Shedding

[HortonDoodle]

Hi Everyone -

Horton is shedding like crazy!! He's been very low-shed so could this be the cold weather or that his fur is much longer than it was in the summer? We have not had him trimmed at all. There are huge tumbleweeds of Horton fur all over the house.

Do Doodles shed in the winter? We live in Michigan by the way...if that matters as far as weather is concerned.

Thanks

[KingstonTodd]

How old is Horton? They blow their puppy coat at 8 months to 1 yr. Mine dont shed more in the winter and we are in Ontario, its cold here like Michigan.

[MaxandMe]

I am going to ask same thing as most doodles will lose their puppy coat before a year old and shed LIKE crazy for 2 to 2.5mos then stop.

peanut (f1 GD) who doesn't shed ...at 6mos old she blew puppy coat, i was ready to lose it with puppy fuzz all over the place and at 8mos old
i brought her to the groomer and that ended the puppy coat shedding. we had her clipped down to i think 1.5inches.

Max (f1 LD)always shed lightly afterwards but stopped shedding since this past june when he turned 2yrs old. The groomer used
shot shampoo and then coat king (or even furminator).

[HortonDoodle]

Horton is 11 months old, so it sure sounds like the puppy fur thing. Jeez-o-pete there's a lot of it!!

We'll look into taking him to a groomer cause my vacuum cleaner is choking!

Thanks for the responses.

[Jac]

If he has never shed before, likely it is a puppy coat thing...but if not, there could be a reason (parasites is one)...so if it continues you might want to see your vet.
Most of the Doodles will leave small tumbleweeds...even though they don't normally shed (like most think of shedding for dogs) but in all reality, all creatures do shed a bit...even humans! Sounds like you are dealing either with a blowing puppy coat or with some health issue...not a serious one, but pups with parasites can lose their coats.
Good luck!

[dustt]

hi - no shedding here yet - but Hamish is only 6 months old - glad to see more Michigan doodles - we're on Grosse Ile - I'd be interested to hear if the new fur comes in different from his puppy coat - I'm a little worried about Hamish losing his beautiful silky curls!!!!

[PlainJane]

Jazz just started. It's weird -- you can pull on her hair and get nothing, and then I'll walk away and come back and she runs to get her ball and I see a "dime-size PUFF" on the floor. She's itchy right now too, but I think that's from surfin the leaves. She's obsessed with "piles" of leaves and brings them inside velcrosed all over her. She had 3 on her face the other night.

She's 10 mos.

[SykoSofie]

Up until very recently, my Linus, a first generation, has not shed very much. Now at 6 1/2 months he's starting to shed like crazy! He was just on my lap, and as I look down at my white sweatshirt.... He also had a bath earlier today, and we washed out a lot of loose hair then. I'm hoping it's just that "blowing puppy coat" phase... I've only found a couple of little "tumbleweeds" since I got him. I expect some shedding from a 1st gen, but not this much! In the meantime, I've heard that the Dyson is a great vacuum cleaner for pet hair. Maybe I should be talking to Santa.

[cissy k]

The first few months we had Semi, I could brush her and get nothing in the brush. Now, at almost seven months, we get a brush full of hair. But I just assumed it was because her coat is longer and thicker. No actual balls of fur anywhere but this may be her version of blowing her coat. If so, GREAT! And no hair changes except it is lighter and she has more kemp.

[HortonDoodle]

Horton has always shed a tiny bit, but not like this. We have wood floors and a dark rug in the living room. I vacuum that thing pretty much daily because it's just covered by the end of the day.

We are taking him to the vet on Saturday though because he does have some scaly skin thing going on under his arms and on his belly. Under his arms seem moist too...gross. I've googled over and over and what it seems to be is a skin/yeast infection. His belly has never had much fur so I don't know if what is going on with his skin could contribute to the shedding, I'm guessing maybe but his age is perfect for blowing his puppy fur too. It may just be a combination of both. Hopefully we'll get him on some antibiotics for his skin thing and be done with that.

Has anyone else had the skin/yeast infection on their doodles? I guess it can start out as an allergy but then turns to this, if in fact this is what it is. Not sure what he's allergic to. He does not chew on his paws and does not have recurring ear infections which I guess are allergy symptoms. His skin is itchy though. We have switched him to Natural Balance Duck and Potato thinking it was perhaps the chicken in his other food, or grains that were bothering him. He's been on that awhile and it doesn't seem to be making any difference with his skin.

Any thoughts on the yeast thing?

[Diane at DVL]

I agree with the others that based on his age, it is probably a puppy coat thing. But my Ruby has this incredibly soft, fine fleece and if I let it get past 3 or so inches long, I start finding tumbleweeds (more likes little mats) that drop out of her fur. I've never shaved her all the way down, but this will go away when I have her cut down to an inch. She is about 18 months now. Good luck!

[MaxandMe]

NOTE: puppies start to blow puppy coat between age 6 to 8mos, usually lasting on and off for say 2 - 2.5mos
totally normal esp/with F1 generations.

IF it gets real bad and you can't keep up or take it anymore, you can have a groomer do a
Best Shot Shampoo and then use either Coat King or Furminator which will take out much puppy coat
thus no shedding for several months.

Hang in there, sweep every couple days and well the vacuum 2 times a week helps along with a lint brush
IT DOES STOP and it does get better