I have a lurcher he is longhaird,  He is in the house when we are in but when we go out and at night he goes in his kennel,  Its very warm and cosy he has 2 blankets and we also have a car port over the yard.  Its been a few months since he was last at the groomers, i brush him everyday.  Should I take him to the groomers or should I leave his coat long for the winter.  (I have never owned a long haird dog before)  Thank you

Personally i would leave his coat for the winter, as their natural coat is able to maintain a good body temperature no matter what the weather.

I would leave his coat long as it will help to keep him warm. The weather men are saying the weather is going to be really bad over Friday and the weekend, so it would probably be unfair on him to clip him now. I have a spaniel with a thick woolly coat and he gets cold easily, so I leave his coat alone during the winter months then clip him off in the late spring.

They say it will be -10!! YIKES. 

I hope he will be warm enough, we have baught him a quilted kennel coat made by weatherbeeta, its waterproof too.

Perhaps you should consider bringing him indoors during the particularly cold spells??

I have been considering this, but I am worried incase it might confuse him, at the moment he knows when it is bedtime, if I allow him to stay in a few night will he not expect this all the time?

His kennel is extremly good quality and cost a fortune it is waterproof and draftproof, and as I have said before we also have a carport which keeps the yard dry,  I could let him stay in the porch and just hope he does not chew anything,  I have caught him trying to chew the odd thing when my back is turned.

I do see what you mean.

Noononono!

Dont clip, never clip! There are very few dogs for whom clipping is beneficial. and lurchers and spaniels are NOT these dogs!

Depending on the coat of the lurcher, you could try in summer, hand stripping him which will remove the dead coat and thin it out, along wtih thorough grooming to remove dead undercoat.

Stick to thorough grooming wtih the appropriate tools (which is generally NOT those double sided brushes, pins on one side, bristle on the other), and his coat will keep him warm in winter and protect him from heat in summer.

Clipping longhaired dogs and wirehaired dogs means several things happen and none of them are going to benefit the dog.
It softens the coat, meaning its not waterproof
It DOESNT thin the coat out at all, so the 'cooling' benefits are minimal unless you sh ave the dog bald.
It means the guard hairs and undercoat are the same length which in addition to the softened coat will mean the dog is MUCH more likely to get tangles and knots.
Fluffy soft coats go woolly and pick up much more dirt and don shed it as the dirt dries out.
Clipping combined iwth no proper brushing results in the skin not being able to breathe and can lead to nasty skin problems.
In summer, close clipped long haired dogs will often suffer the heat MORE as there is no fur to trap layers of cooler air next to the skin, and they have also lost the protection from sunburn.

And finally, its more expensive to clip than it is to learn to strip your dog, very few breeds CANT be stripped and it doesnt take long to learn and even MONGRELS like mine can and are handstripped!

Em

Thank you Em

What kind off brush should I be using on him and how often should I brush him,  were can I learn to strip.  He is longhaired but its not wirey its soft, sorry not very good description, He is a saluki X, he appears to have a saluki kind of coat, both his parent were saluki/lurcher.  I have never owned a lurcher before, so not sure about how to treat his coat, also how often should he be bathed. Thanks again

sheli

If it's a Saluki type coat I can't see that it would even need clipping   I had a part Afghan with the full Afghan coat and never was tempted to clip or cut ;)  it was hard work bathing him but grooming was easy enough, a quick run through with a comb every day  before going out the door (esp. under the legs and tail and behind the ears) and half an hours thorough brushing and combing every sunday was enough to keep him in lovely condition.  Bathing was a challenge as it took longer to wet the coat than to wash it :D but drying with a hairdryer was quite quick :D  He never suffered with the heat, even when it topped 100f and cold didn't bother him much either :)  You might be pleasantly surprised if you leave the coat natural for a while and just groom regularly :D

Grooming equipment needs to do a number of things. Remove any undercoat (and my saluki x has a LOT of that considering how short her coat actually is), stimulate the skin, remove dead skin cells, sort out tangles and spread natural oils through the coat, and  remove dried mud etc.

What you use depends on the coat, on my saluki x, very very short fur but very smoooooooth, i use a very fine comb which gets out loads of fluff, and a rubber mitt and sometimes (if the puppy hasnt eaten it) a bristle brush.

For my fluffy/wire haired beddy x i use a comb for his fringey ears and beardy face and a slicker for mostly everywhere else and finish off with a bristle brush.

Ditto for the wire haired staffie x, but he also gets hand stripped (supposedly every couple of months but more like when i remember/he starts to look like a pair of eyes in a horsehair cushion).

Im not sure what kind of coat your dog has but id hazard a guess at it being quite fine and silky whatever the length.

In which case definately do NOT clip it!

Use a fine comb or a slicker (some dogs dont like them though they are VERY scratchy and also a silly shape if you ahe a dog thats all bony angles), to get any tangles out, and pull out dead undercoat. This stimulates the skin as well, giving better circulation and thus better hair growth. A very stiff bristle brush will spread natural oils arond the coat but you DO need to make sure with these that its actually getting down to the skin (on a dog with a coat like a samoyed, that would be nigh on impossible).
Finish off with a rubber mitt.

As for bathing, dont! Unless your dog has rolled in something SERIOUSLY stinky, ie fox poo or a dead thing (and these are teh only things that usually cause my dogs to be bathed), bathing dogs achieves nothing of benefit to the dog. If your dog spends any length of time outdoors bathing is definately out, it fluffs the coat, dries the skin, removse the natural oils.
If your dog smells 'doggy' look to the diet, not bathing the dog!

If you absolutely MUST bath the dog (ie its head to toe black mud, and my saluki will do taht despite her advancing years), then shower off with lukewarm plain water, nothing else!

HTH

Em