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I'm often asked — "do huskies shed?"...

 


IT'S HUSKY COAT BLOWING SEASON !!!
July 7, 2022

... Sassy exploded and it only took 15 minutes.







July 8, 2022...

Echo's turn to unleash all the impacted hair! It took closer to 30 minutes with her having to move around as her hips are starting to wear out. And while Akula was TRYING to instigate a play fight. l I had to shove him away. He got the message and left us alone, giving me the stink eye as he walked away.



Seeing him laying in the hair like this is something he always does for Echo. I guess he protects ALL of her however he can. He is rather chivalrous that way. So this got me thinking about all the hair I groom off the dogs then off the carpet as the brushes actually appear to do a more thorough job than just the Dyson. Save the hair! There are people who spin husky hair into yarn to knit sweaters and blankets!



Akula is protecting your investment!

Echo produced 53.5 grams of dog hair. The grocery bag is 4 grams. I can easily store the saved fur and sell it by the ounce or pound. I can get almost a bag every couple of days from 1 to 4 dogs.

Look to see the reality of this idea at The Dodo...

* If you are interested in purchasing our Pack's hair — Bark At Us ! *

While there's not much fur expected to come off of him, we may get surprised. I'll brush him next just to give him the extra attention Mama's boy needs.

Back to the question I receive a lot — Umm... YES....

WHY do people time and time again ask me this? They are Arctic dogs and most people are aware of this but they still ask this. YES. Huskies shed. A LOT. They shed in Texas daily, summertime especially. But the underhair in Texas is not a bad thing —it acts as insulation against the heat just as it does the Arctic cold.

When I see the underhair appearing, I know what's coming. At least it starts slow so I can mentally prepare. Grooming the dogs these days is not as easy as it was pior to the end of July 2018. That's when I survived my stroke. While I am slowly improving, I still have a long way to go. In terms of grooming, that means some parts are still super easy with the use of basically one hand and equally difficult on the other. Haha.

In actuality, it takes 2 hands working together to get through grooming seassions... without paying for physically the day or dayS. After a stroke, the body needs some serious recovery time. My body still has serious issues with the brain working WITH the body. Now allow me to whisper this in your ear so my body and brain don't hear it — I'm detecting a LITTLE mental interest in what the body is up to. My lazy, nerd self is figuring out how to do things using leverage and counter-balanving. Shhh! Keep it under your hat!















When Akula wants to be groomed, he'll get my attention like this — sitting/trapping me in the corner at my computer:






All northern breeds shed — a LOT. This is Brimstone, our Schipperke — Rest in Peace (— he also earned his name). They are small dogs — no more than 20 lbs. They also "blow" their coats twice a year. We learned this for the first time in Chicago. In winter — February....
Brimstone was a puppy back then — 11 lbs!


Then again as an adult in Texas at 17 lbs.




The pictures above may not look like much to a trained eye but keep in mind this is the fur I get every couple of days! We live in Texas now so while it seems hard to keep a Siberian Husky or Alaskan Malamute cool, it can be done. All that fur insulates them from the cold AND the heat! I still "suffer" right along with them cos I miss the Chicago weather/winters.

I didn't take pictures of every grooming session but nonetheless — here's what pics I do have....

Each grooming session is about an hour and I usually yield a bag of hair per dog. Because the dogs know that I give a treat for brushing, a treat for claw clipping, a treat for shaving the paw protecting extra long paw fur, the dogs actually line up and try to stare me down as they wait for their grooming! I need to block 3 dogs from the room I'm grooming the 4th dog in.

Combing too much led me to be able to use a flea comb and Echo ended up with what looked like she had a rat tail when the sun caught the white of her fur! No more combing THAT much....
Banshee's Bag O' Hair:



Akula's bag:



Sasin's paw fur before (left paw):



After (right paw):



Me after 1 dog grooming:



Grooming gloves:

A YouTube message reply I answered prompted me to see what other grooming pics I have to share....

After reviewing these pictures and memories, Sasin's screaming wasn't as bad as I thought. Yes, there was ear piercing screaming going into the tub but once wet and acknowledged and given a little treat, the murderous screams ceased and smiles appeared.


Sasin:









Banshee:

Echo isn't vocal outside of a loud, morning scretch and yawn or teeth chomping as she circles. Clearing an inner ear issue??? She's always been very accomodating with grooming, even in a bath!
Echo:

Echo isn't thrilled with the blow dryer but she just stood there and humored the groomer.

Akula:


The groomer the dogs encountered was a one time deal. He charged a great, low fee cost I was his first customer at my friend's shop. I brought him 4 new grooms and I assisted where I could and only brought in 2 dogs at a time. Outside of this one time use of a groomer (due to cost), I am the Poor Man's Groomer — I do it all my damned self. When I groom them all, it's almost always in one day, one after another.... Bathing, I'd shampoo one, let it soak in while I wet and shampoo the my next victim.... While that shampoo went to work, I'd go back to the first dog and rinse. Then rinse the second dog. Then towel dry off the first dog THEN towel dry the second dog.

Great plan of attack, right??



Well... there's two other dogs inside the house... watching... they know... they... are... next!...



Sasin:

 

Banshee:

I didn't ALWAYS groom 4 dogs in a row but with bathing, I at least groomed two buddy partners at a time: Sasin and Banshee. Echo and Akula.

Now... the legendary Dyson Animal vacuum. Ta da! It's well over 10+ years old now and it's never had a broken belt or anything that needed to be repaired or replaced....

I do, however, have to become the vacuum cleaner myself! The green screwdriver shows where I pulled out that big wad of hair. And yes — the red and black handled screwdriver is a Husky ratcheted screwdriver.





Yes — Huskies shed! From time to time I need to thoroughly disassemble the vacuum so I can clean it ALL out — vacuum dirt included.

There is nothing metal within so it's safe to dunk this into a bucket of water. I was able to confirm this when I watched the YouTube video on how to take it apart:

Dyson Animal DC 17.



I took the dogs for car rides in the evening quite often before my stroke and after a month of collecting hair, I would have to roll down the windows then get onto the freeway to "pollinate Huskies" in all of the city by blowing the car's coat.



Hair even gets into the trunk! I don't know how....

Oddly enough, I do notice just how many more Huskies are around these days. I'd like to think my pollinating does more than the movie The Game of Thrones' dire wolves does at inspiring people to get wolf look-a-likes....

Yes, there are northern breeds crossbred to resemble dire wolves but no — northern breeds do not surrender their their breed mentalities — they THINK FOR THEMSELVES when they don't think you're thinking it right. They are ingrained to RUN. NEVER think walking a Husky off a leash is a good idea. Think about how slick their undercoat makes them and just how easy they can slip out of a collar! I do need to use prong collars, prongs inward or outward, and I won't humor any hate mail I might get. There's a time and place for "power steering" a natural born runner.