Living With Dogs That Shed Hair
My favourite dog Rosie did not shed hair. Why? because she was a Standard Poodle and they grow their hair throughout their life. I’m sure the rise of the ‘Oodle’ is directly proportional to the lack of the dreaded ‘shed’. I’m sure that’s the reason she is my favourite.
Teddy, our Golden Retriever, is like most other dogs in that his hair goes through a hair cycle and thus falls out. The hair growth cycle has 3 phases: anagen (the growing phase), catagen (the regressing phase) and telogen (resting phase) and this is the same for us less hairy humans. Teddy’s hair litters our house in a fine carpet of golden fluff. Unfortunately for Teddy he also has a genetic condition, called Golden Retriever Ichthyosis which causes him to have a scaly, dandruffy coat as well as more hair loss than usual. Our other two dogs also shed. Our Saluki with her fine thin coat is a minimal shedder whilst our Saluki cross leaves so much short black hair everywhere he goes I’m surprised he isn’t bald.
To counter this hirsute blanket, we have robotic vacuums. The original roomba with a huge dustbin that has been going strong as long as Teddy has, and another newer programmable Roborock that not only hoovers the hair up but also washes the floor afterwards which does mean coming downstairs in the morning to a clean floor, at least temporarily.
Hair loss is a normal physiological phenomenon but it is something that does cause concern and frustration with dog owners everywhere and I see a lot of dogs for this “problem”. Skin conditions can also cause hair loss but this usually associated with other clinical signs, the commonest would be itching or scratching, also called pruritis. We should be thankful here that we live in a country where fleas are exceedingly rare so most itchy conditions are more likely to be caused by allergies or infections. These dogs need their skin and hair checking to look for causes and decide which treatments/shampoos etc may be useful to alleviate their signs. There are also non-pruritic diseases which cause hair loss, the most common would be hormone diseases or the fungal disease ringworm.
So, if you have a carpet of dog hair littering your living room like I do, first check to see if there is an underlying cause; but it could be normal for your dogs and an automatic vacuum may be all that is required!
Dr Malcolm Rose BVSc MANZCVS MRCVS …Dad…Pet-employee…
© Malcolm Rose 2022