Summer shedding!

Hinata23 · June 2012

OK, Since ChoCho is our first double coated dog, we're pretty new at the whole insane shedding thing. She's started to shed about a week ago and we would have not noticed if it wasn't for Goro running around the yard with chunks of her coat in his mouth that he ripped out from playing! Her coat comes out if we brush it or pluck it. It is no where has crazy as Kaiju's coat in February where huge patched of coat just fell out...

Anyway, I wanted to know if there's a quick way to remove the loss hair. Should we bath her, take her to a groomer, brush her for hours, or wait for her coat to blow like Kaiju's? (I say Kaiju because he's the only dog I've seen shed like that... I'm sure they all do at some point during the year.)

Or does the Shikoku only blow their coat by the chunks towards the end of the winter and shed less in the summer?

We have a Furminator, slicker brush, and the Kong Zoom Groom. We are currently only using the slicker brush, which gets full after a few strokes.

We want to get her ready for Florida's intense summer and don't want her to arrive with a semi-winter coat!

Thanks!!!

-A picture taken by PD of Kaiju in Feb. Notice the chucks of coat on the grass.

tjbart17 · June 2012

Ha ha ha ha. Welcome to the NK crew!!!! This is your initiation.

With Koda, I can brush him and everything goes well. I use a dog brush that reminds me of a cat brush. Just as long as I spend 10 minutes a night, we are fine and it's not all over the house.

With Mei, oh my.....there's nothing I can do. I can brush her daily and she still looks a mess. My sister and I went through her coat for an hour last night and it just wouldn't stop. But she loved the attention. Her coat is so thick, like a Shikoku. It's amazing how much fur comes off of the back of her legs on the bottom part alone. We filled up a shopping bag, and I expect to fill another one up tomorrow. She does look really skinny now too.

Oh and they both seem to change color when they blow coat in the spring. Koda has more brindle then last year, and Mei has more stripes on her back.

Calia · June 2012

LoL, Miyu was just about to start blowing her coat when we went to Florida, and even with her being more used to cooler temps she still handled the humidity and heat pretty well. Lots of drinking water and a plastic kiddie pool really helps too.

One thing that I've been using that really seems to help with loosening up and removing undercoat is using a metal-toothed comb. Just do lots of short strokes and the clumps will start to loosen up and come off. I also use the shedding blade, looks like a looped hacksaw blade, and it will pull fur off without getting "clogged".

Crispy · June 2012

When my Mal is blowing his coat, I usually just wait (as long as the hair isn't really "packed", because then it can cause irritation to the dog's skin sometimes) until he's all shaggy and give him a warm bath and "blow" the undercoat all out with our super-dryer. After that, I just have to go over him once with the under-coat rake or a metal comb and the rest all falls out. We actually spent two and a half hours doing just that today!

In short, the easiest solution would be to find a groomer that doesn't mind the pain of a dog blowing its coat. Not the cheapest, but certainly the fastest and the easiest.

Otherwise, I always like using short strokes with the metal comb (like @Calia) or a curved under-coat rake.

sachismom · June 2012

I asked this earlier and got great comments, the one thing that seemed to really work the best for us was swimming. Sachi went swimming in a lake and shook off wild tufts of hair with each shake. After 2 days at my aunt's property, where the lake is, and untold number of dips, she was a significantly smaller pooch. It isn't the easiest or most convenient answer, but if it is an option for you, it works!

PoetikDragon · June 2012

I typically wait until the dog's coat looks really "chunky" then comb it all out in one session. Mostly I got tired of having to do it multiple times so that's why I wait.

But if I am standing with the dog in the backyard or waiting somewhere I will probably absent mindedly pick at the loose fur...

shibamistress · June 2012

My dogs won't stand still for one marathon brushing session, though I do try it. I usually have one or two longer sessions (like 10 mins) and then a few in between brushings. I'm like Claire--I tend to pluck at it without thinking about it, too.

Bathing really helps but mine hate water so much I don't always do it.

an undercoat rake works wonders.

Funny story about the shedding: of course all mine blow their coats at different times. As it happens, Bel (shiba) is last this year and she had to go into get her thyroid retested and she's mid coat blow. Apparently we've never been in the vet at this stage, because she took one look at Bel and said "oh no! It's good we're testing--her meds may be really off!"

I laughed, and had to explain about a full coat blow from the NKs. No, really, this is normal! Ha!

timkim · June 2012

i use blow dryer all the time. powerful one. and blow all hair out. and brush them everyday.

