With two dogs around the house, we tend to have a lot of fur that seems to float, fly and land in the most unusual places. Its spring time and the time for all animals to naturally shed their coats. In our case, Labradors have very thick coats for the winter, so now we have a lot of fur to contend with as the weather begins to get warmer. Miya and Meesha can be found (I mean their fur can be found) on all of our clothes, flooring, beds, and in our food! We often joke, that we could potentially knit ourselves spring sweaters from their floating fur. It’s is even crazier when you have the family member who loves to visit you, but is wearing those beautiful black dress pants and walks out with beautiful white pants! Oh the joy of dog shedding season!
So what are to do…. Well ah… keep a lint roller brush at the door!
Since your dog will never stop shedding a lint roller brush at the door is handy for quick removal of dog hair form your clothes. It’s a healthy normal process for all dogs to shed. Many dog owners think that shaving a dog down will help the dog with shedding but in the end it really won’t make that much of a difference since this just makes the hair that is shed shorter. As well some getting some dog breeds shaved can interfere with the dog’s natural self-cooling and self-warming mechanism. Again keep in mind in the long run, it really wont make shedding any less just harder to pick up.
The key to preventing excess shedding is to keep up with it. Ensure that you help your dog maintain routine grooming by brushing or combing your dog. This will help remove dead hairs before they can fall on your carpet, bedding and upholstery. It will also help those long and curly hair dogs like Goldendoodles from having dead hairs forming mats on their coats that can eventually harm the skin. Daily brushing of your dog will also distribute the natural, healthy oils produced by the skin throughout the hair coat. Always us the right grooming tools for your dog breed, when in doubt talk to your groomer. Since our dogs can be heavy shedders, we purchased a special shedding tool called the FURminator. This tool works well, but you need to be gentle using is since it can cause skin irritation if used the improper way.
Shedding Seasons
On the average, most dogs will shed during Spring and Fall. Dogs have two coats, an undercoat as well as the top coat. Seasonal shedding occurs as a result of temperature change. The actual process is often called “blowing the coat.” When the temperature and weather warms up, dogs shed their old winter undercoats to make way for a lighter summer coat. Then, in the fall when it begins to get cool again, dogs shed their lighter undercoats and grow a thicker, warmer coat for winter. However that said not all dog coat types are affected by temperature changes. For example, dogs like Terriers have very little undercoat and therefore shed less when seasons change. However, dogs like Bernese Mountain dogs and Shetland Sheepdogs have heavy, thick undercoats that make shedding much more obvious.
So in the those high shedding seasons, keeping your dog well groomed will not only help them get ready for the new season but will also reduce the amount of hair-balls floating around in your home. Do you have a story of your doggie shedding in spring time, we would woof to hear it.
Happy Spring! Its all of our favorite dog shedding season!
Photo Credit: Deb West - Flickr Commercial use
Liz
As a life-long dog parent and enthusiast, I can’t get enough of all things doggie! My love of dogs and passion to educate and share solutions with other dog owners, is essentially how this site came to be. With the help of my three dogs I will provide engaging ‘tails’ and real life-lessons learned on dog ownership.
