# Whiskers?



## outwest (May 1, 2011)

My goodness, does she not know anything about poodles?! You have to trim their faces and their bodies, even if a little. I suppose you could leave him with a mustache, that is cute, but her comment was pretty odd when you consider your dog is a poodle.

I hope she isn't one of the rough trainers used to working with dogs that need a very firm hand. Your boy is gentle and needs a gentle touch. 

A dog is not a cat. Cutting off a cats whiskers is cruel because they use them so much. A dog doesn't need his whiskers like a cat does.


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## FunkyPuppy (Jan 27, 2011)

Has the trainer NEVER seen a poodle with a clean face?? I challenge her to shave a poodle face and leave the whiskers. No offense, but if a supposed professional trainer has never met a poodle with a shaved face i would seriously doubt her experience.


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## lavillerose (Feb 16, 2011)

Oh, lord. That's honestly not a good sign in a dog trainer, if they don't know that dog grooming entails cutting whiskers on a just about any breed with hair on its face.

Dogs are diurnal. Their most important senses are 1) smell, 2) hearing, 3) sight, 4) taste, 5) touch. In that order. Whiskers fall into the fifth category. Cats are metaturnal, active both in day and night time. Their whiskers are far more sensitive and important for the ability to move around in pitch black. A cat's whiskers grow specifically as long as their body is wide, so they can tell if they can fit through a opening or not. Could you imagine if a dog's whiskers grew that long? They don't, because a dog is unlikely to be feeling it's way around tight spaces in pitch darkness. They'd rather be sleeping.

Whiskers aren't very important to dogs. Dogs "need" their whiskers just about as much as they "need" dewclaws. They serve a small, occasional, but not vital purpose. Also it does not physically hurt the dog to have them cut because they are attached to far fewer nerve endings than on a cat. Every single dog would be wriggly about having their face trimmed if that was the case. It's also completely impossible to "shave around" the whiskers. You wouldn't believe how many people I've had ask me to do this. It simply can't be done.

Tell that to your trainer, and if she doubts it, don't be afraid to tell her she needs to read up.


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## FunkyPuppy (Jan 27, 2011)

Print out Lavillerose's post and hand it to your trainer at the end of your next class. Jeez, I'm embarrassed for her and would have laughed in her face at such a rude, ignorant comment. Sorry you were called out in front of your classmates in such a way. You're a great poodle mama for having a well-groomed puppy, that alone speaks volumes.


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## LEUllman (Feb 1, 2010)

I actually started a thread about whiskers a while ago, after I made a fool of myself when I asked what this "weird, thick black hair" was on Beau's cheek after a groom. Beau is my first ever dog, and he's always had a shaved face since I've known him. How was I supposed to know that poodles have whiskers! 

Anyway, it made me wonder about what the effect of cutting them off might be, so I did a little research. The most interesting thing I came up with was this article. Very informative, and food for thought. 

Whisker trimming in Show Dogs


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

LEUllman said:


> I actually started a thread about whiskers a while ago, after I made a fool of myself when I asked what this "weird, thick black hair" was on Beau's cheek after a groom. Beau is my first ever dog, and he's always had a shaved face since I've known him. How was I supposed to know that poodles have whiskers!
> 
> Anyway, it made me wonder about what the effect of cutting them off might be, so I did a little research. The most interesting thing I came up with was this article. Very informative, and food for thought.
> 
> Whisker trimming in Show Dogs


Very Interesting. 

How on earth, though, would you ever avoid clipping a poodle's whiskers? I wish the author would have discussed breeds that don't shed and therefore must be clipped, inevitably leading to whiskers being clipped!


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## McKay (Feb 19, 2011)

Thanks all! This is good information and I feel better prepared to have the conversation with my trainer. she is actually quite gentle and the class has been very helpful. she raises Australian Shepherds. she said that it used to be the norm to shave the their faces, but that has changed. at this point I will likely keep Andy's face clean shaven.


