Length of hair?

Hi!
My husband thinks Molly needs a haircut and a grooming. From time to time we have cut some ourselves, but he thinks that she needs a professional. She is now 1½ years old, and I love her hair - even though we have to comb out the tangles. I am putting my foot down here - I don't want it to be cut short, after I have read all your horrid stories.
But - what is too short? Any standard lengths? Photos migth convince my husband We are not going to do shows with Molly, she is merely good company - so are the standards any different there?

Hmmm, do you have any up to date pics of her by any chance??

Well the actual breed standard is never to cut. Some people have groomers thin out heavy coated dogs or like a 'sanitary trim' to take a bit of hair off their behinds and back legs so they don;t drag in urine or get poops stuck in them -- though that said, I have never had one of these on any of the four dogs, and while I do trim back hind leg hair on the girls as otherwise they drag in urine, they never get poops dried right around their anal area -- the area trimmed away for sanitary cuts -- so I have my doubts that trimming that particular area does much of anything for many, maybe most dogs. Maybe others have far hairier dogs, but they never did this type of trim on our pyrenees either and she had a lot more hair in that area than a cavalier! :lol:

Cutting anything on the body runs the risk of the dreaded shave... and I also don't like those cuts where groomers leave a little thin curtain at the dog's sides to pretend like there's more hair than there really is, kind of a modified cocker cut; it makes me think of a combover. I hate those short puppy ear cuts. Darn it, I just hate cuts! If you are doing the brushing and combing, then why not keep your foot down, and leave Molly as is? Better yet, just tell him she went in for a light trim and to be thinned but really do nothing, and he'll probably comment that she looks much better than before. :lol:

It really does depend on the amount of hair. My Holly has an unbelievable amount of fur - if she's not kept with a sanitary clip she does end up with the dried poop problem Karlin describes, although I'm tempted to also think that an occassional tendency to softish poops may also be responsible for that. Amber has a much lighter coat and I've never noticed it happening with her.

I get Chocolate groomed because her hair grows so long I feel it is unmanageable. Honestly I think her hair could grow indefinitely! We take her to her breeder for grooming, and we've never been disappointed with the results.:flwr:

Daisy's got hugely long hair and I love it! Her feathers on her chest (right behind her front legs) almost touch the floor when she stands, and her feathers on her legs are about 6 inches long. I'd never cut it because every time I look at how pretty she is, I smile. She's my little glamour girl. I know some other people (my dh included) think her hair's too long, though. A lady with a very young Cavalier at the puppy class that meets at the same time as our Obedience II class said "Is my dog going to have that much hair?!" I laughed and took it as a compliment, but I'm not sure she intended it that way. I like Daisy's hair long because I think it makes her look like a show dog. Plus, her hair is so silky and soft that I just love it.

I brush her almost every day and it literally takes about 3 minutes to brush her pretty thoroughly. The only place she ever really tangles is on the back part of her ears and when I use a harness, right on the lower part of her chest where the harness rubs.

Does anyone else have problems with their boys peeing on their front leg feathers? Now that Miles' coat is really starting to come in, I've started to notice this...I don't want to trim them...any suggestions? He does lift his leg, but it just hits his front legs

Hi again.
Thanks for the advice - I passed them on to my husband. He is not convinced, but I will get there
I don't have any recent photos where you can see the entire fur, she is either lying or sitting down, but she is not extremely hairy. The hair on her legs is about 5 cm long, her tail about 10 cm. She is now 1½ years old, so it will probably grow longer.
We tend to trim her at the bottom, so nothing is stuck there, and then we have trimmed her tail her just a bit, so it was more straight. I will try convince my husband to let it stay that way!

I would say do what you want. It's not up to your husband surely. I wouldnt do what my husband tells me although i love him to bits!!!!!!

Pippin has quite long hair but he is small and it makes him look so cute.I did have to trim his bottom area a couple of times because of soft poops..but other than that I just brush him every day.The hair on his chest/side and back legs just about reaches the ground so in autumn he hoovers the street while on walks and brings home an assortment of leaves and stuff..! it looks very funny and makes us laugh,then we have to clean it all off,but I wouldn't have it any other way he is just too cute.
Gus has average length hair,I'm waiting to see with DJ as he looks like Gus now regarding hair length but he had been groomed a bit and now the hair is growing long again he may be more like Pippin.

grooming

Hi

my eldest cavalier has to be clipped unfortunately - when I got him from rescue he had been cut so that he didnt actually look like he had any hair - just a big fat pink body (he weighed 20 kilos). When his hair then grew it was long and wild and went in all directions and because he has so much loose skin now from losing weight everything dragged on the floor too much. So he does have to be clipped now to stay looking nice - I do keep the ears and feathers pretty in my eyes but it is probably a look that Karlin wouldnt like!!

My two new additions have never been clipped and I intend to keep them that way - pretty and natural!

Maxine