We're so excited that spring is finally here. But, with spring comes the shedding of the fur coat. The pooches lose nearly their whole coat. Which with two 75 lb pooches means a lot of hair.One of the smartest things I did after getting Miss M. was adapting my furniture needs to my new lifestyle with a dog. I was a single girl without any real furniture. When I did decide to buy things, I went for non-traditional furniture that is light and would be easy to move.
Now vacuuming is super-easy. I ended up with these upholstered cubes I bought on sale fromWest Elm. They are really lightweight and they even have wheels. If the pooches are having doggy smackdown, or even just sprawled out for a snooze, the cubes just roll out of the way.
The best part is they're multi-use. I originally used to have them for seats at our table. Now they work as ottomans, side tables, or extra seating for parties. While West Elm doesn't carry these any more, I do like the quad stool ottoman from CB2, or this less expensive storage option from Target.The second thing we've been doing is giving the pooches fish oil in their meals.
We just squirt a bit on top of their food, and they actually enjoy the taste. The extra Omega 3's keep their fur healthy and shiny which means their hair is less dry and brittle. And if their hair is less dry and brittle that means less shedding and hair for us to sweep up.Do all dogs shed their coats at this time? How do you keep up?
22 comments:
its a lot different now that we don't have carpet. Baily sheds a lot year round. They have super healthy coats but we sweep up a BC sized ball of fur once a week (thats cumulative since we sweep almost daily). A lint roller is my favorite accessory :)
Man o Man do Mia and I shed. We shed a WHOLE lot. We don't have carpet on the main level and sometimes momma says the dust/hair bunnies are ALIVE. That like totally creeps us out. Momma likes to furminate us with the furminator. She LOVES that thing!
Wags and Woofs,
Mack and Mia
mornin'!!
my mama and daddy give me and asa a generous spoonful of full fat, plain yogurt at supper time. this helps reduce shedding and keeps our skin looking most perfect! not to mention the fact that it's super delicious. :)
mama also tries to take me and asa out on the deck regularly and brush us to get all the extra furs off. man, does that feel good...it gives me the jibblies all over. teehee.
*woof*
the booker man
"doggy smackdown"- that made me laugh :)
Mickey (brown dog) doesn't shed too much, but Kayloo (black & white one) sheds like crazy. We're all over the Furminator, that is pretty much the only thing that works on her (I am *so* glad she has short hair, if it was long I would die choking on a furball).
Plus I put all their blankets, cushion covers etc in the wash & then the dryer to get all the hair out.
I am going to try the fishoil thing.
Shedding time you are lucky with Bobby its all year, I would love to give him a good brush but because he has been badly treated a brush is out of the question.
On the other hand because Pip is hair it just grows and has to be cut, but no shedding.
Bess doesn't shed a whole lot. Heffner pretty much sheds year round. The tool that I've found helps me the most is the Zoom Groom by the people who make Kongs. It's super cheap at around $5, and gets soooooooooooo much hair out! When I keep up with currying the dogs once a week with it, we don't notice hardly any dog hair in the house. It's also really good for their skin. Helps to keep the good skin oils distributed.
We were just looking into fish oil to start giving Darwin cause her coat has been looking a little dull lately. We got a few capsule samples at the pet store and she LOVED when we squirted it on her food. Maybe we'll try this same one you're using! Thanks for the post(and link - I love when people link to products - so handy!)
Well thankfully the kiddlets are so small that if they are shedding we wouldn't really know!!!
Sugar with her white fur seemed to shed year round! White furs all over the place!!! You think having a short coated dog will make things easier something.. but those white furs, we found them for months after sweet Sugar was gone.
xo martine & the kiddlets
Me and Brudder Ranger have that exact same salmon oil!!! Oh, we luvs it lots! I don't sheds too much but whoo boy, Brudder Ranger does! And his hairs stick in sweaters and stuff real good. Mom has sticky rollers everywhere and we also have one of those scary sucking machines that mom calls "Dyson" and she says that helps a lot (even if it gives me the willies).
Wiggles & Wags,
Mayzie
Mr B is so cute, but he does have a bit of a porcine look to him as he lies on the rug...hehe!
your right shedding season ish upon ush and mommish has taken the carpet out this winter sho that should be easier for her to clean
thanks for the tips
pibble sugars
the pittie pack
Mina is anti-shedding. She does not do it. :)
Celeste sheds year-round. She is double-coated. She sheds the most during spring and summer, when it is warm.
Husky and Malamute owners laugh at our idea of "shedding". :)
Stella sheds but thankfully it's short and heavy so it falls straight to the floor. Haven't tried the fish oil but she gets half a mackerel for supper every couple of weeks. Her coat is pretty fabulous.
When I had Rainy, she shed constantly! I knew pugs shed 365 days a year, but it was totally crazy! One of the things I may look for on purpose in a dog when I get one is for a low shedding variety. While all dogs shed some, I think one that doesn't shed a lot would be best for me. I like the idea of fish oil or yogurt or something to help a dog's coat and thus reduce the shedding problem. And, heeee @ doggie smackdown!
mom said I am the only Frenchie that sheds enough to make a wig
Benny & Lily
Valuable post. There's tons of fur at our home too. We got rid of all the carpeting and now we can clean the floors very easily. We never use the broom, it's just not enough. We use the vacuum. We also get Furminated. As for the fish oil, we just recently found out about it so we can't give you any feedback.
Twinie
We understand about the shedding, our vacuum is on the fritz from all the fur! On an unrelated subject, I love your colorful pillows - very cool.
Our furnitures are not easy to move, but they are all Mango colored. Hehehe. Still, lots of labrafur everywhere. I eat that fish oil too!
Slobbers,
Mango
Haha! Keep up - shedding? Keep up! Haha! That's very funny.
The Porties are said to be non-shedding, but that really means that they don't lose the whole coat with the seasons. They have hair like humans that drops out, like humans, so there are tumbleweeds year round, but not like Morgan and Tsar, who shed big piles of fur in the spring and fall.
I find it amazing that we notice the dog hair much less than the bird feather and bird dander (cockatiel only) situation. When my cockatiel molts, it's just nasty-feather everywhere. And the dander is equally gross. It just looks like I have a killer case of dandruff after she sits on my shoulder. Hence the need for bird t-shirt attire to protect my real clothes.
Boomer and Dottie shed all the time... seriously... all the time. We give them fish oil twice a day (capsule form) with their meals and they have gorgeous coats (if I do say so myself) but they still shed like the dickens creating what I call Boomer Bunnies and Dottie Bunnies all over the floor. We almost have to vacuum daily to keep up with their fur, but that's life with labs!
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