My newfi has a very thick coat (even by newfi standards). He is suffering in the heat and I am trying all the usual ways of cooling him down. My vet has suggested that I allow her to clip his coat short. Her reasons for this are his health and well being. He already has short hair on one leg, half his chest and his tum (following his surgery), so I suppose it would allow his coat to grow togeather. I am unsure. He does have a beautiful coat but am I being selfish and not thinking of his comfort. She has booked him in for next wed. Help please, I am not sure what to do What does everybody else think? 

Have you tried stripping his undercoat out?  It's a big job but makes a difference.  You can get tools from PAH called de-matting tools, just a plastic handle with a row of 5 or 6 short curved bladeds that look like scalpels.  Just rake it through the coat small sections at a time and it will cut out the fluffy undercoat.  Be carefull not to overdo one spot as it will then start to cut the top coat.  Not sure if clipping will encourage the undercoat to grow back stronger but I'm sure some groomers will be along soon with some expert advice

Dogs hair is there to keep them warm and also to keep them cool, I dont think clipping it off will do him any good.  I think lunamoona's suggestions of raking out the undercoat may work though

Whatever you do, do not follow your vet's advice on this. The Newfie's coat is there for a purpose. Like many northern dogs, the coat serves the dual purpose of keeping them warm in winter (and, in Newfie's case - in the water) and cool in summer. We have seen cases in our breed (Siberian Huskies) where vets have offered similar advice with dreadful consequences for the dogs which have overheated badly and almost died as a result of the removal of their protective coat. In some cases the dogs have been left with a permanent susceptibility to heat exhaustion.

please dont shave it off....try a cooling blanket or just a swim every morning before it gets too hot. heat????? where on earth do you live??? he needs webbed feet to live here

As others have said "don't shave it off" your dog will be more uncomfy then.  It really annoys me when I see coated dogs shaved off in the summer and the owners say ooh it's to keep them cool and the poor little things are still panting away and look in distress.

As others have said the coat is there for a reason.

please dont shave it off....try a cooling blanket or just a swim every morning before it gets too hot. heat????? where on earth do you live??? he needs webbed feet to live here 

I know, I thought that they must live abroad but they don't they live here in the UK, it's not exactly boiling here this summer.

Thanks for your replies.
I live here, in tropical Norfolk
I already use a stripper on his undercoat and groom him everyday. I was not sure on the vet's advice so I thought I would ask the champdog community. You have confirmed what I thought and I will tell the vet that his coat will still firmly on his body where it belongs
Thank you for all your replies, I am getting on the phone now to cancel the appointment.
From a happy owner and relieved newfi X

Have you tried wetting him?

If he's really suffering, try wetting under his neck and belly and the insides of his thighs with a water spray.  As the water evaporates this will cool him and these areas are well supplied with blood vessels which will help cool him down
or maybe you could provide a paddling pool for him to lie in?  this would have the same effect but he'd get a lot wetter which may be a problem for you.

I'm going to differ from the others and this is based to our own experience with a different breed.

Our old Leo was MUCH cooler in her clipped summer coat than with her coat on!
So the coat keeping her cool definately did not work with her, maybe hers was not thick enough to keep her cool but thick enough to make her very warm...
She would be so much cooler and more lively/happy after her coat was clipped off and her panting would definately be a lot less when clipped.
We did not clip her because of not wanting to look after her lovely thick coat or anything.
To be honest the summers we clipped her I felt sad as I love crooming and love dogs to look nice and obviously full coat would be part of it but I could see the benefit for her so there were no question if I would have done it for her.

Main reason she was first clipped was because she could not swim in full coat and loved swimming!
She had immune problems and very sensitive skin and would get hotspots in the summer just from drinking and then getting the cheeks wet from sleeping on the water she dribbled on the ground! No matter how well we through blowed her dry, she would still get problems and at least with short coat the reddening of the skin got spotted and treated before full blown hotspots.
So one year we decided to clip and see if she could then swim more often and not get hotspot, meaning she could do what she loved doing and enjoy her life more...
Worked for us!

This is only our own experience with one dog and coat type, she was the only one we have ever clipped and she definately benefitted from it.
The clipping did not spoil her coat either, which is what some people say...
It grew back just like it had been before, every winter she would sport lovely thick wintercoat.
She did have quite fluffy coat (not correct kind in my opinion) even before clipping, hers was nearly like a coat of a spayed girl but due her other problems she stopped having seasons for few years so obviously her hormones were a mess...
So I don't know if it would have made a difference to other kind of coat and spoil it, to hers it made no difference at all.

ditto lunamoona or a stripping comb to thin it out, I don't suppose they had strip newfies? I wouldn't cut or shave it may go woolly like cockers do...
I have a border that sits in the shade and a cocker that sits in the sun!!

Ahhh... Noora... your dog didnt have a correct coat in the first place, so the coat wouldnt have functioned properly. A fluffy coat would trap water in it and make hot spots and wet excema worse so clipping was the right thing there.

On a healthy, correctly coated dog though, it is not the right thing and it will make the coat worse, a newfs coat ought to be quite oily and water resistant, if it were clipped that would change and the dog would probably rapidly become a canine sponge, not drip drying properly but staying wet for ages. Though might not be aproblem IF you can keep a newf out of water...

That is why I mention her coat as it must make huge difference in the workings of it...
But she was a lot cooler too with clipped coat taking the water issue on side.

The threat starter mentioned her newfie having loads of coat, maybe hers has incorrect coat too,hence not keeping the dog cool as it should?

The appt is cancelled
I do spray him with water when he is very hot, but because of the density of his coat, the water runs off and never reaches his skin, however long I hose him for
As a puppy he lived by the sea and a nearby lake. Unfortunatly he never read the chapter on 'How to be a real newfi' so he does not like the water. If I went in the sea, he would come in and drag me out before the water reached my knees So, when I bought him a paddling pool, the birds ended up using it as a giant bird bath!
I wll continue to strip his undercoat on a daily basis and thanks for your comments. 

Phew, well done for not listening to the vet - it's hard sometimes isn't it! But as long as you are stripping the undercoat, offering him plenty of water and cool places to lie, and walking him very early or late, he should be fine.

We have ice collars for our bernese when its warm, they are kept in the freezer and last a good few hours before they have to be out back in.  You could get a couple of them so you always have one frozen.

I know for us if you are very hot putting your hands/wrists in the cold water cools you down.
Maybe just standing him in the paddling pool in cold water or hosing down his feet/legs might help?

when im out running with the dogs they always aim to run through the puddles, they dont always stop for a drink so I assume getting their paws wet cools them down

What a good idea Could you please tell me where to buy them Fifi. I also have a BMD, but he does not seem to suffer with the heat as badly as my newfi. I have been using a ice disc but everytime I put it under the base of his tail, he looks at me in disgust and bats it actross the floor! Damn dog

>I have been using a ice disc but everytime I put it under the base of his tail, he looks at me in disgust and bats it actross the floor!

ROFL

I don't fare well in hot weather either, but if you stuck an ICE DISK under my tail I'd bite yer! 

Lol