Originally Posted by gotap_d
You guys are missing the question here. Not asking why shave on show day but asking why during/for a keep.
Here is my guess before I head to bed,
When hosing him/her down after workouts(between sets or after hard sets) to cool down that's when the shaving helps more with cooling basically helps with KEEPS during hot weather. It can also be a method to seeing how the bulldog results are looking throughout his/her keep or 3/4 keep. The fur will regrow on show day. (Weigh daily of course and No shave for show)
About shaving for the show, if bulldog is shaved for show he/she will stay cooler but IF goes to scratching getting wash the furless will dry quicker than the one with fur thus by making the furless the less cooler one now. Cons on furless will have less armor. If no scratch, Pros he'll be the cooler one. Cons will be the same as having less armor no matter what.But to me shaving for show isn't needed and is not important in this case.
And yeah on show day some do it for cosmetic purposes not aware of the pros/cons, this we'll leave aside. Lol now let's dig deeper into shaving during keep.
Ok i totally missed what you were getting at. I have never heard of someone shaving during a keep. For the reasons that you presented it makes no sense to me at all to do it in the keep.
I agree with Gotap_d, never ever heard of shaving a dog for this reason at all. The shaving would be just before the contest for the reasons already stated.
Climate let's entertain your theory for just a moment as far as cooling in keep like you described. If your dog was use to being cooled that way all keep long then you changed at the end of the keep, wouldn't that defeat the purpose?
Furthermore it would be silly to make easier during keep what is going to be harder in a contest. JM2cents!
S_B
I would just like to add the logic behind your purposed method seems ass backwards to me.
I'll say in my simple terms why...look at boxers or MMA fighters, when they are going to fight in an environment different than where they live what do they do? They go to that environment to train so that their bodies and their conditioning can adjust. High altitudes for example would be detrimental to a fighter that trained in a low altitude gym.
So taking something away that you think makes training cooler or easier is no different in my mind.
S_B
S_B ty for your opinion.
Only the one who's done it knows. I know for a fact TCF does it for many reasons not only for cosmetic. He shave every single one he put in keep. (The Tcf keep)
So I'm trying to hear from ones that have done it or a logic behind it.
The Chosen Few shaved his dog, Tito Trinidad when he faced Ch Vengence (and he also came in a pound heavy).
It did not help TCF achieve his desired end, either in having a shaved dog, or in bringing the 2-lb bigger dog, to win the fight.
IMO, shaving dogs is one of those things "some people do" that has no bearing on anything.
In the end, some people do things that are effective; some things people do things that are a detriment; and some people do things which are ultimately ignorant superstitions that don't actually do a thing.
At best, shaving dogs would be categorized as the latter.
Jack
Arnt we trying to give small /minuscule edges to our dogs in keep and for show all the time? Even if it just makes U feel better in your head? lol.
Its not that black and white. Everyone understands that it doesnt prevent a dog from running hot at all.
Lol, superstition does make people feel better (I know, I have OCD)
Honestly though, I would think shaving a dog would make its skin more sensitive/vulnerable.
The armor-factor would concern me more than "overheating" does.
If you breed long-winded dogs, you don't have to worry about it when things go awhile
As far as the "weight" goes, I didn't say anything before, but there is NO WAY that "dog hair" weighs half-a-pound
It very likely weighs less than an ounce ...
Jack
IMHO it’s a waste of time.
I have seen it done, it’s like most things in keep, and you want to establish and maintain consistency. If you are going to shave him/her the day of the race, it makes since to do it through the keep. So you know if you are shaving 3 ounces vs a half pound off the poor dog. I am pretty damn sure, you could shave a bulldog down from his head to his nuts and never get close to a half pound of one.
People develop their own methods and superstitions, some steeped in experince other in tradition. Six in one half dozen in the other, at the end of the day, I don’t think it hurts anything other than his pride.
I am just not going to look at my dog looking like he got ahold of my hair clippers. Really if it’s the very hair on his back that keeps him on the end of a chain, I am thinking I have bigger fish to fry.
Overheating is ALLWAYS a function of conditioning. It is going to happen; it is more of a function of when. Words to the wise athletes make a HARD distinction between “conditioning” and “training”….
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