# Odd time of year to be blowing her coat???



## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

Wow. I just finished brushing Summer and it seems that half of her came away in the brush. 

Why is she blowing her coat this time of year? The weather has been baking dry hot for 4 months. Just in the last 5 days we have seen a drastic drop in the temps. It's all the soft downy undercoat so I'm not concerned about an allergy or health issue, but why now? Why from a DROP in the temps? I've never had a GSD that did this late Summer, just in the Spring. I am a little concerned....


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

There have been several posts recently about unusual shedding.My dogs shed whenever the weather changes from warm to cool and back again.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

Mine shed more heavily about this time too. They seem to be just fine even as the temps drop. A while back we had subzero temps come on while I was still cutting firewood for the year. Zoe's coat was looking a little thin, but she was a happy camper all day running around in the snow while I cut and loaded, the high temp was zero.


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## Maverick M (Jul 6, 2014)

Maverick is the same way. He started shedding last week. A lot. My allergies also got worse. If I wasn't too busy, I would brush him twice a day.


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## gsdlover91 (Jul 21, 2012)

Mine are both currently blowing coat. My male always has around July, idk why - he suffers the first half of summer with his winter coat still on. 

My female recently finished her heat so she's just blowing hair off of her. She barely has any coat so who knows where it's even coming from!


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

I did just go back and read some old posts. Climate change was mentioned several times. That's kinda scary. 

Good to know - sounds like they are doing what they need to do and this is not an isolated problem. Thanks for the info

I think, I'm going to get the canned sardine topping thing going to help her "new coat" which will be coming in. Can't hurt.


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## yuriy (Dec 23, 2012)

I'll +1 the shedding. Did some serious brushing-out recently as the shedding was crazy.


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## Mikelia (Aug 29, 2012)

Mine are blowing coat too and always do at the end of the summer. I've been told it is them getting rid of their summer heat resistant coat to grow in their winter cold resistant coat. I don't know how true it is but it makes sense to me.


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## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

Max shedding here also seems like all summer. Our horse always sheds around this time to. Every change of season surrounded by globs oh hair.


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## Black Kali (Aug 31, 2013)

My female's shedding was connected to her heat cycle. She would blow her coat ~2-3 months after that, so sometimes she didn't had her undercoat in the middle of the winter.


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## GSDKIMBER (Jan 9, 2015)

Yep Kimber just got done blowing her coat


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

That's interesting too. It has been 3 months exactly since she finished her first heat. I hope that's not the case. That would put her out of coat this December/January. I'll have to get a foo foo dog sweater for her


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

Intact females blow their coats often. And that will include the guard hairs as well as the undercoat...
Fortunately, mine never looked to bad... I shouldn't say that as there's often room for "change"


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

I understand the shedding also has to do with light, not only temperature.

"Sunlight and Temperature

Sunlight and temperature influence dog shedding because day length triggers growth of a new coat and shedding of the old coat. Some breeds are triggered by sunlight and temperature to shed once every year or two (Northern breeds). Other breeds are triggered to shed twice a year. As dogs move indoors with constant temperatures and limited amounts of natural light, many experience increased continuous dog shedding and decreased annual dog shedding."


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## WateryTart (Sep 25, 2013)

My girl is blowing her coat now. We can't keep up with the hair even with brushing several times a day.

She's going to the groomer tomorrow.


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## Dragonheart (Jan 8, 2014)

Good to know my girl is not the only one blowing her coat right now. I thought she was the only one shedding at a weird time of the year lol.


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## WateryTart (Sep 25, 2013)

We've been spoiled with our girl - she's never been a heavy shedder and we've only needed to brush a few times a week at home between groomer visits. Even that is just running a pin brush over her back and sides with lots of praise for "good brush!" A bit of hair comes out, never much, and she's good.

Fast forward to now, when I've switched to doing all brushing outside and enough hair to knit several sweaters is coming out in the brush with every stroke.


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## EMH (Jul 28, 2014)

My dog started blowing his coat at the end of July


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## flyfisher22 (Feb 28, 2011)

Yep mine have always blown their coats in or around August and February. I just assumed they had a summer undercoat and a winter undercoat. My current GSD is one of the worst we have ever had though. I have always been told that the summer coat starts to blow when the days start to shorten and the winter coat starts to blow when the days are getting longer. 

Cam


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