!

So, here's the "before" shot:


And here's the "after" - note the color change here, and notice that he doesn't have quite the "lion head" that he does when he has full fur:


It doesn't take long before the new coat starts growing in, and he begins getting a black hue over the top of his golden brown coat.

By the way, he doesn't get fleas anymore because after that first shaving, he was put on Advantage flea + tick treatment during the flea season. But he still appreciates a lighter coat in summer. Well, he doesn't appreciate it much as we do it...but he appreciates it later (we hope).