One of the major things that many dog owners forget about with their dogs (besides walking them regularly) is their grooming condition.

I know a lot of owners that take their dogs out as a celebration (instead of every day) and get their dogs clipped once or twice a year), instead of once every couple of months. AND YES in particularly that includes winter.

The two main reasons why people keep their dogs coats long (when they have a dog that has hair that continually grows). are:

1              It looks nice, or they think that is how the breed is supposed to look.

2              COST and effort.

BOTH of these reasons are actually neglectful of the dog in the extreme.

WHY you need to groom your dog regularly to reduce dog allergies

The answer is the counter argument to the two main reasons people give for keeping their dogs coat long.

Firstly it looks “cute” as in they can hang onto their dog looking like a “puppy” for longer. You know, before the dog had its first grooming shave. People who want their dogs to look like puppies forever are also likely to not discipline or exercise their dogs. They are not doing their dogs any favors.

Some people believe that a schnauzer without a beard is not a schnauzer. But unfortunately this was just a trend that was started hundreds of year ago, and should be out of fashion right now. How often do human dress trends change, yet people insist on keeping dog dress or coat trends the same forever?

Unless you have a show dog, and its a requirement to look a certain way, and you brush your dogs hair every day, then let go!

The reason that you should let go of this idea is that, long hair on a dog is anything but natural.

Dogs evolved from the wolf, and the wolf molts. It does not grow hair continuously. This was a genetic mutation that dog owners decided to breed into dogs – it was and is never natural. I love dogs with continually growing hair – but don’t use the argument that it should be long because it is natural !

The cost and effort argument speaks for itself. Don’t buy a dog that has permanently growing hair, unless you can afford to regularly groom it or you can be bothered grooming them yourself.