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I think I finally experienced what "blowing a coat" is...


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I remember when researching the breed it said there would be seasonal shedding. My first border collie Effie, hardly sheds at all...she is actually the first dog I have ever had in my life who doesn't shed like most breeds. Maybe its due to her unusual wavy coat. I do believe it must have some connection to her having overheating in the summer too easily since she cannot regulate it like most border collies. She has the nickname "human hair" at our local dog park and even strangers are amazed at how she doesn't shed when you gently pull at her hair!

 

Loki however went POOF! He looks like he went on doggy Weight Watchers or something. My mom kept commenting on how skinny he has been looking lately (he gets 3 cups of food a day). I was beginning to get worried because PILES of hair were falling off of him Halloween weekend while we were going out of town. It was a disgusting hair tornado in the car even though I brushed him the night before. Then I realized the other night comparing to a summer photo...he lost a ton of hair! It almost looks like we went and shaved him. Some of his lighter colors are also starting to come in.

 

Is this a normal amount of shedding for a border collie? And what does it mean if your border collie does not shed their coat enough?

 

 

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Effie next to an admirer she gave the cold shoulder to. Big difference in types of coats.

 

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The before summer coat.

 

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A picture I took today of his coat.

 

 

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yup, looks like he blew his under coat, how old is he? Possibly his puppy coat? My dogs all get a good ferminating with the ferminator once they commit to blowing. Can often get it all out within a couple / few grooming sessions once I see it coming free.

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Deb

Watch using a furminator - while they get out the undercoat they Break the top coat and damage the hair. I used on a couple times when they first came out and never again. If you pet the dog before and after you can feel how damaged it leaves the coat. What I do really like is a double toothed rake from Jeffers.com. I think they call it a Magic spring rake or something similar, cost like 5 bucks. The pins rotate and push in so not as tough on the dogs skin, they are not sharp like some rakes and pin brushes. They WORK Great. Best thing I have found for a shedding dog be it smooth or rough coated. I always order a couple and give them to friends and sell in the grooming shop.

 

If I have a list of Favorite Things - that would be on it and its only 5 bucks -

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If you use a Furminator the right way it doesn't break the top coat, but it's incredibly time consuming, IMO. You're supposed to part and hold back small sections of fur so that you can see the dog's skin, then position the tool at the base of the fur and pull, repeating this process over and over as you move from section to section. This way you're not pulling the blade over the top coat at all. I remember seeing a video of the process put out by Furminator but can't seem to find it online now. Maybe it came as a DVD with the Furminator?

 

Anyway, I ended up not doing t because it was just too tedious. Neither my dogs nor I really enjoy grooming and we just didn't have the patience for it.

 

Then a friend introduced me to a stripping tool. It's the best thing evah! I borrowed hers and never gave it back! (Actually, it was a new spare she'd just bought and let me try so I bought it from her.)

 

https://www.petedge.com/zpetedgemain/catalog/productDetail.jsf?area=&sort=RA&wec-appid=PEDM_WEBSHOP_TR&page=72A214C22827430A9795247F1BF064D6&itemKey=005056A633791ED2B5913CC1A3030FB3&show=12&view=grid&simpleSearchString=stripper&wec-locale=en_USI The one I have is the 20 blade. I can't believe the amount of undercoat it pulls out without damaging the top coat at all, and in a reasonably short amount of time.

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Have never seen a issue with the top coat, but don't have very many rough coats that I have used it on. All smooth or medium coated dogs. I've tried other stripping tools and end up going back to the Ferminator. I also don't force it, wait until I see the undercoat loose so it slides right out with little effort.

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That stripper looks like a grooming tool from Oster I used for breaking up mats (the 'teeth' are actually blades) that weren't tight enough to require whacking with scissors. I called it a mat ripper for lack of a better description, so as not to confuse it with the stripping knives used on broken-coated terriers. I imagine it would be effective for undercoat as well, but I wish I still had one for the feathering on Hannah's legs. Her coat isn't particularly long, but she does have fairly heavy feathering on her legs. What I need is a good pair of thinning shears, which I no longer have.

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yup, looks like he blew his under coat, how old is he? Possibly his puppy coat? My dogs all get a good ferminating with the ferminator once they commit to blowing. Can often get it all out within a couple / few grooming sessions once I see it coming free.

 

He just turned 11 months old...hmm maybe it was his puppy coat but he lost most of his fuzzy coat around 5 months old. I really need to get one of those things. Right now I have the old cheap wire kind of comb that does get a ton of fur but I'm sure the ferminator works better!

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How old is Effie? Not shedding can be a sign of a metabolic disease or that she has the genes from a nonshedding breed somewhere back there.

 

Effie is a year and a half old and no seasonal sheds or general shedding. Its been really confusing whether its metabolic or a genetic thing. My mom got her for us as my fiance's birthday gift and she had papers. What kind of metabolic diseases do you think would cause that? I posted earlier on in the summer a video of one of her overheating episodes thinking it was border collie collapse syndrome...it happens within about 10 minutes of being in the heat even with water. My fiance and I think she has a hard time regulating her body temperature since she never shed in the summer.

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My guys shed regularly with the changing of the seasons. I love my old undercoat rake but Jeffer's rake looks pretty awesome, might be worth a try. I won't ever use a furminator as I've seen enough animals come into the clinic after it was over/improperly? used. An undercoat rake gets the hair out quick and easy.

I do find it interesting that my long, curly coated red dog (Loki) sheds much less than my rough coated white dog (Rose, hair about half the length). My house is always covered in white hair and red hairs are rarely seen and a brushing session yields over twice the amt of hair from Rose than Loki.

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The Chris Christiansen pin brush is actually better at getting through and removing undercoat than other brushes I have tried. Its pricey but a worthy investment for me.

 

I also sometimes use a matt breaker to line brush on very clean, tangle free shedding coats, always working carefully with he grain in small areas of medium length hair. It seems to grab the loose and semi loose fuzzies and remove them without pulling or cutting the guard hairs if I go slow.

 

I always follow up with a fine comb.

 

I find that an hour each evening for a few days spent carefully removing hairs makes my Border Collie and young Papillon nearly undercoat free for a few months and they don't shed much. Plus they look glossy and gorgeous with all the fuzz gone.

 

Doesn't work on my old dog who is cottony and sheds 365.

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How is -- or is? -- the Chris Christiansen pin brush different from any other pin brush? What about it makes it more effective?

 

Its the pins, not ball tipped but not sharp either, it just seems to grab the dead hair better and the dogs love being brushed with it vs others. It gets right to the skin.

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