How long does your shedding season last?
Ours lasts approximately from Labor Day to Thanksgiving. Jujube started on Labor Day and Loki is almost finished. One of the downsides to being a shiba owner.
Showing posts with label shedding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shedding. Show all posts
The Problem With Having Two Dogs
When one dog is just about done with shedding, the other one is just about to start.
Blowing Coat
Loki has been blowing coat for months now. Okay, I don't know exactly how long, but it seems like a very long time. Too long. Dog hair is everywhere!
And Loki looks like he has some weird skin disease. It's clumpy. He has patches of more and less fur. See picture.
And Loki looks like he has some weird skin disease. It's clumpy. He has patches of more and less fur. See picture.
Back when we first got Loki from the breeder, she told us about how shibas blow coat twice a year. She also told us that when she gets puppies returned to her, they are typically out of coat. That's a stupid reason to get rid of a puppy.
So for those of you who haven't had shibas and are thinking about getting one, they blow coat. When they do this, your house will be attacked by dog hair. And your shiba will look weird, like it has a skin disease. A furminator will help.
Fluffy!
Dogs with double coats regulate their body temperature by shedding off and growing in their undercoat. If it's colder, they grow more undercoat. If it's warmer, they grow in less of an undercoat.
Now that we have moved into a colder climate, Loki is FLUFFY! I've never seen his coat so full. His belly is also completely fluffy. In the past, you could see his pink skin on his underside pretty easily between the sparse hair.
Consequently, he looks bigger. But really, it's just all fur.
Can you tell the difference? The camera can't quite capture the thickness of his undercoat. But he definitely is fluffier now than ever before.
Hm... does that mean that the spring time blowing coat season will be worse?
Now that we have moved into a colder climate, Loki is FLUFFY! I've never seen his coat so full. His belly is also completely fluffy. In the past, you could see his pink skin on his underside pretty easily between the sparse hair.
Consequently, he looks bigger. But really, it's just all fur.
Before:
(living in So. California)
(living in So. California)
After
(living in DC Metro area):
(living in DC Metro area):
Can you tell the difference? The camera can't quite capture the thickness of his undercoat. But he definitely is fluffier now than ever before.
Hm... does that mean that the spring time blowing coat season will be worse?
Shedding
Loki's starting to shed again. But the sad part is that he's only starting to blow his coat. Having gone through his blowing coat last fall, I now know that this is only the beginning & it's going to get much worse. In fact, the spring time should in theory be worse than the fall time. So I don't even know the worst of it! Time to get the brush, Furminator, & vacuum cleaner out.
Changes through the year
In the past year, Loki has gone through a number of changes - changes in his appearance, changes in his personality, changes in his tastes, and changes in his behavior.
Besides the obvious changing of size, a couple things were unexpected for us as first time puppy owners. Loki's fur went through many changes. When he was about 4 months old, he started to lose his puppy fur. I thought he had some skin disease! I even thought about bringing him to the vet. His fur looked absolutely terrible. I think puppy fur is all undercoat hair. When his adult hair came in, he started to look better. I was surprised by how "waterproof" his adult outer coat was. Drops of water would just roll off his back.
Also his butt hair has gone through various changes. Through most of the first year, his butt hair was long and looked funny. Yun always thought we should go get that part of him groomed. In the past couple months, Loki's butt hair now looks so much better. Who knew? He must have shed off those long weird looking tufts of fur. Now he has a cute butt =)
Then through maybe 6 months to a year, his body and head were a bit awkward and out of proportion, just like human teenagers. I think that even now, his body shape is still changing a bit. I hope he fills out a little more.
Loki's personality seemed to change daily. Actually, his personality is still changing. Some days he is good. Some days he is bad. Most days he is independent, non-cuddly, and standoff-ish. While most dog owners think that is weird for a dog, we love the fact that Loki is independent.
More recently, he's really loving belly rubs. He wasn't like that as a puppy at all. As a puppy, he didn't really like to be on his back. But these days, he can't seem to get enough of belly rubs. He twitches his hind legs in such a cute way! He now happily gets multiple belly rubs each day. What a lucky dog! We can't refuse, because he's so cute.
As a puppy he only occasionally did the Shiba 500. Maybe only a few times a month. But recently, he's taken to doing it almost daily, right after his walk. You'd think that he'd be tired right after his hour long walk, but as soon as I get his leash off, he starts his Shiba 500 around the apartment.
I remember when he was around 3 -6 months old, he didn't care too much about birds & chasing other creatures. I thought that was weird, because I always read that Shibas has a high prey drive. Apparently, I just had to wait until he grew up. Now he'll chase at nearly everything - birds, cats, leaves, cars, and other dogs.
His tastes have also changed through the year. We bought Bil-Jac Liver Treats for him when he was only 3 months old. He completely ignored it and didn't care for it at all. I figured that I shouldn't bother buying those anymore. But then a few months later, we were given those same treats during his obedience class. And he absolutely loved them!
