Newfoundland & his "shedding" shadow - a nearly full-
sized "dog hair" dog shows how much some dogs shed
BigPawsOnly photo

With warm weather coming to Georgia, we're breaking out the shorts and packing up the sweaters. And if you have a dog or few, chances are you're vacuuming up a lot of excess hair, too.

Dogs change their coats seasonally, and intact females generally shed in accordance with their heat cycles. Double-coated breeds like Siberian Huskies, Collies and Pomeranians, have very profuse, soft undercoats which comes out in clumps during their semi-annual coat blow.

Shedding is natural - dogs, cats and humans all do it. It's the process by which the body rids itself of old or damaged hair in order to grow new hair. Unless your dog has no hair at all, anywhere on its body, your dog will shed.

There's no such thing as a dog breed that doesn't shed, though some shed much less often than others. While there may not be as much dog hair lying around the house, the expensive trade-off is grooming. The breeds which are the light-shedders tend to have coats that continue to grow and grow and grow, meaning they must be regularly groomed to prevent matting.

Good groomers will help owners understand what should and shouldn't be done to a dog's coat. Most dogs that are regularly groomed (ie: Terrier breeds, Poodles, Cocker Spaniels, etc.) don't leave much hair lying around the house, but if they're not taken to the groomer every couple of weeks, then someone in the dog's family needs to be tasked with combing and brushing the dog daily to prevent mats in the longer coated areas. Breeds with a double coat should never be shaved down, as the coat helps to keep them cooler in the warm weather. Plus, since the stiff guard coat grows much more slowly than the downy undercoat, brushing of the undercoat is necessary to prevent matting, something which rarely occurs if the dog isn't shaved. And here's the news flash: shaving a double-coated breed can actually make them shed more!

The best ways to handle shedding:

1. Have a routine of combing and/or brushing your dog weekly, at least. This gets the loose hair out before it has a chance to shed on your furniture, plus it gives you the chance to check your dog's skin for parasites and abnormalities.

2. For really heavy shedding, such as when double-coated breeds blow their coats, invest in a forced-air drier, take it and your dog outside, and cause a snowstorm! Most dogs don't mind having a blower used on them, once they're accustomed to it nicely. Put them on a table with a non-skid surface under their feet, have someone steady them so they're not afraid, and go over them with the blower, praising and treating for calm behavior. The majority of dead hair can be quickly and comfortably removed in this way, and nesting birds will probably swoop down for some extra-soft nest material. Do NOT use a human hair drier, because it isn't forceful enough to get most of the hair out, and is hot enough to cause skin damage. Get a good  forced-air drier and you won't have as much vacuuming to do.

3. Be sure to be feeding a high-quality dog food. Like humans, dogs' cells are continuously dying and being replaced, and the most important cells are replaced first. Brain, heart, other organs, and bone cells are replenished first, and any available nutrition that's left over after that goes to skin, then hair production. A poor diet shows first in the coat and skin, so if your dog has coat or skin problems, try upgrading the food your dog eats. Most grocery store brands are little more than junk food for dogs, and there's a direct link between low cost dog food and low nutrition dog food. Knowing that good quality nutrition will result in a healthier dog should make it easier for you to pay more for quality dog food. You'll spend less at the vet's and that should more than offset the increased outlay for quality food. The best place to look for good, nutritious food is at family-owned dog supply stores. They carry brands that can't be warehoused, meaning not only is the food better for your dog, you don't have to worry about preservatives, which could have an adverse affect on your dog's health.

And here's a DogExaminerSandy tip: if you notice that your dog is looking pudgy but doesn't feel fat, that's the first sign that the coat is about to blow. Give your dog a good combing/brushing, then a warm bath, blow dry to remove even more hair, and then two or three days later, repeat the process. You'll get almost all of the shedding done and have a clean, shiny, sweet-smelling, minimal-shedding best friend!

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