Oh God. I've been dreading this. The Poodley Thing is losing his puppy coat. I noticed a few small mats around his ears and had to brush them out last night. He has a very dense poodle coat and thinks the slicker brush is pure evil. To make the whole thing less traumatic, I'm considering shearing him to about an inch all over. However, I've heard that shaving this kind of coat can cause more problems. Any truth in that, do you know?