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  1. #1
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    Change in timing of heavy shed with age?

    I'm wondering if anyone has noticed a change in the timing of their dogs' coat-blowing as the dogs aged.

    Sunnie and Danny have always been about a week apart...Dan starting first.

    This year, Danny's shed started a bit later than usual and Sunnie's didn't start till close to a month after his did. He's been done now for about two weeks and she's about mid-blow.

    We normally bathe them close to the end of the blow phase and that's early July. This year? Sunnie got bathed yesterday prematurely and Dan's going under the hose today. (my back can't handle the drying routine for both dogs on the same day anymore even though Dan is pretty much self-drying on the towels I put down...Sunnie lays there like a sodden lump)

    Google isn't helping me so I figured I'd ask.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Jeff's Avatar
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    I would say it probably has more to do with weirder weather we have been getting. Hemi was late shedding this year and it is still going on.

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    SunDance (08-07-2018)

  4. #3
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    This year has seemed to be weird on the sheds overall.

    And as the dogs age, I think they seem to shed ALL the time.

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    SunDance (08-07-2018)

  6. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by JenC View Post
    This year has seemed to be weird on the sheds overall.

    And as the dogs age, I think they seem to shed ALL the
    time.
    Sunnie sure seems to have picked up her 24/7/365 shedding in the past couple of years. That's partially what made me wonder about the heavy shedding phase being somehow impacted. Actually, I rather think Sunnie sheds the way she does just to be annoying and get back at me for insisting on brushing her every day.

    Mine is a house of old dogs...I know I'm shedding a lot more than I used to.

    I thought about the weather...but we had some serious early heat this year (which we usually do) and, if anything, I would have thought that early blowing might have occurred. The only thing that's been truly odd has been the amount of rain. I mean....Maryland weather is notoriously changeable and confusing...from day to day as well as year to year.

    Sunnie's happy to hear she's in good company with Hemi.

  7. #5
    Senior Dog Berna's Avatar
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    I also think it’s weather related, although I’ve seen coats changing in older dogs, Cookie still has a beautiful coat.

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    SunDance (08-08-2018)

  9. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Berna View Post
    I also think it’s weather related, although I’ve seen coats changing in older dogs, Cookie still has a beautiful coat.
    I'm sure he does...he's maintaining his youthful glow in lots of ways. Testament to great care.

    Sunnie's coat is still really nice...and after a bath, even with coat blowing still going on, she looks dark and shiny. Her only old lady sign, other than how she walks, is "old dog nose" and she uses nose butter at dinnertime every day (so that tooth brushing will distract her while the butter sinks in). It's her one vanity.

    Baths always remove a good bit of hair on these two and the only time I Zoom Groom them is right before a bath, so that helps, too. The least amount of undercoat I have to deal with after the bath, the better...Sunnie is tough to get dry because her coat is so dense and she refuses to help me by rolling around in towels. Bathing after coat blowing has always been a thing for me. This is the first year that this "scheduled" bath has been so late in the year.

  10. #7
    Real Retriever SCDoug's Avatar
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    I haven’t been on the site or posted in a long time. Life got busy, and all of the sudden Lola is going to be 6 next week!

    This year, we noticed that Lola has a solid/wide strip that goes the length of her back, where the hair is noticeably shorter than the sides. The hair on the top of her back is a little more corse. Is this normal? It’s really noticeable because Lola is so white.
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    Just another day at the beach.....

  11. #8
    Senior Dog Shelley's Avatar
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    We have had the worst shedding season ever here, all of my gurls have been naked all summer.
    They started with the post season/spring shed, and then kept shedding, and shedding.... Friday is down to almost bare skin, with some topcoat after her litter, (this is normal, and hormonal and due to the stress on her body of a litter). Some regrowth is starting on some of the gurls, but not enough yet for shows later this month. The puppy Monday has the most coat of anyone in the house, its crazy!

  12. #9
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    I've never had any dogs shed like that, Shelley. They've all just gotten much furrier up to the point of blowing coats and then blew down to normal. This year was probably normal hair-wise for both dogs...just the skewed timing.

    We never knew exactly which of two color/patterns our male Akita was. In the Summer, Kaze was jet black. In the Winter, he was black/silver striped. So....was he black with a black brindle undercoat or was he black brindle with a silver undercoat? Hard to tell.

  13. #10
    Senior Dog Shelley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SunDance View Post
    I've never had any dogs shed like that, Shelley. They've all just gotten much furrier up to the point of blowing coats and then blew down to normal. This year was probably normal hair-wise for both dogs...just the skewed timing.
    I probably exaggerated a bit, they aren't totally naked or anything, but this years blow was Bad. And Long. Plus spayed dogs keep a heavier coat, we call it "spay coat" thicker denser heavier coat year round. My intact bitches shed much differently.

 



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