Shedding

[5kidsnadog]

My dog is a big time shedder -- an Australian Shepherd. When I got him from the pound he was so full of fur that I didn't even bring him in the house. I took him out to the back yard and brushed him for four hours. That brushing yielded about half of a kitchen garbage bag of fur, which I promptly hid from my verrrrry meticulous husband ;) ! He had not been brushed in probably forever, and I think he was also outdoors for the winter, judging by the thickness of the undercoat. I usually brush him 2 or three times a week and yet still he seems to really shed a lot. He is on a high quality dog food (can't think of the name right this second -- Wolf something in a gold bag with bison), but still I find puddles of him where ever he goes! I have tried various brushes -- we have a slicker, a shedding blade, a rubber-y mitt thing with little bumps, another comb-y type thing, etc. The other day I brushed him for probably 45 minutes using a combination of all of our brushes and combs, and got quite a bit of fur out. The next day, I bought a furminator brush, and got probably a quarter of a garbage bag! I think the furminator did a good job, but this morning (just 2 days later), I'm walking up the stairs and finding puddles of him everywhere. He seems to lose the white fur on the dark carpet and the dark fur on my light clothes!!! Any suggestions???

[RedTucker]

Welcome to the wonderful word of Aussies. With their double coats, shedding is a fact of life. Tried to teach mine to vacuum but it didn't work. Recommend good quality dog food, regular brushing and the Dyson Animal. Although a lot of Aussie owners don't recommend it, I get mine clipped close once the weather turns warm and keep him that way until early fall. He's an indoor dog and this works well for us.

[5kidsnadog]

Yeah, I kinda knew that, but hoped that someone would have some wonder vitamin or supplement. It kind of is funny, because I told my husband I wanted a small non-shedding type, since our last dog was a husky, and I come home with something that rivals the husky for sheddi-ness, only his fur is so darned long that each strand makes such an impact.

I took pictures of the pile after the furminator. It was pretty impressive. I wish I would have taken pictures of the first pile I took off of him when I brought him home -- it was really incredible and he ended up looking like half the dog when I was done. He must have been pretty uncomfortable -- most of the fur was completely unattached and absolutely filled with dandruff. For not knowing me from Adam, he sat for literally four hours while I went over every inch of his body.

His coat is really beautiful now (5 months later) - very glossy and soft, but still sheddy! I think his food is one of the better ones (I looked it up on that list that someone posted last week or so and it was rated in the A to A+ range, I think), it might just be that he's gonna lose puddles because that's who he is!

[Striker2807]

Yeah, I kinda knew that, but hoped that someone would have some wonder vitamin or supplement.

I have talked to a groomer about shedding and she said fish oil(has DHA, EPA) can help reduce shedding along with a lot of other great benefits. Google it and decide if it is something you might be interested in and let me know.

Other then that I would say you're doing a great job feeding a high quality dog food, brushing often and I must say I have heard great things about the furminator and it sounds like it is working well for you.

Here is a great link I just found that can explain it to you http://www.seapet.com/Omega3.htm

[5kidsnadog]

I have been feeding my kids flax oil, coconut oil, and fish oil for the past several years. I read a book about the Omega 3's in connection to children who have delays (my son has a speech delay), and children with ADD. In fact, I had just popped my youngest son his fish oil for the day when I read your post! We have no shortage of Omegas in the human population in this house -- could it be that the dog needs his dose too?

[Striker2807]

I have been feeding my kids flax oil, coconut oil, and fish oil for the past several years. I read a book about the Omega 3's in connection to children who have delays (my son has a speech delay), and children with ADD. In fact, I had just popped my youngest son his fish oil for the day when I read your post! We have no shortage of Omegas in the human population in this house -- could it be that the dog needs his dose too?

When it comes to dose I remember reading something about 1500mg for dogs over 20 pounds, but I would google it.