I wonder what changes are in store for us in the next year.
Besides the obvious changing of size, a couple things were unexpected for us as first time puppy owners. Loki's fur went through many changes. When he was about 4 months old, he started to lose his puppy fur. I thought he had some skin disease! I even thought about bringing him to the vet. His fur looked absolutely terrible. I think puppy fur is all undercoat hair. When his adult hair came in, he started to look better. I was surprised by how "waterproof" his adult outer coat was. Drops of water would just roll off his back.
Also his butt hair has gone through various changes. Through most of the first year, his butt hair was long and looked funny. Yun always thought we should go get that part of him groomed. In the past couple months, Loki's butt hair now looks so much better. Who knew? He must have shed off those long weird looking tufts of fur. Now he has a cute butt =)
Then through maybe 6 months to a year, his body and head were a bit awkward and out of proportion, just like human teenagers. I think that even now, his body shape is still changing a bit. I hope he fills out a little more.
Loki's personality seemed to change daily. Actually, his personality is still changing. Some days he is good. Some days he is bad. Most days he is independent, non-cuddly, and standoff-ish. While most dog owners think that is weird for a dog, we love the fact that Loki is independent.
More recently, he's really loving belly rubs. He wasn't like that as a puppy at all. As a puppy, he didn't really like to be on his back. But these days, he can't seem to get enough of belly rubs. He twitches his hind legs in such a cute way! He now happily gets multiple belly rubs each day. What a lucky dog! We can't refuse, because he's so cute.
As a puppy he only occasionally did the Shiba 500. Maybe only a few times a month. But recently, he's taken to doing it almost daily, right after his walk. You'd think that he'd be tired right after his hour long walk, but as soon as I get his leash off, he starts his Shiba 500 around the apartment.
I remember when he was around 3 -6 months old, he didn't care too much about birds & chasing other creatures. I thought that was weird, because I always read that Shibas has a high prey drive. Apparently, I just had to wait until he grew up. Now he'll chase at nearly everything - birds, cats, leaves, cars, and other dogs.
His tastes have also changed through the year. We bought Bil-Jac Liver Treats for him when he was only 3 months old. He completely ignored it and didn't care for it at all. I figured that I shouldn't bother buying those anymore. But then a few months later, we were given those same treats during his obedience class. And he absolutely loved them!
I wonder what changes are in store for us in the next year.
Top 10 Places I found Loki hair
10.) To begin with, we have the obvious places - carpet, couch, bed, and car.
9.) All black colored clothes are notorious Loki hair magnets.
8.) In my laptop, especially in the keyboard.
7.) In my mouse. If you're ever wondering why your mouse isn't working properly, check for dog hair.
6.) In my bottle of water. Yummy!
5.) In my suitcase while traveling. This is exactly why I bought travel-size lint sheets by Scotch.
4.) In my bag of microwave popcorn. How did that happen? He didn't poke his head in or around it.
3.) On our clothes even after they are washed.
2.) In Loki's eye! It doesn't seem to bother him at all, but it did freak me out. I thought something was wrong, but it didn't phase him.
1.) In my tube of mascara. Imagine trying to put mascara on with a black coated dog hair poking your eyes out.
9.) All black colored clothes are notorious Loki hair magnets.
8.) In my laptop, especially in the keyboard.
7.) In my mouse. If you're ever wondering why your mouse isn't working properly, check for dog hair.
6.) In my bottle of water. Yummy!
5.) In my suitcase while traveling. This is exactly why I bought travel-size lint sheets by Scotch.
4.) In my bag of microwave popcorn. How did that happen? He didn't poke his head in or around it.
3.) On our clothes even after they are washed.
2.) In Loki's eye! It doesn't seem to bother him at all, but it did freak me out. I thought something was wrong, but it didn't phase him.
1.) In my tube of mascara. Imagine trying to put mascara on with a black coated dog hair poking your eyes out.
The Furminator
After reading about so many rave reviews about the Furminator, I bought one off of eBay. (That's where I found the best prices. It's not a cheap item.)
So I tried it out tonight. Loki's no longer blowing his coat, so there wasn't much anyways. But I still got much more undercoat fur with this than with his other brush. Yay!
One day I'll have his fur spun into yarn. It's really expensive, but one day, I'll have it done. Here's one site that does this.
So I tried it out tonight. Loki's no longer blowing his coat, so there wasn't much anyways. But I still got much more undercoat fur with this than with his other brush. Yay!One day I'll have his fur spun into yarn. It's really expensive, but one day, I'll have it done. Here's one site that does this.
Blowing Coat
Blowing Coat + Bath =
(Well, actually, you might be wondering what is that really gross thing? That is our bathtub drain after Loki's bath. Good thing we have a rubber hair catcher.)
(Well, actually, you might be wondering what is that really gross thing? That is our bathtub drain after Loki's bath. Good thing we have a rubber hair catcher.)
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