[ElliesKnapps]

We have a short haired German shepherd/collie mix, who is about 4 1/2 months old. She really doesn't shed too much but we want to get her a brush and weren't sure what be kind would be the best. Also I know German shepherds have seasonal shedding but is there like a specific time frame/months that this happens? Thanks!

 

[Kathyy]

I gave up on a real brush for my only short haired dog but to train grooming I'd buy a rubber curry brush type thing for right now. It's soft but not your hand so she will get used to the idea that she needs to be brushed all over.

My current medium coated dogs with 2" long hair over the shoulders love the slicker which was a big surprise to me. Slickers have cut wires that can scratch skin so I bought an expensive one with polished wires. My understanding is you can polish the wires yourself by brushing it on concrete until it leaves no white scratches on your arm.

Then when shedding I used a shedding rake on the short haired dog. Takes a ton of patience because you must let the rake's weight pull the hair out. It has sharp points that could hurt if you press it into the coat. That didn't work on current dogs. I do have a furminator but it's large and curls the hair sometimes so I've been using a metal flea comb to pull coat this year. Dogs actually enjoy it.

Puppy coat sheds out and adult coat comes in is the first shed. My dogs are shedding now and will lose hair all year round as well. I figure any hair in the brush is one less on the sofa plus brushing removes old dull hair and moves oil around so is a good thing year round. It's good to be able to handle the dog all over in case of injury as well. Yesterday during grooming I found an 1" wide clump of flower bracts under little Bucky's armpit and a grass seed deep inside Ginger's fur. Very glad routine grooming discovered these things.

 

[Lillith]

An undercoat rake. I use an Oster undercoat rake, and it's been really great for getting out the dead undercoat in the summer months. Then just a regular rubber brush with bristles for regular brushing.

 

[WesselGordon]

I don't have advice on a specific brush but expect her to shed more when the weather either cools off going into winter or when it starts warming up for summer. I have a German Shepherd/Collie mix with more of a Collie coat so there's always a few hairs around but it's worse in the seasons I mentioned.