The problem is the dog can still get matted, sometimes worse than if you didn't touch the coat. The undercoat is usually softer and more likely to catch burrs and such, the guard hairs are courser and prevent that. Cut it all the same length and it doesn't work as well. Plus they can matt, trust me! Combed out a shaved dog that had been shaved last fall, and the undercoat had almost felted to the body. It was a lot of work to comb out and it wasn't even long!
As for the whole 'keeps the dog cooler' thing - just don't put the dog in an oven in the first place! Or anywhere that they can't get shade and water and cool down. If it's too hot for the human to be outside in full sun for long, it's too hot for the dog. Shaved or not, doesn't matter. Even if you have a short haired dog, you can't let it over run in the heat without problems. Never has made sense to me. My guys have coat and we just don't go doing bike marathons in the heat, if it's too hot they have their pool or are inside with the fan on and we go later evening or in the morning before it's too hot. If we're training, there's usually swimming included and they train wet.
As for the whole 'keeps the dog cooler' thing - just don't put the dog in an oven in the first place! Or anywhere that they can't get shade and water and cool down. If it's too hot for the human to be outside in full sun for long, it's too hot for the dog. Shaved or not, doesn't matter. Even if you have a short haired dog, you can't let it over run in the heat without problems. Never has made sense to me. My guys have coat and we just don't go doing bike marathons in the heat, if it's too hot they have their pool or are inside with the fan on and we go later evening or in the morning before it's too hot. If we're training, there's usually swimming included and they train wet.