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## lavillerose (Feb 16, 2011)

I'm sorry, but point me to a show owner/handler who has never caused a dog minor pain by combing out a tangle, or trying to get those nails that much shorter, or in the case of poodles, razor burn from hurrying because they have five other dogs to prep (I've seen dogs go in the ring with obvious razor burn). Or God forbid, hand stripping a coarse haired breed. Some terriers absolutely hate it from start to finish, and they certainly let you know! You are basically ripping all their hair out by the root, after all. Did the author of the article think of that? I guess you could argue those people are in it for the supposed fame and glory of showing and not for the love of the breed, but I think many a terrier/dachshund/griffon person out there would loudly beg to differ.

I don't take whiskers off every pet I groom. I don't think most groomers do. But you can bet that where shaving the face is involved, the whiskers come off. And most of the dogs don't even notice. Now, we do not stick our fingers under and push the whisker out to take it right down to skin closer to those nerves either, so perhaps that is partially why it doesn't hurt, it still has some very slight length to pad the nerves. And of course, most of us groomers don't ever want to be the bad guy, but the fact is the a lot of dogs don't enjoy a lot of the stuff we do to them: plucking ear hair (show me a dog that likes that!), cutting nails, HV drying, dematting, etc. But they tolerate it, and it gets done, hopefully with a minimum of stress all around.

I can tell you though, I shave my mini's face with a #40 every two weeks (and I even take the whiskers off every week because the grow faster and get pokey). She doesn't even flinch, and never has since day one. And she's still a puppy. I seriously doubt I'm causing her a grave injury. I'd feel worse about quicking a nail.

And honestly, comparing dogs to cats and rats is not valid because they are completely different organisms. The only thing dogs and cats have in common is being classified in _Carnivora_ (and rats are even farther than that). Dogs have more in common with bears, weasels and even seals, than they do with cats or rats. You might as well compare cows to horses (and people do, even though their insides don't look or function anything alike). They are physiologically divided, similar only because they have a spine, have hair and walk on four legs. It irks the heck out of me that so many people don't even take Biology 101 into account, especially people who are supposedly college educated. Rats are not cats are not dogs are not people.

/vent


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## LEUllman (Feb 1, 2010)

As far as I'm concerned, it's an academic discussion. I love a shaved poodle face, and I have no intention of letting it go all doodlish just to let the whiskers grow. I basically agree with lavillerose -- heck, I _neutered_ my dog, didn't I? Still, based on the biology alone, to simply write off dog whiskers as some useless appendage seems disingenuous -- they are there for a reason. Now if my Beau did agility, I might be tempted to let them grow just to see what might occur . . . .


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## Underpants Gnome (Oct 12, 2009)

This is interesting information. I have had several people comment about my poodles whiskers being trimmed, as if I was a very bad person. I just told them they didn't understand how to care for poodles. Same with plucking ear hair.


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## lavillerose (Feb 16, 2011)

Yes, I do agree whiskers serve a purpose, nor do I discount their merit in tasks such as finding/hunting. I simply know by virtue of having lived with all three of these very different species and more, that it is not anywhere near as important to them. Nor do I believe cutting them is akin to amputating a limb, and I know it doesn't hurt either. Show dogs deal with having far bigger and more important body parts removed for the sake of appearance, cutting whiskers is the least of what they go through to look pretty.

People ask about cutting whiskers all the time in the groomshop. These are the arguments I reassure them with. But for someone who is in a position of expertise, like a trainer, to make a new owner feel like they've done something very wrong, I as a groomer take offense. Everyone is a first time owner at some point, and I believe the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. Industry professionals shouldn't make new owners feel stupid, especially over providing their puppy the appropriate care for it's breed type.


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## zyrcona (Jan 9, 2011)

The thing is, with a dog whose hair grows continuously, there is no way the dog would be able to use its whiskers at any rate if it was left in an unadulterated condition. The whiskers would be surrounded by the rest of the hair, and also matted and filthy from whatever the dog had been eating. So it wouldn't be able to feel anything with them.

And yes, that 'bear clip' does seem to be popular these days, but I think it's ugly and it makes the dog look unintelligent (no offence to anyone who likes it) and I just dislike hairy, dirty faces dripping water from the drinking bowl all over the carpet and my lap. And I don't want other people to think I subscribe to misinformed anti-snobbery and that my dog is an overpriced fad mongrel.

I know the OP said that the trainer was otherwise good, but this 'advice' sounds dogmatic and interfering. Good trainers should be helpful in a more respectful way.


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