# Endless shedding!



## Josiebear (Oct 16, 2006)

What do you guys use to control shedding?. I gave Josie a bath, dried her off then started brushing her and she turned into a shedding machine! i think i spent good two hours brushing her with a rake









Will brushing her everyday help with the shedding?.


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## Raziel (Sep 29, 2009)

I try to brush everyday. Its been FREEZING here so I skipped out on brushing for like 5 days.
BAD BAD IDEA!








I was outside brushing for soooo long.
They shed 24/7 365 days a year!
Hope you have a good vaccume!


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## Josiebear (Oct 16, 2006)

> Originally Posted By: Angel RI try to brush everyday. Its been FREEZING here so I skipped out on brushing for like 5 days.
> BAD BAD IDEA!
> 
> 
> ...


I have dare devil vaccum LOL. What do you use?. This coming spring i can probably see myself outside with her giving her a good brush!


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Bathing will increase shedding. Diet is a factor in excess shedding, along w/ seasons.
Do you give salmon oil, vitamin E and raw eggs? That will help the health of skin and coat. Humidity in the house helps too. 
Brushing helps remove the loose hair and will distribute the natural oils, but if they are shedding, they are shedding...I usually vacuum every day w/ 3 in the house, and my dogs aren't heavy shedders.


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## Josiebear (Oct 16, 2006)

> Originally Posted By: onyx'girlBathing will increase shedding. Diet is a factor in excess shedding, along w/ seasons.
> Do you give salmon oil, vitamin E and raw eggs? That will help the health of skin and coat. Humidity in the house helps too.
> Brushing helps remove the loose hair and will distribute the natural oils, but if they are shedding, they are shedding...I usually vacuum every day w/ 3 in the house, and my dogs aren't heavy shedders.


I gave her raw egg once she ended up throwing up. Not sure if it's the egg or she just had a stomach bug. 

Haven't given her the salmon oil and Vitamin E. Can you give those two together without harming the dog?. How much of the vitamin E do you give?.


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## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

With Max, getting the diet right and finding out that he was hypothyroid and treating for that, cut down on shedding quite a bit. But, alas, he is still a German shedder, no way around that!


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I give human grade gelcaps 1 400iu vitamin E daily, and 2 1000 mg of salmon oil(1 each mealtime) 
You can give as much as 4000mg salmon oil for a dog about 80#. Try the egg again maybe, see how it goes?


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

They are German Shedders after all. Mine are all blowing coat. Lovely while they are stuck inside all around me during the cold, cold snap. 

Good food, coat supplement...and hey, they may roll their coat even faster?! I use brushing, bathing and blow drying. First, you have to spend a fair amount of time with the rake, the brush and the comb so that you remove most of the loose hair. If you bath before you do that, well the coat just comes off in handfuls for you. I bath pretty frequently, shampoo twice and then use a conditioner. The conditioner will help remover hair also. Use only high quality dog products. Then blow dry with powerful dog dryer to remove what is left. This keeps mine pretty nice for quite awhile. It is a bit of a production though. In between, I brush and blow dry outside. It is all a lost cause in the winter and I am claiming the hair lining all the baseboards is my "green" approach to winter insulation. It is going to take the large shop vac to get that up!!


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## HeidiW (Apr 9, 2009)

My Bo is a big shedder more than Bella, he has more fur seems thicker is it because he is a sable? Not sure, How do you get your dog to eat a huge gel cap for vitamin E, is the Salmon oil actually oil where you can pour it on their food?


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## lrodptl (Nov 12, 2009)

Haircut (grooming) every 6 weeks and fish oil gelcaps have cut it in half at least,for me.


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## marksteven (Aug 2, 2008)

The Furminator helps quite a bit. nothing beats a Central Vacuum system!


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

My dogs think the gelcaps are treats. I get the clear ones, not opaque looking(they don't like those) one. Rexall brand is what I give.
I just add it to their bowl and they eat it, if it is still there after bowl emptying, I give it to them, all three eat it readily.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

I have found sables to have super lucious shedding undercoats. It is the dominant color in the breed and mine have all been thick with coat.


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## Skye'sMom (Jul 11, 2004)

Skye shed so much this summer and fall I had to have Buddy sub for some of her animal assisted therapy visits. I have never seen her shed so much and she is 6.5 years old.

About 2 months ago I switched both dogs from EVO to NOW! due to wanting less protein since they are older and not so active.

Evidently there was something in EVO that is not in Now! because she is not shedding at all now. It will be interesting to see if this continues when we get warmer weather.


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## Neenjah (Oct 14, 2009)

Josiebear said:


> I gave her raw egg once she ended up throwing up. Not sure if it's the egg or she just had a stomach bug.
> 
> Haven't given her the salmon oil and Vitamin E. Can you give those two together without harming the dog?. How much of the vitamin E do you give?.


I mix it in with the dog food, mine loves it.


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## JKlatsky (Apr 21, 2007)

Try coming to my house...4 German Shedders all blowing their coats in a staggered time frame that makes me think that they calculated the plan to keep me inundated in tumbleweeds for half the year. 

To cut down on hair in the house I use lots of vacuuming, brushing (I don't like the furminator, I prefer an undercoat rake and pin brush, finish with a slicker), At the height of blowing coat, I send them to the groomers. They use their high powered dryers to blow out a lot of the coat. Anka goes 3 times a year after she comes out of heat. (She goes into heat about every 4-5 months  )


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## GSDSunshine (Sep 7, 2009)

HeidiW said:


> My Bo is a big shedder more than Bella, he has more fur seems thicker is it because he is a sable? Not sure, How do you get your dog to eat a huge gel cap for vitamin E, is the Salmon oil actually oil where you can pour it on their food?


Well yours could be like mine and eat them like treats....:thumbup:
When we had to feed him the antibiotics he wasn't as thrilled so we took a straw and cut the middle out of a chunk of hot dog and stuffed the pill in there. then made him do a trick for his treat...never had a problem.

You can also cut the caps and poor into the food.

Other ways I have fed him things he doesn't like include...hiding them in raw hamburger, hiding them in peanut butter, hiding it in cheese, canned food, canned sardines. 

And I do capsules for both, but there is a liquid salmon oil you can squirt on the food. So try the feeding like treats, and if not, cut it open or hide it.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

What kind of grooming do you do? Specific brushes? How often?


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## Josiebear (Oct 16, 2006)

Lucy Dog said:


> What kind of grooming do you do? Specific brushes? How often?


i use rake and slicker brush. I try to brush her every day but most of the time i do it once a week or every other day give or take lol.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Try out a furminator. You can get them very cheap on ebay. At petco they're like $50-$60, but i got one on ebay for $12 w/ free shipping. 

I brush Lucy once every week and sometimes i'll wait two weeks and she barely sheds at all. I mean she sheds, but it's nothing crazy and she has a beautiful and shiny coat. It's a great tool if used correctly.

FURminator LARGE DOG & CAT deSHEDDING TOOL BRUSH NEW - eBay (item 220544046043 end time Feb-19-10 21:28:50 PST)


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## Northern GSDs (Oct 30, 2008)

There are 2 tools that I absolutely adore to help keep the shedding under control: Double rake and grooming comb (one end with wide teeth, the other with narrow teeth), used in that order. Rake, wide teeth, narrow teeth. Works fabulously! I've found that only using the rake doesn't work nearly as well, as its the comb that seems to really to the trick.

I also give salmon oil & vit E.


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

I feed raw diet and give fish oil, my dogs never blow their coats but are still german shedders! I use a furminator and slicker brush, and use a zoom groom during baths.


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