Haven't posted in a while, but need help with shedding ?

[stillhoneymooning]

Desiree is brindle with quite a bit of white hairs mixed in. When we adopted her 3 months ago, the shelter said she was about a year and a half old and our vet concurred with that. That would make her 2 around this coming January.

Well....we had her at the beach about 10 days ago. I had her microchipped 4 days ago. Just in the past few days, something really strange is going on with her hair!

Her hair is coming out by the handfull! I can literally pinch across her back and get a handfull of hair. But most of it is the white hair...and underneath the hair that's coming out is jut plain old brown and black brindle with no hint of white. Brushing doesn't even seem to get the loose hair...I almost have to pull it out by hand.

I'm thinking I may call my vet about this, but it's not like there's anything wrong with the hair underneath....it's almost like she's just losing all of her white hairs all of a sudden!

I couldn't figure out how to post pictures inside of a message, but I've uploaded some photos that I just took to shuttefly and created a shared photo page. It's really tough to get good pictures of this phenomenon, but the best photos I got were outside. In the photos you can see a spot on her back where I've pulled the hair out this morning and how it looks darker than the rest of her back (due to the lack of white hairs). Her white hairs really glisten in the sun and the darker patch doesn't.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/shar ... &sm=1&sl=0

She seems really healthy, so I'm not too worried at this point. She's her usual wonderful self. Has anyone else had this happen? Is it normal or could it be related to some irritation, like the sand at the beach or the microchipping? I haven't changed her diet at all (she's on Pro Plan lamb and rice) and nothing else has changed.

I know I don't post much anymore, but since we all love our bullies, I wanted to get some input on this from anyone else who may have experienced this.

Heather[/img]

[jamobi]

My brindle does the same thing with his coat. In the summertime he sheds a bunch of hair that comes out when you pinch and pull at the fur. He's been doing this all his life so i'm assuming it's absolutely normal. He's also mixed with other breeds too so that might be why my dog and yours might be shedding sooo much. Every day i sweep and every day i get a clump of his white underhair. It'll stop in the fall and winter. i just give him a good petdown every now and again. He loves it and it gets rid of some of the extra fur.

[JB]

Your dog looks a bit like mine. It's a mix right?

It's probably mixed with a breed that has an undercoat... like a lab or something. The undercoat is the white stuff. The white hairs are kind of crimped, right? Your dog will "blow" it's undercoat when it get hot. It will probably also shed heavy (it's top coat mostly) when it starts to get cold.

Just brush your dog (outside!) once a day while it's blowing it's coat. Depending on the whether, it should only go on for a month or so.

One last thing. NEVER take your dog to get it's hair cut because you think the mutt is too hot. I know people with newfoundlanders who take their dog to get clipped in the summer. Dumb dumb dumb. The dog will regulate how much fur it needs and of what type if you just leave it alone.

[ajarvis]

I knew someone with a newfoundland dog, and they'd do just that get the hair shaved so it wouldn't be so hot. The dog wouldn't go outside at all until some of his hair started growing back it was almost as if he was embarrassed

[moto1320]

Doc blew a freakin TON of fur when I got him. He was an outside dog that was relocated to A/C and couch life. So, he had a very thick coat when i got him. Every day outside of his crate I could get a whole dustpan full of white hair. I thought something was wrong but he was just thinning out for the summer. Daisy has hardly any hair so it's never an issue.

[stillhoneymooning]

Thanks for the replies. She definitely is mixed with something (anybody's guess as to what....) so it's probably just losing the undercoat although she really doesn't have much hair to begin with!

At this rate, she'll get a nice summer coat just in time for fall! Oh well!

Thanks for the input!

Heather

[Maximus]

Re: hair not coming out when you brush her... what kind of brush are you using? I was having the same problem with Chico; he was shedding a lot but none of it would come out when I brushed him with a regular soft-bristle brush. Get a rubber stubby-type brush. Works wonders!

[pitbulliest]

What are you feeding your dog? Sometimes diet contributes to hair loss as well. Maybe she's not getting enough fats in her diet? My dog used to have some skin allergies and her coat was a tad matty looking so I bought some flax seed oil and I'd give her a tablespoon of it with her food for about two-three weeks. Her coat became really shinny and rich and her skin allergies (she was getting tons of bumps along her back from the pollen and grass) dissapeared! You can try it out too.... and If you're saying she doesn't have much hair to begin with, I'm sure it would help her grow some healthier hair...... but than again its probably just seasonal shedding..

good luck