Saturday, September 27, 2008

Look At All That Hair!

There is a reason German Shepherds are called German Shedders. Look at all that hair! German Shepherds shed 365 days a year. They blow their coat twice a year, depending on the climate you live in, most often the beginning of spring and fall. that is when you will find little tufts of hair that you just can not resist plucking off your German Shepherd. Depending on each individual dogs coat, is going to determine how often you should brush him.

Jake has a very thick undercoat, so he needs a good brushing every week. Some times I slack and he doesn't get brushed as often anymore. All the hair above came from 30 minutes of brushing. I know I can get that much more off of him in another week too! Good thing I love grooming the dogs.

After his brushing, laying in his pile of hair.
As Jake has gotten older, grooming sessions wear him out.
Handsome boy.
He feels so much better.

The Furminator is an excellent deShedding tool to help get all that dead undercoat out. Many people have had great success using this for their German Shepherds. However, I own one, and it does not do the job for Jake. Always worth a try though.
I prefer the Undercoat Rake. All of the hair I took off Jake came from using this tool. Very easy and simple to use. Brushing Jake every two weeks keeps his shedding to a minimum, but, he is a German Shepherd, so he will always shed. Having five dogs in the house is a good reason to own a very good vacuum.

6 comments:

Betty said...

Wow, that's a LOT of hair...glad to hear you are willing to brush him often!

I use a Slicker-type brush on the toy poodles...works really well for their curly little hair.

Take care. Jake is a truly handsome guy!

Dog_geek said...

The undercoat rake works great for Z, too, although I have yet to try the furminator. Z *loves* to be brushed - it is hard to brush anyone else without Z trying to worm his way in.

troutbirder said...

Thanks for the info. I need to work on this subject more. It helps keep peace on the home front.

T said...

betty, it is even more hair when I do all five dogs! Yikes!

dog-geek, The furminator was a waste of money for me, but I had to try it. I do prefer the Rake fo my dogs, but they are all different.

troutbirder, You are welcome, I just looked at your blog today and I was laughing at Baron looking in your window, too funny.

Shirla said...

We used to have a German Shepherd, I remember all the hair! Nixie did not like to be brushed at all.

Dana said...

He is very handsome indeed!! Do you have any nail trimming tips:)