Summers in Florida can bring some of the highest temperatures around. With many of us finding the sun and heat unbearable during summer months, we assume our dogs are miserable, too. Though dogs do feel extra heat in the summertime, shaving them down may bring reverse side effects of your intentions.

When a dog has a double-layered coat it means they have two layers of fur to protect against the cold. The outer layer is made up of long guard hairs used to protect against snow, ice and water. The undercoat below is closer to the skin to helps keep your dog dry and warm.

In summer, dogs shed their undercoat. The job of the outer layer now becomes a guard against the sun to avoid sunburn and insulate them against the heat. With the undercoat gone, air can now circulate through the outer layer and cool the skin.

Dogs with single coats have hair that will continue to grow until you cut it. In contrast, double coats grow to a max point and then stop growing. Because of this, shaving a single-layered coat will grow back without change, but not for double-layered coats. If you take off the slow-growing guard hairs and the soft undercoat, the texture of the new coat coming in will not feel as it did before. It becomes sticky and coarse and will never return to its original form. Because of this, these dogs can overheat and be more prone to their coats matting and picking up things such as pollen, bugs, etc.

Shaving your double-coated dog this way can actually cause them to overheat in summer, as without the outer and inner layer working together, the natural cooling system cannot take place. A sticky, patchy outer layer actually absorbs the sun’s rays and will cause your dog much distress.

Though summer may be too hot for some of us, your dog’s natural coat already has it covered. It’s important to get your dog professionally groomed to not only help keep their summer coat pristine, but to also not alter your dog’s coat for the entirety of its lifetime.