Tips to Control Dog Shedding

Dog shedding is one of the most common problems faced by dog owners. It causes health problems and cleanliness issues, and is generally one of the more unpleasant aspects of owning a dog. However, with proper care, it is possible to control excessive shedding of dogs. Here are some tips to help you do so:

• Brushing: This is a perhaps the most important aspect of controlling excessive shedding. Brush your dog regularly, so that all the hair that the dog sheds can be easily collected. Hair that is loose but still attached will also get pulled out and this will reduce the day long shedding. If your dog has a very heavy coat and sheds excessively, brush him two, maybe even three times a day to prevent him from shedding all over the house.

• Food: One of the factors that causes shedding in dogs is consumption of the wrong kinds of foods. This disturbs their chemical balance in their bodies and leads to shedding. Consult your vet to find out the best food options to prevent excessive shedding.

• Supplements: There are essential oils present on the skin of the dog that help keeps it moist. When dogs undergo excessive shedding, they lose these essential oils rapidly, which leads to dry skin, which in turn leads to excessive shedding. Give your dog a fatty acid supplement to help maintain the required balance of essential oils in his body.

• Control Ticks and Fleas: Ticks or fleas on the bodies of the dogs can cause a lot of discomfort to the dogs because of the constant bites all over the bodies. Their bites are relatively itchy and dogs tend to scratch themselves a lot when they have ticks and fleas on them. This excessive scratching leads to a lot of hair loss as hair keeps getting pulled out as the dog scratches, and this leads to shedding wherever the dog may be. To reduce such shedding, ensure that your dog is completely free of ticks and fleas. Consult your vet for effective treatment, if your dog is infected by them.

• Bathing: Different breeds of dogs have different bathing requirements. While dogs like Newfoundlanders should not be bathed more than once every few months, almost every breed of dog that has a light to moderate coat of fur should be bathed regularly. Especially in the summer, depending on the breed of the dog, bathing your dog on a weekly basis will help control excessive shedding to a large extent. This is because moistening the skin helps prevent shedding caused by dry skin.

• Use the right brushes: There are different kinds of brushes available for different purposes. For instance, you can use a slicker brushes, shedding blades, matbreakers, love gloves and stripping blades effectively to control excessive shedding. Consult your vet to find out the right kind of brushes that can be used for your breed of dog and learn about their individual functions.

• Regular Check ups: Sometimes excessive shedding can be a symptom of a disease and regular check ups will ensure that your dog is in perfect health and that his shedding is natural.

Dog Shedding: An Introduction

If you are a dog owner, one of the many facts about your dog that you are simply going to have to live with is that your dog sheds. Almost every variety of dog sheds hair, unless it is a completely hairless dog, much like the American Hairless terrier. The shedding may vary from light to heavy depending upon the breed of the dog and the kind of coat he has.

Dogs shed hair for two reasons primarily. One is the temperature. The fur on the body of the dog is meant to insulate him. When the temperature is cold, the dog needs a heavier coat to protect himself against the cold and as a result, his coat is thicker when the weather is cold. When the temperature rises, however, a heavy coat of fur becomes a liability and a source of discomfort for the dog. It needs to shed the excess hair on his body to allow the skin to breath and to prevent his body from overheating, which can lead to other problems like dehydration.

The other reasons dog shed hair is to remove dead and unwanted skin cells from their bodies, just like all other creatures, including humans. In the case of humans, dead skin cells ret removed from the body in the form of nails and hair on the head or face, in the case of men, which grows in length. The fur of the dog cannot grow beyond a certain length depending upon the breed of the dog. Since dead skin cells cannot be removed through growing length of hair, it happens by complete replacement of their hair. As your dog sheds hair, it is removing the excessive dead skin cells on his body and it soon gets replaced by a fresh coat for the new season.

Some breeds of dog, especially those found in colder parts of the world, are known to have double coats of fur. They have a much softer undercoat and on top of that, there is a much coarser overcoat. This overcoat is thick and has relatively longer hair and its primary purpose is to protect the dog from cold weather and snow. These breeds of dogs, most notably, the Siberian Husky or the Great Pyrenees, are known to shed profusely and regularly. They shed their coats twice a year, once in spring and then again in fall. Such excessive shedding that occurs twice a year is known as ‘blowing coat.’

Some other breeds of dogs seem to shed hair all year long. This phenomenon is caused by the domestication of dogs. Dogs that spend most of their time indoors get acclimatized to the more insulated temperature indoor and their bodies have the right amount of fur to suit that temperature. However, every time the dog goes in and out of the house, there is huge gap in the temperature and the body of the dog has to readjust to this temperature change constantly. This is the most common cause that leads to dog shedding all year long.