shaving pups tails

[Rosiepug]

I know some shave the tails of very young puppies to make them curl tighter.

At what age do you do this?

Do you do it just once?

Do you shave the whole tail or just the root to midway section?

[Snifter]

Interesting.

I think the practice of shaving is frowned upon in the UK in some circles. Certainly there was a comment in the latest edition of The Pug Dog Club Bulletin over here to the effect that the practice of trimming "trousers" etc in the States is borne of the fact that the coat is being allowed to become too long (at least so far as the UK Breed Standard is concerned).

[Bethy]

I don't shave tails at all. Mine just get their tails shaped with thinning shears, which also makes the tail tighter........As for trimming the trousers, I do that with thinning shears, also, as I like a neater look. It also makes the dog look shorter, when you trim the excess hair up on the back of the back legs. it doesn't have anything to do with length of the overall coat of the dog. Our coats here, are no longer than the dogs overseas.

Just look at the coat on Noodles, in my avatar. She has not been trimmed.............

[shaynapug]

I have shaved a pups tail at about 8 wks.......then just trim after it grows in nicely. .Am trimming less and less....Ronda learned to trim from Barry Clothier.....and she's teaching me. I used to trim a lot more!

[Rosiepug]

Interesting.

I think the practice of shaving is frowned upon in the UK in some circles. Certainly there was a comment in the latest edition of The Pug Dog Club Bulletin over here to the effect that the practice of trimming "trousers" etc in the States is borne of the fact that the coat is being allowed to become too long (at least so far as the UK Breed Standard is concerned).

Most European lines these days are based upon American and South American lines.

Unfortunately the very fear of producing a long coat or plush coat or more bone is what is holding the Brits back from mixing with foreign lines. By keeping to only british stock, health problems raise their ugly head. Someone needs to be brave and outcross.

Europeans on the other hand like American pugs but fear too much coat but it all depends on the line you choose. They don't like the British pugs, they used to think they were the best in the world but because the gene pool is so small, it is creating faults and many dogs are now smutty and have too fine legs and males have feminine heads compared to Europe and America. All this is obviously generalization. Just what I've been hearing on my travels from some of the most successful show people and breeders. Also and this is my .02, more often than not, it's UK Judges, judging UK dogs. The UKKC does have an agreement now to use some Swedish Judges but when that happened at Crufts last year, she obviously recognized some european stock and they were winning prizes, so I don't know how well that went down. From people I've spoken to in England, they seem to turn up their nose to stock other than british and they don't like our showing style either i.e. we run if necessary with the dogs to show off their pace.

What the European Judges tell me and I've spoken to many over the last month, they like elegant pugs, yes that's what they said ELEGANT!!!
They like all the normal attributes good head, nice expression, feminine if female and macho if male. Good top line and angulation etc but they also want a neck, without one you're building tanks, which they don't like... and they like good movement, long fluid strides (which may mean you have to run a bit to show that off... which the brits don't like) They don't like short steps which may be the Brits do because at their shows the pugs waddle along slowly compared to europe.

So you see how subjective it all is. Really it's down to the Brits have one style and Europe and US have another but I do think the brits need to out cross to foreign lines in order to save their own lines.

...and back on topic, I've remembered who shaves puppy dog tails

[Angus2009]

Unfortunately the very fear of producing a long coat or plush coat or more bone is what is holding the Brits back from mixing with foreign lines. By keeping to only british stock, health problems raise their ugly head. Someone needs to be brave and outcross.

I have to disagree with that comment, i know alot of breeders in the UK use alot of American lines and European!

Angus is mainly American lines, maybe thats were his big bhushy tail comes from?!

[shaynapug]

LOL....Ben's tail is his main fault. Not a tight curl.....and it was very thin. It's getting fuller now and looking so much better!!

I don't know about lines in the UK.....do know that there are a lot of breeders here that sell to Europe...and I think the UK.

Jacqueline, Sounds like they'd love Ben there!! I get so many compliments from Judges on his neck and his movement!!! Like I said.....only thing I'd really like to see improvement on is his tail......He has everything else!

[Rosiepug]

LOL....Ben's tail is his main fault. Not a tight curl.....and it was very thin. It's getting fuller now and looking so much better!!

I don't know about lines in the UK.....do know that there are a lot of breeders here that sell to Europe...and I think the UK.

Jacqueline, Sounds like they'd love Ben there!! I get so many compliments from Judges on his neck and his movement!!! Like I said.....only thing I'd really like to see improvement on is his tail......He has everything else!

I think they'd love him here too!!!

Send him too me!

[shaynapug]

:-)

He's MINE!!

He was bred.....am hoping it took!!!! We'll see!!!!

[whatapug]

Removed by myself