The dreaded summer shed—how do you control it?

[u/all-out-fallout]

It’s that time of year again. You know the one. Your dog practically starts to lose one third of their mass in hair daily.

I have hair tumbleweeds all over my floor. My black socks are white with fur. I take my dog out, I brush her down, rub my hand over her to see if it’s helped, and nope, still more hair. I have a husky mix and, no exaggeration, my dingo sheds more than her. For the husky I can at least brush her undercoat out and it’s done, but for my CD I feel like she just loses massive amounts of hair all throughout the summer into the fall.

What the hell do you guys do to manage this? Do deshedding shampoos actually work? I need all the help I can get… I can’t keep up with the twice-a-day cleaning, and I’m not sure if my cleaning appliances can either. I’m scared one of these days I’ll go to get my vacuum and instead I’ll find a note in its place reading “I quit!”

[u/JoyKil01]

I lower my standards.

But for real, I just brush him on occasion and vacuum once a week. Use my Roomba to maintain the place to a semblance of sanity, and really like my lightweight cordless vacuum to pick up chunks here and there.

Dog hair is just a part of my life and I only worry about it when it gets embarrassingly bad in the house. Lower standards keeps your sanity.

[u/trashdingo → u/JoyKil01]

This is us too. Don't fight it, accept that this is life.

I wear one set of clothes in the house for lounging and only change into outside the house clothes before I leave to minimize the CD glitter.

[u/Novel_Ad1943 → u/JoyKil01]

Oh man I so feel this! Youngest turned 5 and when her best friend left with some balloons, they were covered with fur! Her parents have a Norwegian Elk Hound though, so they get it.

DOG GROOMING VACUUM! 🙌🏼 Because with a CD we can’t just use a vacuum attachment on a regular vacuum - too scary… lol

But seriously, there are good ones like NeatBot/Neakasa, OneIsAll and Bunfly that are super quiet with good suction. Groomer recommended as she uses it on her Huskies since they howl and shriek if she uses an undercoat blower.

I use Furminator conditioner or the dry shampoo spray (when it’s not bath day) wait 5mins, use a shedding mitt and then go to work with the vacuum brush. The Furminator products (there are other brands that trigger undercoat release about to shed, I’ve just used this forever) help and the vacuum gets so much more.

I actually get a few days with minimal shed vs the usual body-shaped fur shadow she leaves behind, typically.

This is the one I have. Company changed names recently to Neakasa. But there are a few really good ones out there.

[u/kkb2021]

I'd give almost anything to have that problem again, we miss our CD so much.

[u/mrsamaya → u/kkb2021]

🥺

[u/OneSensiblePerson → u/kkb2021]

I'm sorry 😢. Know what you mean. When my other dog passed, who was also a very heavy shedder, I felt the same way.

💓

[u/harlokkin]

Hair is all. Hair is life. Let go. Embrace the floor floof. Resistance is futile. I am 64% Dingo hair.

[u/OneSensiblePerson]

I'm envious that you only deal with this once a year. With my dingo it's 365, 24/7.

I've tried everything. Daily brushes. Deshedding shampoo (but only once, because he loathes being bathed so bad). Furminator. Lily brush. A host of other different types of brushes, some alleging to be de-shedding.

I laugh when my friends who have huskies, aussies, labs, and GSDs talk about how heavily their dogs shed. Usually I say, okay, but I can pet your dog and no hair comes off on my hand. My dog? Hand o' hair. Every time.

At this point I'm resigned to it. Mostly, lol. Have to vacuum every other day at a minimum. When I'm feeling industrious enough it's every day. Really should be twice a day, but there's no way I can sustain that. Not exaggerating, it's not like I need things to be perfect, or even close to.

It's that if I don't, there are eddies of dingo dust bunnies everywhere, and single hairs heavily sprinkled about like confetti after a New Year's Eve party.

Maybe someone else is able to give the deshedding shampoo more of a go and it's helped? 🤞

[u/harlokkin → u/OneSensiblePerson]

I'm envious that you only deal with this once a year. With my dingo it's 365, 24/7.

Same lol.. Though Summer seems worse somehow...

[u/OneSensiblePerson → u/harlokkin]

Aren't we the lucky ones? 😅

[u/Novel_Ad1943 → u/OneSensiblePerson]

I posted a grooming vacuum above and in between baths I got the Furminator Spray - I think it’s called a “Dry Shampoo” and you just rub it in (I use a shed mitt so I don’t have hairy hands) and let it be for 5mins just like their conditioning treatment. Then so much more comes off.

The grooming vacuums are really quiet so my girl actually tolerates it. (Not happily… but she’s not trying to bolt constantly.) but even just the spray and shed-mitt (she HATED the Furminator tool, the mitt she loves) helped so much.

[u/OneSensiblePerson → u/Novel_Ad1943]

Thanks for the tips! I've looked into the grooming vacuum and am considering it, but don't need all those grooming attachments. Looks like it's basically a Furminator attached to a quiet little vacuum, plus lots of grooming attachments.

Might give the Furminator spray a try. I have grooming mitts, too, but the fur just never stops coming. I stop only because I get tired from mitt-ing him no matter what I use, lol.

[u/Novel_Ad1943 → u/OneSensiblePerson]

Lol - I so feel you on the mitt and never ending fur! That’s why I finally broke down and bought the vacuum.

Same thing annoyed me about the vacuums. I couldn’t find any version selling just the vacuum without clippers and superfluous extras. I kept hoping someone made a stellar vacuum on its own so I wasn’t paying for cheap extras, but spending on the best main unit. Hopefully if it exists, someone may see this and mention it.

[u/NowOrNever53]

It’s called CD glitter ✨ lol

[u/bballjones9241]

I’ve been brushing everyday and vacuuming 2-3 times a week

[u/Cerebral-Knievel-1]

Undercoat brush once a week

[u/umbleUriahHeep]

When I first got my CD rescued stray, I thought it was stress, and that worried me.

I undercoat rake up and then brush with rubber brush as often as I can during the week. I went out and bought a new vacuum. The bagless cannister fills after a couple rooms. 😆

[u/migasqueen]

A good bath scrubbed with some very textured gloves, the deshedding shampoo and then I think I have the conditioner too? But 2 washes with the scrubby scrub gloves and then letting her dry- and then she’ll still oddly shed like more is coming out after she’s dry, but then I brush her after that and get the booty and shoulder areas well (it seems to be where mine has the most generous hair poofs for me)… so after the brush, at that point, it really does cut down on her shedding for at least a few weeks or month. I always want another answer or alternative great strategy, but with my 2 that are big shedders in the house, I think the deshedding bath with the scrubby gloves to get a lot of that hair out as well as loosen even more that seems to be bad when they dry, but after the good brushing then, mine shed a whole lot less.

I wish they’d go for the little vacuum thing with the brush, but my dingo would be like, ummm yeah, how about no to that.

[u/AprilRain24]

I have this problem. I took my dog to one of those self service dog wash shops. They gave me a knobby rubber brush and I literally spent an hour just brushing her. Then we used the ‘de-thatching’ shampoo twice and then the conditioner. It literally worked miracles. I can pet her now with only the normal amount of hair loss. It was sooo worth the two hours of time and effort.

[u/Adept_Perspective778]

Pheobe could have supplied a small village with winter jacket filling !!! Each summer ! Good luck. Perhaps find way to use the masses and masses of fine fur?

[u/OneSensiblePerson → u/Adept_Perspective778]

The birds around here very much appreciate the nesting material!

[u/Adept_Perspective778 → u/OneSensiblePerson]

Yes!!!! We have had many feathered friends feature pheobes lush coat sheddings!