I am thinking about adopting a lab puppy. However, I do not want to deal with excessive shedding. Most articles I read mention that they only shed twice a year. But some owners are complaining online about excessive year round shedding. I am willing to feed my dog the best food, brush him every other day and do other necessary things to reduce the shedding. Before I make my final decision, I would really appreciate if you guys can share you experiences on the shedding.
Hello and welcome to the forum. I have two 11-month-old Labs, one a black bitch and the other a yellow dog. At first, neither of them shed any hair at all. Then, all of a sudden, Shadow (yellow) started shedding like mad. A short while later, Willow (black) joined in. It was ridiculous. We were sweeping up three times a day, brushing them both at least once a day and there was still hair everywhere. They've now stopped shedding at such a ridiculous rate, but we do still need to sweep our floors every day otherwise it's awful! If shedding is a big deal to you, I'd probably suggest that a Lab isn't the dog for you!
Hi there, Welcome to the Forum......you have asked a question that will probably provoke a wide range of answers ranging from the excessive to the minimum ... I' claim to have a 'minimal moulter' as I live in the Middle East ,our seasons are pretty much Hot and Very Hot....Dexter ( our 3 year old yellow boy) has adapted to this.He has a very thin coat for want of a better description,he is evenly covered and it's in great condition but he doesn't have the thick double coat the labs have that I see in the UK.Consequently we don't have ANY big moults...there is a time in the year when he loses slightly more but it's never a lot and to look at him,he never looks any different.I put a mitt over him everyday but I have heard other members say that brushing too regularly encourages them to drop more hair. There's no doubt if you choose a lab ( or many other breeds for that matter ) there will be dog hair in your house ( and fridge and sink and sandwich ) most owners generally talk of quite a lot of 'droppage' but depending where you live it might not be quite so bad. Best wishes Angela
Never mind the shedding a labrador does, what about the rolling in mud and all the other smelly things they find. I'm afraid a few hairs are nothing in comparison to muddy paws. I've got one that I claim has a nice thick undercoat and I seem to be wearing it. Having two yellow labs, black is the last colour I should wear.
Hello, I have a yellow.....well, almost white 15 month old lab.....yes, he sheds some, but not an enormous amount. I use the Furminator to brush him and that takes care of about 90% of the hair, at least in my case. Also, I try not to wear black or navy blue!!!
When you say, "how much", do you means bags or bucketfuls? To live among permanent drifts of dog fur floating serenely across your floors seems to be the lot of most Lab owners, including me. I live in Canada where I have distinct seasons and it does seem that the "shed" is a little worse spring and fall but not by much.....
Juno, at nearly 13 months is shedding lots at the moment . Normally she doesn't shed much, I sweep the kitchen floor every day which takes a few minutes and normally groom her twice a week; that said all our dogs seem to be different in their shedding habits
When we got phoebe she didn't shed at all for 6 months. I thought it was too good to be true and it was!!!! At pretty much exactly 6 months it started and it hasn't ever really stopped. I tried to manage it for the first few months but have given up now. I still have dreams about my lovely tidy clean house that I used to have, whereas in reality we sit amongst dog hair, sleep in dog hair (even though Phoebe isn't allowed upstairs!!!) and eat dog hairs!!! At least their hair is short, not sure I could cope with a long tangled coat that gets caked in mud and matted together.
Ella is already shedding some of her puppy fluff and she's 12 weeks! I thought I was still safe but having a chocolate lab on polished wooden floors was leading me into a false sense of security. After mopping the floors yesterday and emptying the bucket into the sink I had to unblock the drain! We always knew that dog hair was the trade off though and as long as you're comfortable with that then you'll be fine. We have never owned a dog before Ella so we went through a list of the qualities that were most important to us and those we were prepared to compromise on. Hair sandwiches were our compromise
I just washed a blanket Maisie sits on a lot yesterday … the lint catcher was stuffed FULL of dog hair. And yes, tufts of hair drift around on the floor… you just get used to it and sweep a bit more. I think all labs will have periods where they shed more, but where I live, dogs mostly shed year round. It is a temperate climate (very few days below 0 celsius or above 30 celsius) and thus dogs don't shed in two big blow outs. SO depending where you live that would be an issue. However, ultimately I just think if you want a non-shedding dog, a labrador is absolutely not the dog for you. They are known for being shedders.
LOL! So does Jet, a hell of a lot!! But its one of those things having a Lab that we have to deal with lol, now that im keeping one of Jets pups itll only get worse lol!
Told you ! you find hair in your sandwich! My friend grew up with a black lab and when we visit her Mum we are always told the famous family story of unwrapping a brand new packet of butter....and there it was a Labrador hair ...... ( Chris and I always can't look at each other when this story comes up ,just in case it wasn't a Labrador hair )
My black boy Max didnt shed at all until he got his adult hair, i don't know if thats a thing but when we bought him he had short quite dull hair (he was fed on beta puppy food which is cheap rubbish) i switched his food to Royal Canon and voila his coat became longer and shinier and that's when he started shedding. Ive heard that eukanuba does dog food which supposedly reduces his shedding up to 80%, ive bought this for his next batch but he still has 6kgs of the old food left. The furminator works great however i dont brush Max with it a lot as it brings up so much danfruff! Same thing happens if he has more than two baths a month, which is very hard to stick too as he jumps in so much filth its unreal, the other day he jumped in a dirty pond im the park and came out brown!!!! It does depend on the dog as my boss's lab sheds hair if you stroke her!
It may not be the Furminator causing the dandruff. Maisie had a lot of puppy dandruff and during that time if she was brushed, the dandruff would be brought to the surface so she'd "appear" to have more. But really she had the same amount whether she was brushed or not. Not sure if that's your case, but I too thought Furminating caused dandruff. Now that Maisie doesn't have puppy dandruff, brushing her doesn't bring up any dandruff. I think she was 7 or 8 months before her puppy dandruff went away (no change in food or treats, she just grew out of it I guess?). However I guess you also say baths give him dandruff perhaps he just has a tendency towards it.
I vacuum every single day without fail, we have a Jack Russell and now a new chocolate lab pup. They both shed some season more than others, but hair drops continuously everyday and I hate it, but I love the dogs so that is the choice I make.
I have a three year old lab and he sheds quite a lot. They reason why they shed is that they have a double coat, during spring they shed their thick winter coat and prepare themselves for the summer and when the temperature drops they shed their summer coat and grow on a new warm winter coat. I brush my lab everyday and remove all his dead hair. Clearing out all the hair from your house can be a tedious task, I found an article on line that mentions few tip on how to clean up after your dog sheds http://www.sunrise-cleaning.com/blog/cleaning-tips/cleaning-up-after-dogs-that-shed/ I hope you find it useful.
