# How to reduce shedding?



## shadowsmomma (Mar 31, 2011)

I have a 3 year old husky mix and he is shedding pretty bad, im currently using a dog shedding blade/brush. I groom him for about 5-10 minutes, but then a few minutes later he seems to be back to shedding a lot? I talked to a groomer and she charges $50-$65 to do a deshedding groom, apparently because of his size :/. His hair is short, so he's not actually "fluffy" or "long haired" like a husky, yet he sheds like one lol. Is there anything i can do to reduce his shedding? I know my mom use to use a certain shampoo for her shelties and she said it worked but i dont remember the name of it. Could it be he just needs groomed more often? I got him from a shelter and i dont think they groomed him a lot. Any help would be great, he loves to be brushed .


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## Northern_Inuit_Luv (Aug 26, 2009)

Sounds like he's just blowing his coat, tis the season...I wouldn't waste your money on any special grooming care, just keep up with the brushing and it will be over in a few weeks/couple of months. Even if one grooming helped, it would only be a couple of days before more fur came loose. Yesterday I had a nice deep brushing with my dogs, and two hours later I was pulling "tufts" off them. It looks like your mix is similar to my Lupa. I find that the best comb to use on her is the shedding blade...not sure if that's what you are using already but here's a link to what it looks like: http://www.amazon.com/Safari-Shedding-Medium-Large-Stainless/dp/B0002ARR22 Whatever you do, don't shave the dog....the outer coat takes forever to grow back and you will regret it. It can be really bad for the skin, too. 

When dealing with any northern breed dog, it's just something you learn to live with.



> When you pick up an errant piece of fuzz off of your carpet, and you pull up enough fur to knit a sweater!
> 
> When you see a flock of birds land in your back yard, pick up the dog fur and fly away to build (line) a nest! Cushy for the baby tweets!
> 
> ...


Shed Happens.


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## shadowsmomma (Mar 31, 2011)

Yup thats the shedding blade i got, i picked it up at Walmart for about 5 bucks. It worked really well, i had no intentions of shaving him. I use to have an Alaskan malamute but she was mostly an outside dog, my parents put her out before the shedding got to heavy. I know i told my fiance it should get better after "shedding season". We love him enough to bare threw it haha xP, i figured the more brushing i do the more it will help lol, he certainly doesnt mind getting groomed .


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## lisak_87 (Mar 23, 2011)

IDK how others feel about it, but I find the FURminator to REALLY reduce my cat's shedding (and it can def. be used on dogs too). I seriously pull like 2 cats worth of hair off my cat when I use it lol.

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4304011&lmdn=Grooming


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## LuvMyAngels (May 24, 2009)

Lots of brushing. I use an undercoat rake, a greyhound comb and a flea comb on my boy. The rake helps loosen the undercoat (and remove some), the greyhound comb helps with the tangles and the flea comb grabs a ton of loose undercoat.


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## Kyllobernese (Feb 5, 2008)

You would not believe the amount of hair I have raked up off the snow from Susie. I have never seen it like it has been this year. She has left more hair on the snow than my horses have and my little Mini horse has a coat like a buffalo and every tree is coated with it where he rubs on them. I am going to have to take her up to the Doggy Day Care and give her a good bath and blow dry.


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## loverofdog (Mar 31, 2011)

I may suggest that you bring your dog to a veterinary so you will know the proper handling of shedding of your pet. It is better to know from the expert. Because I know we want to take care of our pets. http://www.dog-behavior-tips.com


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## A&B (Mar 26, 2011)

Another furminator/mars coat king fan here. A hydrobath with a blow dry should help a lot for a few days, shouldn't cost as much as a normal groom either. I think for a Malamute over here $30 is a high price for hydro & dry.

Failing that, try the furminator, it does actually do what it advertises!

My boy sheds like a GSD blowing it's coat most of the year through & the furminator has cut down the amount he sheds by tonnes. I use it on the cat too. Works a treat!


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## Northern_Inuit_Luv (Aug 26, 2009)

The furminator can damage the coat, though. So it's not something you want to use every day.


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## A&B (Mar 26, 2011)

I didn't know that! Never had any issues with my boy, but I use it twice a week at most now, initially it was about 4 or 5 days for the first 2 weeks or so. Hope I didn't do any damage.


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## lisak_87 (Mar 23, 2011)

Northern_Inuit_Luv said:


> The furminator can damage the coat, though. So it's not something you want to use every day.


Tis true. It is not an everyday brush. I use it at most once a month on my cat. (He adoooores it)


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## shadowsmomma (Mar 31, 2011)

Thanks for all the tips, the shedding blade seems to be getting the hair up, but it also sadly makes a mess. Once i start brushing him hair flys all over the place, the day i brought him home from the shelter i gave him a bath. The lady there gave me puppy shampoo to wash him with, which didnt help lol. But i dont think they maintained his coat, so it just kind of got out of control. I've heard of the FURminator before, but never looked in to it.


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## Charis (Jul 12, 2009)

Shedding is a way of life around my house - I own a grey husky (white undercoat) and still manage to wear black to work. 
- Lint rollers by the front door, in the "dog cabinet" and each car
- furminator
- flea comb
- periodically we take her to the self groomers ($5) bathe her and use the blow dryer to blow out her undercoat - a huge mess and not mine to clean up

Did I mention lint rollers?  You can't live without them because inevitable that hair is going to be on you no matter how much you brush.


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## Tankstar (Dec 30, 2006)

Id take her in for a good grooming. Nothing like a good bath, and blow dry. That way you fight the shedding season from the start, and it will be easy upkeep.
Or invest in a good HV dryer to blow out alot of the coat too.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Agree with Tankstar, a bath and blowout gets out massive amounts of hair. You can bathe your dog yourself, go for a drying off walk combing or brushing or ruffling up the coat to remove hair as it dries too. Sassy's dense coat wouldn't shed for a whole week after such a bath. Cheap, gentle and works.

I got an HV blower and it is fun to blow off the water and see the hair fly off the dog. I had never seen Sassy's skin before as her coat was so thick and it was interesting to see it. If you have a *clean* wet dry vac some can be reversed so they blow out and will serve the purpose.

Groom outside unless you are planning on a good vacuuming directly after. I groom before I take my shower too. Getting itchy just thinking about dog hair flying all over the place.


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## mom24doggies (Mar 25, 2011)

A nice warm bath that gets the coat really clean, (this is key...if the coat is dirty, it seems to hang on to that undercoat.) along with a good conditioner (let it sit for a few minutes), rinse reeallly well, then a good blasting with a HV dryer works wonders. After the dog is thoroughly dry, a good brush-out. I used this method in my job, and it seems to work really well.


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## shadowsmomma (Mar 31, 2011)

I gave him a bath right after we brought him home, and it didn't seem to help at all, i didn't blow dry him. But i waited until he dried then brushed him.


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## mom24doggies (Mar 25, 2011)

shadowsmomma said:


> I gave him a bath right after we brought him home, and it didn't seem to help at all, i didn't blow dry him. But i waited until he dried then brushed him.


 Yeah, the blow-dry is what really works the magic.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Try brushing to help dry the dog. When the coat is mostly dry the hair really comes out well. When I was lazy and didn't fluff/brush Sassy during a drying off walk she would be super fuzzy until I got out the deshed tools so usually I put in the little bit of time rubbing/brushing her as she dried after a bath. In shedding season I would get amazing furry mitts on my hands I could peel off. This is much gentler than any brush but not as gentle as the high velocity dryer. A regular blow dryer was useless and gets too hot.


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