Hello all! well even tho its still cold & wintery here in PA (U.S.) it seems as tho Mila is slightly shedding a bit. I brush her every day with a slicker brush & I've been getting huge clumps off that brush! so from what I had read online about shedding Malamutes the Furbuster ( I may have the name wrong!) is not good for their coats? A rake is best for a double coated breed. I would love to hear what everyone does & what tools they use for the shedding season! The dos & don'ts! Lol TIA!
I use a round pin undercoat rake, several times daily when you start to notice the cotton ball shedding. maybe 1-2 times a week the rest of the time. Everest seems to have a fairly tangle free short-ish coat that doesnt require a great deal of upkeep.
Luckily [?] I have never had a long-coated dog although my rough Griffons had to be hand-stripped regularly, although that was for breed standard, not because of shedding. I did buy a Furminator for Lexi as although she was rather fluffy and not too long coated as such, she shed like mad, although she loved being brushed every day which did help. Pereg also shed a lot but being short coated it did not seem so bad . Until the vacuum cleaner objected! The Furminator was useless for her but a shedding blade was ideal for when she blew her coat - as long as I sat outside with her away from the direction of the wind! The little horror Tikva, being a Doxie/Minpin cross does not seem to shed at all.
My goodness I just brushed Mila now & already i have 3 piles of fur! lol shes a furry beast! my vacuum certainly is getting a workout! So I should go with a rake then for her under coat? Not a Furminator? I give her a bath weekly (which I just did yesterday) & that helps too. I didn't think she would start shedding this soon cuz its still winter here. The house temp usually is between 65-72°. Does that play a part in her early shedding or is this typically when Malamutes start to shed?
Oh my - Mila is definitely a furry little booger! How about trying a shedding blade? I found them much better when Pereg was throwing her coat.
Why do you bath her weekly? I start off with a Pin Brush to loosen the coat then I use a double sided metal comb, wide tooth and then narrow tooth, its surprising the amount of hair that comes out, next for the longer surface hair I use a rubber horse curry comb, and then finish off with slicker brush.
I think she has fleas so I thought bathing her 1x a week with a flea/tick soap would kill the fleas. Im beginning to think thats not working tho =/ is it not good to bath her that often? I used to work with horses when I was younger so I know where to find a curry comb! lol. I'll be going to Wal-Mart soon so I'll check into what they have for the combs u mentioned
Have you seen fleas on her, is she scratching or nibbling herself? The best way to check for fleas is by using a white towel or sheet, brush her and If you see any specks of dirt or dark spots falling off onto the sheet, if you dampen them and they turn reddish brown you can be fairly certain that they came from fleas.
I haven't seen any fleas but she has been biting & nibbling at herself for a while now. After she gets out of the tub & I towel dry her I spread apart her hair on her back to see if theres any pests but didn't see any. Could she have dry skin? I still give her olive oil & then to switch up the taste I sometimes give her coconut oil.
i have read that washing dogs so frequently strips the oil from the coat (particularly the waterproof double ones like mals) and can promote dry skin. Everest is 18 months old now and hasnt had a bath at all, never seemed to need it...no smell, no knots in coat, keeps herslf very clean (very cat like actually, she will come in muddy and an hour later be good as new). She likes a swim in the loch outside or in the paddling pool but other than that nothing so far. Also in regards to fleas, i recommend the use of nexguard spectra tablets, apparently poisons the blood so any biters have a 1st and last meal so to speak, also covers various internal parasites, monthly dosage in a meaty chew.
