Rough Collies and Florida heat

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I live in Jacksonville. In July the air is wet before noon, the sidewalk will burn a paw, and somebody on Facebook will tell you to shave the Collie.

Don’t.

The coat is not the enemy

A Rough Collie has two layers. The undercoat holds a pocket of air. The outer coat keeps sun off the skin. That system works in winter and it works in summer. Cut it to the skin and you take the shade off a dog that never had bare skin in the sun. You also risk the coat coming back patchy.

Humidity is the Jacksonville problem more than the hair. Dogs cool by panting. Panting does a worse job when the air is already full of water. A shaved Collie in Duval in August is not a cooler Collie. It’s a sunburned one that still can’t dump heat.

If the coat is packed with dead undercoat, that will make them hotter. That’s a brush problem, not a clipper problem. I already wrote up the tools: Rough Collie grooming tools. In a blow, use the undercoat rake. Work down to the skin. Don’t scrape. If you hit a mat behind the ears, don’t panic-shave the whole dog.

A Smooth Collie still overheats. Less coat to manage. Same lungs. Same pavement.

Walks and the driveway

Put the back of your hand on the asphalt. If you wouldn’t stand there, they shouldn’t.

Walk early or after the sun drops. Midday is air conditioning and a water bowl, not a “quick” neighborhood loop. Florida afternoon storms look like relief from the porch. The air after them is still thick.

Cars: no. Not for a minute. Not with the window cracked. Not because you’ll “only be in the store.” This is not a maybe.

Water in more than one room. Shade if they’re outside. A kiddie pool is fine if they actually use it. A lot of Collies would rather stand next to it and look at you.

When this stops being a blog post

Heavy panting that doesn’t ease inside. Glassy. Won’t get up. Gums look off. That’s a vet, same day. I’m not going to write you a home protocol for heatstroke.

What I’m not doing

I’m not putting a summer-cut gallery on this site. I’m not telling you a Smooth is “the Florida Collie.” I’m not turning the home page into another product wall.

Brush the dead coat out. Stay off the blacktop at 2 p.m. Leave the clippers in the drawer.