I have a Dachshund - Basset mix, he’s somewhat smaller than a Beagle, but larger than a Dachshund, so I guess small, but not mini size. He has short hairs and doesn’t really shed that much and unless you hug him, you probably won’t notice any hairs. My neighbor has a Pug, a crazy little thing that can’t be still for more than a second, he is half the size of my already small dog, yet I was shocked when I looked at my clothes after playing with him for a moment, it took me about 10 minutes to get most of the hairs out. Yesterday I also went there and even though I kept him away from me, he brushed along my leg 2, 3 times and same thing again.
So…are Pugs somewhere at the top in the shedding department or are some large breeds even worse? I heard that Labs are notorious for shedding, but I wonder how dogs with long hairs shed, do they also have small hairs that stick to your clothes or do they make long hair “hairballs”?
Short haired dogs certainly do shed, but they tend to shed their hair as it drops from the follicle, having less hair around it to hold it in. Pug fur tends to hold the hair in until it is agitated by brushing or bathing, or hugging. For either breed, I would recommed a curry comb, I like Kong’s Zoom Groom.
But pugs have nothing on larger double coat dogs. Shepherds, huskies, collies, pyrenees, dogs like that have long guard hairs, and short undercoat. The guard hairs stay, but the undercoat gets released on a regular basis, especially with temperature/seasonal changes. I’ve had times when I have made a pile of fur next to a husky that was taller than the dog.
Poodles, shih-tzus, maltese, bichons, and dogs like that are long haired dogs. Their fur doesn’t really shed. It’ll eventually fall out if it gets long enough, just like human hair, but it doesn’t drop fur all over your carpet like the double coats do. (which is why these dogs need to be groomed regularly.)
My yeller lab is the queen of shedding. No matter how often we brush her our house is full of fur tumbleweeds.
Our white pitbull sheds just a bit. Our black pitty is made of velvet rather than fur, I’ve yet to find a single shed hair from him. (He has the most beautiful coat I’ve ever seen, I should rent him out for petting).
Based on friends’ doggies, German Shepherds are wildly sheddy.
I’ve always heard Cocker Spaniels are the worst, but have no first-hand experience with them. We have two Border Collies and, seriously, it’s easier to vacuum the entire house every three days than brush out one of them, let alone both. They get groomed (the works) every 3-4 months.
Yorkie and beagle here. Yorkie doesn’t really shed, I brush her everyday. She has beautiful long locks, similar to a childs hair. I tease and say my daughter sheds more. We both have very long hair so drains getting stopped up is a constant problem.
The beagle sheds way more, she throws hair when jumping around. I have to take her outside to brush her.
ETA, 2 short hair Siamese who do shed some.
Of the breeds I’ve lived with, German Shepherds are up there in the heavy shedder catagory, too. I think the combination of large dog and thick, heavy coat adds up to a lot of hair. Diet, grooming, indoor or outdoor dog, and time of year will also affect how much a dog sheds. Certain times of the year my dogs will blow their coats and I can brush out piles of hair. The rest of the time, I get hardly anything, but I still end up with dog hair on my clothes and have to vacuum up giant dust bunnies.
Which dogs shed the most? We used to have the dog who shed the most, of any dog, ever. Not kidding by much. A beagle/basset. You could make a stuffed dog every day from the amount of hair coming off of him, unbelievable. A fine fellow though, much missed.
Our current dog, believed to be a Dogo Argentino/American Pit Bull Terrier mix, sheds hardly at all compared to him, though she does shed some. An equally superb dog overall.
My wife was, to put it mildly, Not A Dog Person. So my daughter made a PowerPoint (and got extra credit at school for it, back in 3rd grade – not too shabby!)… the subject? Which Breed of Dog Should We Get?
She countered all her mom’s reasons for doglessness. Turns out poodles and bichons have HAIR, not fur. So no dander, therefore both breeds are hypo-allergenic and barely shed.
Well, it worked. We got two cute little peppy Bichon Frises. And thirteen years later, they’re still peppy, and I don’t go to work with dog hair all over me (unlike ALL my co-workers…).
We have a Shih tzu that doesn’t shed and a small cocker spaniel that does. We keep her cut short, mostly because she needs to be groomed at the vet under IV, she doesn’t shed crazily, but she definitely sheds. I wouldn’t want to keep her coat long because of this.
My Beagle sheds like there’s no tomorrow. I use something called the Furminator brush/tool on her daily and it helps but nothing will eliminate the shedding.
There are several double coated dog breeds, many of them spitz breeds like huskies, samoyeds, keeshonds, etc. Some non-spitz breeds, too. They regularly “blow their coats” essentially leaving hair all over the place. My vote would be for the samoyed.
My yellow lab only sheds twice a year- in the summer for six months and again in the winter for six months. I wouldn’t put shedding high on the list of things to consider when buying a dog- personality trumps everything.
Shepherds, as noted, will blow their undercoats, but brushing while it happens manages it fairly easily.
Akitas, same pattern, turned to 11. Holy turtle of the 7th level, I had never seen so much fur come off a dog, until…
I got my Newfoundland. Do not get a Newfoundland unless you love brushing large animals with furs several inches long, every day. The outer layer of is silky fine, so it tangles rather like human hair. The hair underneath is best described as something close to sheep’s wool. If you don’t brush your dog daily, you are asking for a Newfie with dreadlocks and sores. When the seasons change, I think I could convince someone that the resulting bags of fur are actually a sheep’s worth of wool, and sell them.
My keeshond was bad when he blew coat twice a year, but his coat was easy to manage, despite the struck by lightning appearance. They are bushy little guys
We get double coat dogs like that in sometimes that are not brushed or groomed regularly. Some of them have extremely serious skin infections and sores.
Having one ofthese around help. It’s got high speed air stream that penetrates the coat, and helps to blow out all the undercoat.
