[*Spikey*]

I have three dogs, a Labrador, and two Norwegian Elkhounds. Today was designated bath day.

I washed the Labradog first. She seemed to enjoy it after the first soulful look - probably because all of that washing feels a bit like a full body pat. A fair bit of hair came out, as expected. However, once the conditioner went on, the loose hair started to come out in handfuls. I know she hasn't been groomed as often as I should do it, but fair dinkum - she started shaking the water off, and more loose hair went flying in all directions.

I did junior Elkhound next. She resorted to licking my face whenever I got close enough. Her day was made, even though the 'cuddles' involved lots of soap and water. Luckily she's a big fan of being groomed, so there was less fur than I was expecting when we got to the conditioner bit. Mind you 'less' is somewhat relative - I swear there was enough fur for a chihuahua there.

I left madam difficult "I hate grooming" Elkhound for last. She tried to resist, but unfortunately for her, I can lift her relatively easily. She gave me the big sad brown eyes and attempted to evade the hose at every opportunity. Yeah, that's why the lead is attached to a fence pole. After significant effort, I had a cleaner dog, who had managed to shed a cat - and that was before the conditioner. I swear she had a whole Elk hidden in that fur, it slid out when the conditioner went on.

Although I'd shaved my legs this morning, they were decidedly forest-like by the end of the dog washing. Fur sticks like nobody's business. I think that was my third shower for the day, getting it off - I certainly got plenty of shower while washing the dogs, they like to share the joy.

Of course, given that DD has developed chicken pox, I did briefly consider postponing the fun. But you see, the dogs have all been raiding the apple trees. And eating green, unripe apples. Which give dogs a grumbly tummy. Which exploded all over Buttercup's crate. Which meant cleaning crates at 5:30am this morning. Payback is a b**ch, ain't it?

(DH cleaned and dried all of the dog bedding and crate covers - very sweet of him to do it for me - the cat is still sniggering at the dogs)

[Stellajoy]

So are you telling me if I condition my lab it gets more hair out? I only ever shampoo.


Please tell me this is true.

[beaglebaby]

Well done. Miss Kelpie is in desperate need for a bath - especially since she has decided that the comfy bed in the lounge isn't as good as sleeping beside my bed. We started with dogs outside, then dogs inside but not on carpet - it's a steady decline!

[SqueakyBee]

I'm amazed at the amount of fur we get off our kelpie/lab cross. We recently bought furminator brushes for our animals (best things ever!), and we got a pile of fur off her that was the size of our cat. The other pup is short-haired, so her grooming is a lot more manageable thank goodness. Will need to get some conditioner for their next bath!

[Charli73]

Our big tough German shepherd cries like a baby at bath time and tries to eat the hose... I hate it as the neighbors think I'm torturing her and I end up just as wet and covered in fur as she is, sheesh!!

[~Nic~]

This is my girl after I spent about 3hours with her and her furminator...



Thankfully, she only throws her coat like this a few times a year.

I hadn't heard about conditioner helping get rid of excess hair... going to try that on Saturday when she gets washed again...

(edited to resize pic)

This post has been edited by ~Nic~: 27/12/2012, 09:15 PM

[FiveAus]

Mine are all vying for title of the most hair shed in a day. Older black tri b**ch is winning by a country mile.They are getting helped along by regular hydro baths. I did two yesterday and decided to pop the lab who was visiting from next door in as well. She was fine until I turned the water on then I didn't see her for dust. Strange Labrador!

[midstudentcatie]

Those Elkies can hide a surprising amount of fluff! Mooch was groomed daycare a couple of months ago, and it took so long to get all of the loose hair out that they had to charge us the large dog rate...oops! Apparently there was more elkhound on the floor than there was on the grooming table

[FiveAus]

I always thought Norwegian Elkhounds were large dogs....at least the size of a husky. But a few weeks ago I was at a dog show and my friend and I were watching a class of neutered dogs in the ring and there was this little fluffy grey dog on the end.
We were both trying to work out what breed it was and drew a blank, so grabbed a catalogue to have a look, and it was an Elkhound, much to our surprise. It would not have come up to the handlers knee. And it wasn't a pup.

[Alpha_Chook]

This is my girl after I spent about 3hours with her and her furminator...



Thankfully, she only throws her coat like this a few times a year.

I hadn't heard about conditioner helping get rid of excess hair... going to try that on Saturday when she gets washed again...

(edited to resize pic)

Thats not fur, thats another dog WOW!!