my dawgie is shedding, can i get some help

[Acidpuppyburn]

I wake up with hair in my mouth, as if im a cat with hair balls in my throat. I love my dog and it loves me. We sleep together and enjoy snoozing in all morning. She sheds and i hate it. What can i do to help my dog not to shed, shave her hair off or give her a bath or something. any help would be great. My dog is a germanshepard/lab mix and shes so cute.

Thaaaaaaank you in advance. :boat:

[tltrull]

Regular brushing is a must, brush til you dont see hair in the brush! Bathing afterwards may help.

[Kayl]

Brush, brush, brush and then brush some more. That's pretty much all you can do. She's probably blowing coat right now--intact females do it after a heat (so twice a year), spayed females usually do it once a year. Just lots of brushing--the double coated breeds (GSDs, Huskies, heelers...) are a pain in the butt when they're blowing coat. Maybe once a week brush her out thoroughly (set aside an hour or more) and give her a bath. That may help.

[LoveNewfies]

Give her a good supplement containing omega 3 fatty acids, giver her a bath (the warm water helps to get rid of the dead fur), blow dry - cool or cold air, never hot - (also gets rid of a lot of dead fur) and brush, brush, brush.

Also, just a little food for thought for all - most dogs are fed a commercial diet that contains high amounts of carbohydrates and very processed protein sources - even the best dog foods are pretty high in carbs versus protien and the protein sources are processed. This commonly creates an amino acid deficiency in our canine companions. Some obvious things to watch for are unexplained excessive shedding and skin irritations, curly whiskers. This can easily be corrected by supplementing your dogs diet with fresh meat sources.

[Acidpuppyburn]

Thanks i thought she had lukeemia

[LoveNewfies]

Sometimes we automatically assume the worse case scenario.

Anyway, does your dog have any other issues or symptoms, or is it just the shedding?

[mep319]

We had a lab with a very thick coat...and I always thought it was a bit longer than a standard coat. She was a rescue so I don't know if she was 100%... She would shed sooooo bad that we could make pillows out of her hair balls. What I finally ended up doing was taking her to a groomers when she got really bad and it made a huge difference! She came home looking like a different dog. I'd love to know what their secret is........and I brushed her all the time!

[Norman]

I found when bathing my puppy after rinsing the shampoo out brush her while her hair is wet as that help to grab the loose hairs and those odd few hairs about to but not quite ready to drop out. You'll be surprised how much hair you get out - plus it is contained in the bath - pull it out the plug hole - and you can see easier how much hair has been brushed out whereas is we do our pup in front room the hair ends up trodden into carpet and then needs hoovering up.

Our pup hates the hairdryer so we give her a chew toys to keep her busy while we towel dry her. She gets bathed once a week with a very mild shampoo as she gets so dirty in mud and sand on the beach.

[CTUWanda]

Do some parts of the year seem to be worse than others for her? If that's the case she's probably pretty healthy. Most dogs shed all the time and all you can really do to prevent it is brush her regularly or take her to a groomer every couple of weeks if you can't find the time to give her a really good brushing at least 3 or 4 times a week

[BreakingDaHabit]

Ugh. I have a shep/lab mix. She'd make a good pillow but I'd never let her sleep with me lol. The sheddding is horrible with those breeds and pretty much year round, but much worse in the summer. Brushing and bathing help somewhat. I can't stand brushing her though beacuse it flies everywhere, I let Petsmart do it. :D Get one of those glove brushes. They work great for the fur that flies every time you touch them or they shake.

If you bath her.. brush before and after the bath.

A better diet can help too depending on what you're feeding. I noticed when she was younger and on some crappy purina brand, and switching her to better foods it helped. Still a lot, but not as bad as before.

[BreakingDaHabit]

Also about shaving..

Petsmart actually does that to mine. They shave a little off her hind legs where the clumps are the worst. It does help somewhat, instead of clumps she sheds fuz instead. It doesn't look bad either. They only make that area a little shorer, not bald. Can't even really notice it unless you look close.