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Furminator works great, but does my dog need her undercoat for the hot weather?

12K views 23 replies 12 participants last post by  Tankstar 
#1 · (Edited)
Dog Mammal Vertebrate Dog breed Canidae
She is a mixed breed, definitely a herding dog. I've always thought she was a Shepherd and Husky mix. She's medium-sized and about 45 pounds. Hot natured, very playful and obedient. Once or twice she has been an escape artist, which makes me more confident of the Husky mix.

I don't groom her and I would rather not. She's an indoor dog mostly although I do exercise and walk her regularly.

I've heard that for some dogs, the undercoat cools them in hot weather. How do I know if using the Furminator is making her hotter or cooler for the summer months?
 
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#3 ·
Yeah, I agree with spotted nikes. Especially if you've seen that she blows her coat when the weather turns anyway. Back in March Jax began to blow his (his Husky side showing lol) and being my first time experience with such, I find it to be absolutely absurd just how much there was. Got a furminator brand new on ebay for about $20 (hehe) and absolutely love it. Best purchase for him yet. The first night I had it, we spent a half hour outside covering my backyard with his fur and I still was pulling off brush-fulls for a week. Since he was blowing it anyway, the furminator only helped accelerate it and keep some of it out of the house. I won't touch him with that brush when winter comes and the weather turns cold again; I'll get a regular brush of some sort to use when needed.
 
#4 ·
Wait, I thought the undercoat insulated from the cold AND the heat. Muggsy had a full double coat and never seemed to mind either extreme. Obviously, I brushed him, but I never removed a layer.
 
#6 ·
Wait, I thought the undercoat insulated from the cold AND the heat.
it does. That's why people who have double coated breeds are told to never shave them. The undercoat keeps them warm in the cold and cooler in the heat. Daily/weekly brushing will pull out the loose undercoat from shedding.

I would never use a furminator on a double coated breed as a good rake does the job just as well an is nowhere near as harsh on the coat as the furminator. (the furminator is a based off a blade that would go on clippers).
 
#12 ·
As I said previously, I used it when Jax was blowing his coat and I was impressed and didn't figure any harm in it since I was more or less removing fur he was losing anyway. That aside, I wouldn't (and don't) use it on him regularly. I don't think I've even so much as touched it in weeks. Reading some of the other responses on here, I hadn't thought of it before but I could see where it could do more harm than good on some dogs. Guess the answer really is kind of dependent on your breed, but if you're looking for a great deshedder brush, it's definitely up there.
 
#13 ·
This reminds me of men wearing an undershirt. Does the undershirt make you cooler or hotter in warm weather? In cold weather, multiple layers means greater warmth, and yet many insist an undershirt in warm weather makes them cooler.

This one looks like it's a matter of personal choice, as Niraya says. If she seems noticeably hotter than usual, I will know. For now, I think I will stick with only occasional use during the summer months.

Oh, and I don't wear an undershirt in summer although I do layer clothes in winter.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Someone once made the analogy to me that a dogs undercoat was like the insulation in your house.

For reference:
Since heat will always move to a colder source, in cold climates, insulation slows the heat from leaving the house and in hot climates insulation slows down the hot outside air from entering the cool inside. The result in both climates is energy saved by keeping the air conditioner or the furnace from operating as often.
Just kinda apply that to dogs lol.
 
#19 ·
Have teh groomer shave her.
Don't shave a double coated dog. Then you take away all their insulation and sun protect and trade that for a coat that grows back wonky. One of my friends about strangled her roommate for shaving her BC/retriever mix (best guess, but clearly double coated), poor dog looked funny shaved and looks just as funny with the coat coming back in. Didn't do much of anything for cooling her off either.

My aunt had a husky for years in Florida. A good brushing worked on the shedding and didn't break up his coat. He managed in the heat as well as any other dog (hot is hot at a certain point)
 
#22 ·
Biscuit has bizarre patches of double coat but is mostly single coated. Her fur is mostly very soft, like puppy fur, and extremely dense. She has been blowing her coat on and off for more than a month now! I blame the weather. Every time it gets hotter, my floor is suddenly a sea of blonde hairballs.

Anyhow. I do think the Furminator has its uses, especially for dogs with short, coarse hair. But even for Biscuit, we use it a) at the height of the peak shedding season, when the Zoom Groom and slicker brush just don't cut it, and b)behind her ears. The fur behind her ears is especially fine, soft, dense, and generally impenetrable, and tends to mat if you look at it wrong, and it's hard to even notice these small mats because the fur is so thick. A little Furmination back there every couple of weeks thins things out and keeps the mats from forming, and easily removes any baby mats that are hiding in the weeds. Other than that, I highly recommend the Zoom Groom. Fur seems to stick to the rubber and unlike the Furminator, I can feel sure that the Zoom Groom isn't cutting the hairs.
 
#23 ·
Loose/dead undercoat is shed for a reason and should be brushed out to keep the dog's coat properly insulated against cold AND heat. Brushing out the dead stuff doesn't remove ALL the undercoat. But the dog's body is shedding it because it's not needed/being replaced by new undercoat.
 
#24 ·
You need to groom her.

get a slicker, a greyhound comb and a good undercoat rake. If you really feel like splurging id highly suggest a HV blower. will help blow out tons of coat. She sheds because its summer, and its dead hair. For a coat to work properly, they dead hair needs to be removed. To help keep her cooler and let her coat work properly. She needs to have the undercoat out.

shaving will do much more harm then good. And can and does drasticlly change the coat. And not for the good.
 
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