HISTORY: I am the owner of a three year old blue cocker bitch who has had to be spayed. As expected her coat has of course changed however I was assured by my specialist groomer that she would maintain the look of the cocker and not clip her; keeping the back long but thinned. This was fine until the last occassion when collected she had been clipped all over. Obviously I am devastated, although knowing that she would never retain her pre-spayed coat I had hoped to maintain a cocker 'look'.

Question: Now that she has been clipped will it ever be possible to let the coat grow and maintain an original cocker 'look' or will she now have to continue to be clipped for life?

Your best advice would be very much apprecaited. I am located in the Wets London/Surrey area.

Thank you.

Hi,
I'm sure someone here will be able to advise as to whether you can get her coat better again, but I hope you didn't have to pay to have her coat spoilt? I would be livid if someone did that to my dog.

Hi Guest

I breed Cockers & am also a groomer, specialising in Cockers naturally :-) Sometimes it is possible to keep a spayed bitch's coat reasonably tidy without resorting to clippers (using thinning scissors & tools like the Coat King) but not always - it depends entirely on how thick the coat becomes. I clip many neutered Cockers but they always finish up still looking like Cockers - the back coat is clipped but not too short & leg & tummy feathering is retained, although not to the length of a show Cocker obviously :-) It is perfectly possible to clip a spayed Cocker & have a smart, tidy dog at the end of it that doesn't look like a shorn lamb so clipping per se isn't a bad thing - it's how it's done that's important. Having said that, if you specifically asked your groomer not to clip your dog, then she should not have done so without your permission - she should have rung you first to explain why she was unable to trim your Cocker without clipping. As to whether you would be able to have her trimmed without clipping in the future, that depends on how the hair regrows -you may find that the clipping will make the hair grow back even thicker than it was before.

HTH

Jane

Hi Guest,

I have been told by many that you cannot strip a dog after it has been clipped, it must always be clipped thereafter, HOWEVER, in my experience this is not neccesarily the case, but you must be prepared to allow the clipped coat to grow, stripping it out on a regular basis and it may take up to six months for the clipped coat to be replaced by new. This would be a lot of work and you may feel that it is not worth the effort. I groom a neutered Sheltie and when he first came to me his coat was in an appalling state as it no longer drops out naturally, using a coat king I am able to strip him out so that he looks like a Sheltie should, this tool takes out a lot of the "fluffy" coat leaving the harder top coat intact and it can be used on the feathering too. This work takes hours and at the end I have a carrier bag full of fur bigger than the dog!!

Perhaps you could find someone in your area who breeds and grooms spaniels? You would probably find that your cocker would be groomed in a more appropriate way and the coat easier to care for.