Wiry Whisker ???

[Yvonne N]

Okay this is funny but not really.  Astro has one wiry whisker...really wiry.  When you get poked with it, it is painful.  Does he really need a whisker?  Can I cut it?  Do any other doodles have this? 

[Camilla and Darwin]

I have noticed a couple on Darwin, but they are pretty small and blend in with his fur. I think it would be fine to trim it a little, for everyone's safety... LOL.

[Jamie Petro]

Wrigley has one whisker that is much more wiry than the others too. I've poked my fingers with it several times. At first I thought there was something stuck in her hair until I figured out what it was.

[Sandra Griffith]

Dogs use whiskers (also know as vibrissae) as a sense organ of touch. Stanley Coren in his book How Dogs Think (sorry for the lack of underlining) says:

"The vibrissae also seem to be involved in the location of objects and perhaps in the recognition of the objects themselves. Most animals use vibrissae much the way that a blind person uses a cane....Dogs whose vibrissae have been removed seem more uncertain in dim light...With intact vibrissae, the dog actually does not have to make physical contact with a suface to know it is there. These special hairs are so sensitive that they also register sligt changes in air currents. As a dog approaches an object like a wall, some of the air that he stirs up by moving bounces back from surfaces, bending the vibrissae slightly, whish is enough to inform him that something is near well before he touches it."

This being said, it does not hurt the dog to cut it and dogs have more than one so they have others to rely on should you choose to cut just one.

[Kyoko]

oooppps... Charlie's face is shaved, so when she is freshly groomed, she has none!!

[Deb, Connor & Simon]

Connor has several cheek whiskers that are like broom straws! Whenever I trim his facial hair, I also cut his whiskers short. It has not seemed to have done any harm. :-)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Ned has a whisker under his chin that apparently itches. The groomer as cut it off and Ned scratches until it pops back out - usually with a little sore and scab.