Tis the season for shedding
Ok so Keira hasnt been shedding in the front of her body, its all been in her rump. I have noticed that she doesnt shed that much, but the hair on her back and bottom is ready to come out but it just doesnt. It pretty much just fluffs out and it looks like she has a fuzz butt and wont let me comb her so I have to "pluck" it from her. LOL. She doesnt seem to mind it, but do you guys have this same problem? Is there a certain brush out there that is good for double coated dogs such as ours? After "pluck her" the hair that comes out is amazing. She doesnt even weigh 15lbs and all of this hair keeps coming out. It honestly looks like a huge pile of sheep wool. LOL.
Comments
Oh boy...I have something to look forward to when Kei blows his coat =(^-^`)=.
Maybe you should make it into a blanket.
Brad and Jen made Hilo's fluff into a coat! <-- no, not really, but it would be cool! -laughs-
oooh i'm all about the Furminator (even with it's geeky name)! We use it on shinobi...and almost all of the undercoat comes out. it's great! We haven't used it on Kiba yet, since it's kind of a rough brush. I think you have to use a little force with it for it to be really effective. Oh...and furminator also makes a conditioner that helps shedding while you bathe your dog. The shampoo doesn't have any de-shedding effect, only the conditioner. But we use the conditioner and it seems to work. Especially when we use the brush on him afterwards. i definitely think it's a good investment for any fluff butt
The surge in thin coats are sadly probably a by-product of the fact that shibas are getting kind of chic and so we are seeing more and more puppy mill and back-yard breeder shibas. Because these dogs are not being selectively and responsibly bred you will see a lot of substandard coats, and off markings.
Also they are very adaptive animals. You live in a warmer climate. They are not going to grow as thick and fluffy a coat in an environment where it doesn't get colder than 60.
In general most blow their coats a couple times a year. Some more, some less. But oh lord when they do, you will have an adventure!
Oh ic...Because the black/tan shiba puppy at the obedience class last night had a very thin coat and the lady said she was 5 months also. So she was like "Oh, I guess we got the little runt" So i was just wondering....but she probably bought her from a petstore...i didn't ask. John didn't even know her puppy was a Shiba until the drive home when we were talking about all the dogs in class and I brough up the Shiba and he was like "what shiba?" and i said "uhhh...the black and tan one right next to you " and he was like "WHAT THAT WAS A SHIBA?!?! i thought that was just some kind of mutt dog" hehe.
Is the white patch on Ninja's back considered and "off marking" ? I don't really care because im not going to show him or anything...but I've never seen a Shiba with his markings...part of the reason why I picked him...I thought he looked very unique with the white patch and the white tip on the end of his tail.
If you were to show him, that would be a disqualifier.
Here is a link the the National Shiba Inu Organizations Breed Standard
Breed Standard
But most important is he is healthy and you love him. You're not showing or breeding him so that is all that matters.
Most of the Shibas I know would not be "showable" - Maui and Kaia certainly wouldn't. Kaia is way to small and Maui is cream.
Its kinda like -> how many super models do you know?... they don't make up much of the human population. Same way with dogs.
Here is GA there is a 10 week old shiba that just got surrendered by the breeder because she is not show quality and looks just like ninja. I love the colors!!! If we werent getting an akita I would BEG for one of their shiba's. Chad got mad at the mention.
ccpr.petfinder.com
OMG why do they have so many shibas in their shelter????
Speaking of furminator, I was ordering a few things off of jefferspet.com and I noticed they sold a "deshedding comb" made by bamboo that looks a lot like a furminator. They have one with a handle and one without a handle, that's basically a blade with a rubber grippy. I ordered the one without the handle. For $9, I figure it's worth a try! I also ordered an undercoat rake. We'll see how it works out. They also had a thing that looked like that horse-grooming tool that that Miisan fellow was talking about. I might pick that up next time I do an order.
http://www.jefferspet.com/ssc/product.asp?CID=0&mscssid=PL4L2TA4H0XF9H1P3W2U8W79NX8C2D37&pf_id=0031995
http://www.jefferspet.com/ssc/product.asp?CID=0&mscssid=PL4L2TA4H0XF9H1P3W2U8W79NX8C2D37&pf_id=0030278
http://www.jefferspet.com/ssc/product.asp?CID=0&mscssid=PL4L2TA4H0XF9H1P3W2U8W79NX8C2D37&pf_id=13145
I love this part from the breed standards; ". Lips are tight and black. Nose is black." Yes, unless of course your Shiba has been digging holes back to Japan in the backyard, then the nose color is dirt brown! LOL!
All hail the Furmanator (and tools like it)
If Ronan and Tasha could talk, they'd tell us, "We're NOT chickens! Stop plucking us!"
I love the Furmanator. Both are shedding fiends right now.
Speaking of Furminator...Is it really that good?
Cause, while preparing the coming of my Akita, i started looking for loads of stuff, de-shedding tool included. And, at least around Europe, it's kind of expensive. Does it really match it's price tag?
Thanks for the tip, Rina! Found a large one on ebay UK, shipping from Hong Kong, for half the price...
I wonder...