[JessRU09]

How much has your dog's coat changed as he or she has grown? How about from winter to summer?

The weather warmed up quick towards the end of last month, and has mostly tapered off to normal May temperatures for NJ. As soon as we had our first few hot days, Dexter began shedding like crazy. I guess it's the husky in him, because it certainly "blew". (And with our luck, the vacuum broke, so we had a nice layer of dog hair gathering on our area rug. Luckily we only have a few carpets and were able to borrow one!)

I wasn't expecting such a huge shed from him... but I was grooming him 2 or 3 times a day and still finding tumbleweeds of fur on the floor. My mom bought me an awesome retractable brush which makes grooming a breeze, and creates little sponge-sized dog hair clumps.

His shedding has finally started to taper off, and his coat feels different. His undercoat isn't as plush and soft. I'm hoping it's just a seasonal change, and not a puppy to adulthood change.

 

[Kathyy]

Both my dogs started growing a lot more hair on the tummies when they got older, that is the main coat change I have noticed.

The 15.5 year old lab mix has the most amazing thick coat right now but she has had years where she first sheds the undercoat and then feels like a prickly porcupine until it comes out and she has a full double coat again. Her coat has gotten plusher over the years I think. When I got her as an adolescent I didn't know she had an undercoat. Man, she has an undercoat now!

I don't like soft coats. Soft means undercoat to me and undercoat means loads of hair all over the place. And with spaniel mix Max soft means stuff tangles in it. Silky is good, smooth is good, soft, not a fan.

 

[JessRU09]

I forgot about that... when we first got Dex at about 10 weeks, he had a bald belly. He looked like a little piggy when he was on his back. Since then he's grown long, soft fur in that area.

 

[Raggs]

It can take some breeds up to 2 years to get their "adult" coat in. They can change, texture, curl and color until that point. Now this is only SOME breeds.. not all... Puppy coats are usually soft and fluffy and thin and dry fast.. Where as the adult coat is usually more coarse (can still be soft, just not as soft as a puppy). There are 2 major shedding times in a year.. Spring to Summer and Fall to Winter... Those are only the MAJOR times, where you see the most coat come out.. However dogs shed all year round.. Especially if they are indoor. The artificial heat of the heater can make them shed more.. That's why proper grooming is a must..

It may look like harmless shedding.. Having small amounts of hair falling out.. but most people don't see the big part.. Especially the double coated breeds.. Most of that hair that sheds out, doesn't hit the floor.. It get caught in the rest of the coat causing mats and just massive undercoat.. Part of why when one of those 2 major shedding cycles comes around there seems to be a lot of hair... Some of it is hair that never got brushed out properly...

I had a plush coat GSD... I would bathe her twice a week to keep down on the shedding... I hardly ever vacuumed up dog hair.