Losech · June 2012

I wait until the coat is coming out in large chunks before I do anything other than a quick brush with a slicker. Once that happens, I give a good bath with a lot of rubbing and a long rinse. (This is usually when I use soap, too, since I normally only "bathe" with water.) After that, if I don't have assess to something like an air compressor, I towel dry as best as I can and lock the dog(s) outside so they can finish drying in the sun. Once dry, I brush with something like an undercoat rake, furminator (gotta be careful with this one, too much usage or too much pressure can damage the coat or dog's skin) curry comb, or slicker brush. Often a couple combined. I brush every day for a couple minutes or so, and do a big 10 minute brushing when needed or about once a week.

CrimsonO2 · June 2012

I wait until they get really mangey looking and then give them a warm bath and try to massage the undercoat out of them as much as possible. When I lived in an apartment, I didn't mind so much clogging the drain because it was a maintenance call away but I'm in a bit of a quandry with our house...I think this will be the first time I give them an outdoor bath.

Jesse

CarabooA · June 2012

We actually just finished up with Mirra and she looks great now - nice and cocoa brown - not mocha with whipped cream on top, lol!!!... She looks pretty neglected when she is "nearly" ready for everything to fall out. When it is ready it doesn't take any pressure at all to pull the fluff out...try to pull it out too soon and she is so sensitive she'll let you know the timing is not right. Her's comes out so nicely once it's ready that I'll usually sit down with her and hand pluck a lot of it, this way I can tell the areas that are coming out easily vs. the areas that haven't loosened up enough yet... when we have almost everything cleared out, we furminate then bathe (found out what the zoom groom is and wouldn't you know it, I already had it in the dog bath basket!) with the zoom groom and then once she has dried a bit the rake works on the left over areas. The rake brush is actually the one that we have to be very careful with with her... After that process it's just back to the regular brushing that we do around here!

lindsayt · June 2012

Misting the dog with water helps keep the floaters out of your eyes and mouth. At the beginning of a blow I will do a really warm bath with my fingers acting like a comb and really lather everything up and massage the shit out of the dog. That alone takes care of most of it, and now that the first bath loosened everything, I will repeat it a week or so later.

Hinata23 · June 2012

Thanks everyone! I guess we'll wait until Cho's coat is falling out in bigger chucks to give her a bath and really brush the life out of her. I hope that happens before our trip in July!

Can someone send me a link to a "undercoat rake" and ---

@Calia and you send me a link of the shedding blade you were talking about?

Thank again everyone!!

Calia · June 2012

This is a shedding blade, you can get it at any petstore:
http://www.petco.com/product/112139/Petco-Dog-Shedding-Blade.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch

Hinata23 · June 2012

Got it! Thanks!

cmpteki · June 2012

I wait for a windy day then get to business...an undercoat rake or some deep scratching - mine love the hands on attention more so than the rake. Guessing the birds and other critters will find and put the hair to use. :-)

Prior to adding our amazing Shikoku to the family, my wife asked me whether or not they shed...I said.....no...but twice a year they explode! :-)

mayoibushi · July 2012

All I can say is WOW. I was so excited when i could run my hands through his fuzzyness and no loose hair. That has been gone for about 3 weeks, and I can brush him everyday and still huge amounts are going. Kuro is also not a fan of the brush anywhere but near his neck and behind.

ttddinh · July 2012

With 100F + weather here in riverside, kaiju looks so skinny. It seems as if he is continuously blowing coat since we got him, it's crazy. A lot of it comes off in the shower but he hates baths so I have to brush it often. I use to brush everyday, but I got super busy with school and got lazy so I brush it once a week now.

Losech · July 2012

Conker is still shedding. He's been shedding on and off for several weeks now (seems like many months), but the past two weeks have been really bad. The temperatures are finally "stable" enough for him to decide to dump all his fur all over my trailer.

WrylyBrindle · July 2012

I have never seen Sage shed so much (and in July, too? Geez!)- Rei and Juno are not shedding, but I am beginning to wonder if dogs are like pine trees and some years (last year here) just throw off a lot more coat than other years. He seems to be exchanging his guard coat now as much as the undercoat (which is already mostly gone). I brush the poor guy every week now. The good news is that post-combing his guard coat is healthy, glossy and soft and waves beautifully around his shoulders. I think he's renewing himself.

Summer shedding!

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