Will the shedding ever end?

[Elkhound Odin]

I brush & brush & brush Odin for the last two months. I thought I was seeing the end of the shed. I gave him a bath on Sunday and now my home looks like a giant bag of fur exploded. I'm vacuuming twice a day just to keep up. Fur is deposited on everything he touches. I walked into work and saw my pants covered in Odin's pelt.

Damn, that doggy has so much hair. Tonight, he's getting the full-on attack brushing. I've got one of the furminator brushes that pulls out the under coat. I'm done half-assing around. The fur is coming out.

If any of you have a better solution, post 'em up

[I Dunno]

[Grange]

No better solution, but toss in a second dog and you've got my house. One black dog and one predominantly white dog makes the fur balls look like piles of salt and pepper.

Let us know how the Furminator works. I've been considering one since the brush and a shedding blade do not seem to control the hair very well.

[Sagamoron]

Keep us posted on the furminator, I've been thinking about pulling the trigger on one myself

[Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo]

Is he an inside/outside dog? Our vet once told us dogs that split time inside/outside tend to shed more consistently and constantly then dogs that live outside all the time. Growing up we had an Akita and for the first few years he lived outside almost exclusively and his shedding was more like a molting process that lasted 2-3 weeks each spring and fall and that was about it. When we started letting him live inside more because of the summer heat his molting became less intense and he just shed all the time. But judging from your avatar Odin is too cute to have to live outside all the time. So in summation, you're fucked

[Danno]

I have a golden, so I can relate.

The furminator does work great, far better than any other tool I have used (still not 100% convinced it's worth the coin, though). But with a dog like mine, you cannot stop the shedding, you can only hope to contain it.

[Elkhound Odin]

We live in a condo with 2 dogs. The other is a 40lbs American Eskimo. He doesn't shed nearly as bad since he doesn't have any undercoat.

[Woodlandclown]

perhaps a non-shedding dog next time--what did you expect with that furball? My dog doesnt even have long hair and I have the same issues. You should see my office chair--it looks like he sits in it. Eh, whatever! get a lint brush and a good vacuum.

[powdork]

we had a chow labrador mix that shed a lot. we gave him a hair cut every summer to help. they could never trim around his face and tail, which made him look ridiculous. he looked like he had a lab body with a chow head and tail stuck on it. all the other dogs made fun of him. it was sad.

[gtdrew]

The furminator works. They are spendy but I have not found anything else that works as well at getting the undercoat.

For furniture and even clothes try this:
http://www.pledge.com/fabric-sweeper/

Works REALLY well.

[DoWork]

Dude, I have a 135lb akita and she sheds like five dogs. I've found that the best way to get the fur out is to just work it out with your fingers to loosen it up, then use a wide-spaced rake to gently brush the loosened up fur- and it still took me almost two weeks of daily brushing (she's a baby and gets all whiny when you brush her for too long) to get her to the point where I'm comfortable sending her to the groomer.

HUUUUUUGE HELPER: Before you start attacking the fur, give Odin a bath and buy some pet hair relaxer from the pet store, there's a bunch of different kinds. If your local pet store doesn't have any, call a groomer and ask what they use & find it online. I shit you not it makes the biggest difference you could ever imagine. Once you wash him with it and get him semi-dry hit him again with the fur rake, it will come out in huuuuuge swaths of hair, much easier that way because it helps to release the undercoat from the surrounding fur. When I was real young and worked at Petco, I used to have to help with the grooming all the time and it was the ONLY way to get a big furry fucker like that in & out in a timely fashion. Most of the time the dryers would blow out about half the undercoat just from washing the dog with a good relaxer.

Oh, and fuck the furminator. We're talking "empty after each pass" shit... Works great but takes forever. Just use a pet hair relaxer, wide spaced undercoat rake and put that $50 towards beer to be consumed during the process. Thank me later.

[dk_alaskan]

Furminator ROCKS!!!! don't use long strokes, but quick short ones--seems to get at the under coat better this way

[DJSapp]

Furminator's are fucking awesome, we got a regular one for my lab and long haired cat. My folks got the knockoff brand Bamboo version and say it works just as well, but if I recall correctly, furminator offers a cash back guarantee, the your local store will do the refunding (at least around here they did).

Last summer I dogsat a German Shepard in 100+ degree heat while she was blowing her undercoat. When her owner got back a week later, we presented him with a densely packed pillow sized garbage bag of fur pulled out by the furminator after 4 sessions. The dog looked like she lost 10 pounds.



He immediately went and bought one.

[H0G]

walmart carries a $20 furminator knock off. i would never pay $50 for that thing.

[Platinum Pete]

Furminator knock named "Fur Buster" works for me. Bought it while my girlfriend was away on spring break, she came back and accused me of starving the pup. This brush, 2-3x per week really helps keep the fur outside.

[Badger]

Wood floors. Broom. Put the two together five times a week.

[P_McPoser]

This is why I have a pit bull. Heh.

[rideit]

FWIW, dogs with two ply (undercoats) should never be shaved/trimmed. They have the two ply coats as insulation in the winter AND summer, as well as for UV protection(yes, thay can get nasty sunburn under that fur!). EO, I wish you could meet my new Elkie/Shepherd mix, somehow she has more shepherd, so WAAAY less shedding than Zane.

God, I still miss that dog so...but not the plucking.

Oh, there's the ticket...take a bunch of meth, and pluck Odin incessantly for three days, without sleep or food. That should do it!

[BeanDip4All]

does odin blow his coat?

corgis blow their undercoat twice a year. which means 2x a year (generally for about a month or so), Linus makes this for us at least once a week:


look how PROUD he is of the nice present he made us. i was thinking of donating all of it to help clean up oil spills (for real).

[MultiVerse]

In addition to regular grooming, I use a Shop Vac. The Fräu has seasonal allergies and so I’ve been using a shop vac to suction the grass pollen off the pups’ fur after they’ve been rolling around outside.

The vac is high quality so it’s nice & quiet and I NEVER apply direct suction, only the parallel to the fur. The whole operation takes less than a minute and it helps a lot with the pollen and the shedding.

[::: :::]

our bagless upright vacuum shit the bed

what do maggots like for households w/ shedding dogs?

don’t want to spend more than $500 (but not at all sure if that’s reasonable)

[BC.]

Yellow Lab....big time shedder....it’s brutal.

We have 2 Sharks to keep on top of it.

-Shark upright for floors
-Shark cordless handheld for furniture

[BCMtnHound]

Lexa's release is peaking now. She spends 90% of her time outside, so we don't have much issue in the house, but occasionally a dust bunny escapes from under the couch that looks like it had flemmish giant ancestors. It is time to replace the old Kenmore canister vacuum. After almost 20yrs with a 30yr old appliance, not sure what will replace it.

Lexa hates being brushed or raked, so this weekend will have several 15min sessions. Working in the fingernails along her withers does make her stretch in pleasure right now though. But between the June thunderstorms and her molt, she's a grumpy old girl.

[muted]

We have sharks and dysons, both are good but for the price a refurbished shark is damn good.

Last year our Great Pyrenees mix stopped blowing fur in September, just in time for winter, faaack. Both dogs are currently laying down wads of fur everywhere in the house, tis the season.

[gravitylover]

our bagless upright vacuum shit the bed

what do maggots like for households w/ shedding dogs?

don’t want to spend more than $500 (but not at all sure if that’s reasonable)

In our house it's a constant battle to keep the hair piles reasonable. With 2 dogs that shed year round it can be a real hassle and it kills vacuums so we gave up and use a shop vac. The whole house is hardwood or tile so it works great, it's also the only vacuum that's lasted any decent length of time.