I have owned a grooming shop and have clipped several of my old collies and Berners. They love it. They do feel cooler. It is easy to tell by their behavior that they feel better. Until you actually do it, I can understand the arguments against it. However, I've seen older dogs with heavy coats that could barely walk in the hot summer. They lie around miserable. One quick summer clip and they seem Years younger instantly. It does not do anything different to a dog than it does to a human and don't we feel cooler in the summer when we cut our hair? It will grow back. My veteran, Ch Dabrak Classique Dancer was fully clipped the summer before her appearance at the Nationals in Rhode Island and did very well there. She was clipped at the beginning every summer, in fact. She carried a tremendously thick and long coat. Once clipped, she could go swimming all the time without the worry of hot spots and loved it. I currently have three that are clipped. I use several lengths. I like the 7F blade the best - it makes them look like a Greater Swiss. If you want it longer, you can use a comb attachment over the clipper blade or have your groomer scissor the coat instead of using a clippers. A good groomer can do just about anything you like but do use a "good and experienced" groomer as I've seen many dogs abused at bad grooming shops.
For those of you that use the argument that the coat is natural for Berners, I respectfully disagree and don't believe it is. If this breed were left to breed in the wild, the coat would lighten in color and density very quickly. This coat is man made for cold weather, not produced by nature. If anyone would like a photo of one of my dogs that I recently clipped, just email me and I'll email one back to you. Flames happily deleted, Dawn Gabig, Classique Berners, Kansas City USA Our Website: http://ClassiqueBMD.homestead.com FREE Graphics: http://ClassiqueBMDs.homestead.com/graphics.html Heartland Club Website: http://www.hbmdc.org/
