Oh, the hair!

B

BeauGizmoMax

Forums Regular
Hi there,

So I have a wonderful 8 1/2 month old Sheltie boy, Beau.
I've had Shelties in the past, but Beau is not quite like any of the ones I've been around. He is on the big side (probably 21 1/2 inches or slightly more at this point, at the shoulders), which I like about him (: I'm a little baffled by his shedding though...

I remember that our Shelties, when I was younger, shed in 'clumps'. You could just pull them right out as they would walk by. I don't remember there being a lot of shedding other than the clumps though.
Now, with Beau? I know he is still a pup so his coat isn't fully mature yet but this dog sheds SO MUCH! :eek2:
He was shedding from a pretty early age, when his fuzz started to turn into his longer rough coat. He doesn't seem to have a fluffy undercoat (I'll put pictures at the end of this post), but he is still young.
The thing that I'm wondering about is why isn't he shedding 'like a sheltie'? His hairs all come out individually (he sheds a lot like my brother's Golden Retriever actually.) I do brush him, probably every other day but I try to run the brush over him every day. Even doing this doesn't cut down on the hair all over my clothes and on the floor, though.

Do I just have a weird Sheltie? xD
He eats Performatrin Ultra Puppy food (all my other dogs have eaten Performatrin), I haven't tried switching him because he has a fairly sensitive stomach and gets diarrhea. But if the weird ( :razz: ) shedding could be due to his food/something else any advice is appreciated! (:


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Some pictures ^^
 
Welcome to Sheltie Nation! Thanks for sharing your photos of Beau...good pics. I am no expert on shedding, except that I have a PhD in running a Dyson. :smile2: Most of the members are very knowledgable, much more than I am, about the breed. I am sure they will have some good ideas about the shedding.
 
First of all Beau is so handsome! Can't wait to see more pix as his coat fills out.:biggrin2:

His shedding don't sound unusual other than the age. Most sheltie's don't shed much until they'er about a year old. Now shedding in clumps like you previous shelties does sound unusual. From the sound of things I'm assuming you were a child when you had them? What amount of grooming did they get? I have a friend that has some kind of collie, border collie, or sheltie mix (it's just a heinz 57) that sheds like that. My friend is elderly and dosn't groom the dog, just takes him to the groomer every 6 months to a year. It drives me crazy. Because he doesn't groom him his undercoat comes out in clumps. Because Beau's fur is coming out the way it is shows that you take care of his hygiene.

Just to let you know, I try to groom all my dogs every day or every other day, and even I sometimes get a clump now and then.:o
 
What you described is exactly what I went through between my sheltie growing up and my sheltie now.

I'm assuming by clumps you mean that it would be sort of gathered together, not in a knot but like one section released at the same time? The male sheltie my parents had did that when he would blow his coat in the spring.

Now my current sheltie we got when she was around 10 months (rough guess since she was picked up off the street the month before.) She really didn't have an undercoat to speak of until she was a year and a couple months, and now at two and a half it's only starting to really fluff up (part of that is adjusting from Texas to Virginia.) Her coat doesn't "blow" so much as deposit hairs on every surface she touches no matter the time of year or how often she is line brushed.

I have no idea if this is normal but at least you're not alone?
 
My last dog was half-Sheltie; his entire coat was like a Sheltie's undercoat, and the shed continually, really fine, small hairs. I'd say give this some time, though, and things may change.
 
Sounds pretty normal to me. I groom mine 2x a week and vacuum the house every morning and by afternoon you would think I didn't even own a vacuum because there is sheltie fur floating around all over the place. I never get clumps when I groom them. As others have mentioned, I suspect the doggies from your childhood whose fur came out in clumps didn't get the same amount of grooming you are giving your "not so little" sheltie now. And there are definitely "blow coat" times of year when the shedding is worse, but it never totally stops.

Trini
 
Shelby tends to have more clumps when she is blowing her coat. When she is I brush her daily and still find clumps wherever she lays. The rest of the year she tends to shed like you are describing.
 
Thank you everyone for the responses!

My Sheltie growing up, I remember my parents used to brush and vacuum (we had a dog brush attachment)him every so often but he definitely had little fur clumps at certain times of the year. I think the lack of regular brushing makes sense for that though, now that it's been mentioned! Maybe because at that age I didn't do much of the cleaning I didn't notice either :wink2: Also, we don't really have any fabric surfaces. Our furniture is leather and the floors are hardwood so I think the hair spreads out because it doesn't have anything to stick to, like it would on fabric.

My beloved Sheltie, whom I grew up, with passed almost 6 years ago & we just had our Yorkie's after that. So getting Beau has been a dog hair adjustment :lol:
It doesn't bother me much because I'll still cuddle him no matter how much hair I get all over me (and in my mouth lol)! I was just curious if his shedding was 'normal', he definitely broke the size mold! So who knows what other quirks he may have? haha

Thanks again all, I can be a bit neurotic with him sometimes (like the time I rushed him to the vet thinking he had a bladder infection, turns out he just peed a lot more that day :o ). Our other two dogs are family pets, but Beau I've cared for and trained from the day I got him, so I treat him like my baby :biggrin2:
 
Aargh! I could not open the photos but no one else seemed to have a problem.

I'm particularly interested because I happen to own a Pet Valu franchise and if the food is potentially an issue, I need to know it, because Performatrin is our house brand.
 
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