Please move if posted in the wrong forum. I grew up with black labs and grew up with over the years. It's my breed if choice and could not imagine having anything else. My wife grew up with smaller hypo allergenic dogs (yorkies) , and is concerned about allergies and Shedding. She has been around my parents English Labrador and has been fine though with the allergies side. I am definitely the dog lover between the two of us. (she hasn't experienced a lab yet). She is pushing strong for a "non Shedding" dog. She is against a lab strictly due to Shedding alone. Obviously we all know a lab is not that. The previous labs were when I was younger and I wasn't 100 percent responsible for grooming and up keep. My question is, does anyone here have good success to control labs Shedding? Maybe grooming twice a month? Getting a roomba vacuum for constant vacuuming. Any other tips? Im sure she can be fine with the "allergies". I guess I'm looking for feedback and more importantly, assistance to convince my wife that we could keep the Shedding down and maintainable. I need help to get my lab!!!!!!!! Thanks everyone, John
Hi, labs are quite variable I think with shedding. Some are heavy shedders and some not. I don’t know how you could choose one with that criteria. Meg is 6, I don’t brush her. She gets the odd towel down as she is often wet from swimming. I vac once or twice a week, no different to other breeds I have had. She is low maintenance.
I wonder if this a silly aspect to consider but what floor type do you have? We have hardwood floors downstairs and I’ll be honest, the shedding is endless. You hoover and half an hour later there’s more hair but it probably shows up more because it’s not carpet. I’d suggest a roomba if your pup won’t eat it LOL... ours would make it his life mission to destroy it. We are first time Lab owners as adults and all I would say is it’s bloody hard work with some really difficult days and a huge time commitment. Of course, it’s also massively rewarding with lots of joy too, but it takes time to reach that stage where you have more good days than challenging ones (we found) - I really wouldn’t commit to a pup unless you are both certain. I would never want to put anyone off bringing a dog into their lives, but I’ll be honest... shedding is likely to be the least of your worries once they arrive!!
Labs do shed quite a bit. If your wife is really worried about shedding, perhaps you need to look at a different breed. Poodles mostly don't shed, and some Labradoodles don't shed. Some of them have a very Lab personality. They do need to be groomed though. Personally I would rather brush our Lab and vacuum up dog hair than deal with a groomer. Labs don't normally go to a groomer, but brushing every day or so, would help a lot with shedding. Our current Lab has a field style coat, which is coarser and not as dense as our last Lab, but she still sheds quite a bit. I would not expect to find a Lab that did not shed a significant amount of fur.
We bought a shark hoover so that we could manage the shedding and it does work but we have given up to hoovering 1-2 times a week as it isn't actually that bad. We love her and if that means we now have 'hairy' carpets then so be it lol. We did get a maultimator which we use a lot and its amazing! The amount of hair that comes off and doesn't end up on the floor, my hoover thanks us for it thats for sure. When we first considered a dog it was one of our thoughts, there would be hair everywhere all the time. Now we are just accustomed to it, I mean Luna is magic she manages to get hair upstairs when she never gets up there!
In our house much of the fur ends up in dust bunnies that catch in corners where the air currents push them. I pick them up with a battery powered hand held Hoover. If you have carpets, vacuuming them quickly with a hard floor brush before using the beater bar will save having a lot of fur wrapped around the beater bar. Lab fur is not to bad about this since it is fairly short, but we dog sit a Samoyed, and 6" fur wraps up the beater bar on a vacuum. I'm curious about how people with Roombas think they do with Labrador fur. We think it would have trouble in our house, with all the area rugs and level changes, but we have never actually tried one. Our SEBO D4 is great, but it won't run itself.
