# confused about shedding - not all dogs shed?



## dogclass (Feb 16, 2011)

Hi,
We adopted a rescue a month ago. He's 11 months old mix. We're not exactly sure what type of mix, but he could be any mixture of sheltie / border collie / english shepherd. His fur type looks almost exactly like the english shepherd pictured here, but with thicker coat on the tail and a white chest:

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/englishshepherd.htm

it's shiny and black just like in this picture 

Here's my question. Do all double coated dogs loose their undercoat for the summer? I know my dog is a double coat. Should I expect the undercoat to blow off in the summer?

I'm actually very confused. It would seem really really really uncomfortable for him if he doesn't get rid of all that undercoat in the summer. I hope he blows his coat.

So far (in Minnesota) he hasn't really shed. My girlfriend thinks he might not shed (which she likes), but I would feel really horrible for him dealing with the hot summers here.


----------



## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

It is my understanding that the undercoat can help a dog regulate their temperature in warm temperatures as well as cold. And while your dog may or may not "blow" his coat he most definitely sheds. Only dogs' whose hair grows continuously and must be trimmed (Ex: poodle, Yorkie) don't shed.


----------



## Cairnterrier (Mar 26, 2011)

kafkabeetle is correct about the undercoat helping dogs regulate their temperature. As well, I have a Cairn Terrier and she is also a double coated dog and does not shed. However, to rid the outer coat of the dead hairs, we strip the dog - pulling out the dead hair. This is no way hurts the dog - in fact they are rather relieved to be rid of this excess hair.


----------



## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Cairnterrier said:


> As well, I have a Cairn Terrier and she is also a double coated dog and does not shed. However, to rid the outer coat of the dead hairs, we strip the dog - pulling out the dead hair. This is no way hurts the dog - in fact they are rather relieved to be rid of this excess hair.


I don't think the OP's dog has a coat type that can or should be stripped. Only wire-coated type dogs need that. I don't think that's what you were saying, but I just wanted to make sure the OP didn't think they should be having their dog's coat stripped.


----------



## wishiwas (Mar 3, 2008)

ALL dogs shed.. Poodles and yorkies and the like just shed very minimally since their hair has a much longer growth cycle.

If the hair is thick sometimes it doesn't fall off the dog much, but gets caught up in the coat instead. I'd recommend a real good bath and brush out before summer hits, even better if you can use a HV dryer on him. A groomer could do it, or there are self serve bathing facilities in a lot of places now where you can use all the nice equipment for a small fee.


----------



## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Sassy had a shorter very dense double coat much like a lab and she blew her coat. That meant on its own it came out all over the house, us, etc. I would pull on a hair sticking out and a big tuft would expand in my fingers like a dandelion.

Max has a wavy long coat that is double but not particularly dense. I don't think his undercoat does much to warm/cool him, it seems fairly useless especially compared to what Sassy had. Her coat was more like wearing a felted jacket, his is more like wearing a loosely knit fuzzy sweater. We suspect he is sheltie/some sort of spaniel/aussie/lab/border collie/golden. It comes out all year long bit by bit and never blows. I have to pull out the old dead undercoat. You can see the reddish old undercoat on his legs here as he is enjoying an ostrich bone+tendon chew. It looks like this on a monthly basis year round and the hair in the house is constant with no big tumbleweed season. 









Sassy got lots of warm baths and the furminator to remove fur. Max gets his hair pulled out with a flea comb, Mars Coat King, my fingers, a stripping knife combed through his fuzz and a stripping stone. Technically I am carding out the undercoat, not stripping the outer coat, but it is otherwise a lot like dealing with a wire coated terrier. While he looks like he could be a herding dog mix perhaps this is a normal spaniel growth pattern but I don't know.

Your new dog must lose all the hair somehow. Keep it clean and brushed/combed out and you will soon see it it is going to blow or get pulled out a little each week.


----------



## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

I was always amazed by my big, double-coated black lab.

It seemed I could brush him continuously 24/7 with a good, undercoat rake and he would never actually run out of loose fur or become bald.

Nesting robins used to circle us like vultures when I was brushing that dog.


----------

