In this article, you will learn how to control German shepherd shedding, grooming tips, and Diet advice.
The German shepherd is one of the most popular dog breeds that are sought after by dog lovers.
The German shepherd is admired for its intelligence, highly adaptable nature and high energy level. Well, life can be celebrated with a German shepherd that cares for you a lot and protects you like a God.
But one thing that’s quite peculiar with these breeds of dogs is its hair shedding routine. It can turn disastrous if you are not very careful about the dog’s shedding whereabouts.
Does German shepherd shed the hair?
If you are a dog lover, I do not doubt that raising a German shepherd would have crossed more than once.
It is the best kind of dogs who love socializing and adapt to any weather hot or cold. But one thing that’s tricky with the dog is its hair shedding routine.
They do shed a lot of hair then you can ever imagine! The dog has two layers of hair, an undercoat, and an outer coat.
Whatever kind of German shepherd you bring home like the plush ones or double fur one or a long-haired one, you must be ready to handle the hair shedding in the future.
When does German shepherd shedding starts?
One thing you have to realize is every dog sheds hair all-round the year. But you can expect the most massive coat dump shedding in the summer season.
The good news is that it sheds the least in the winter as the survival instincts to protect itself from the cold climatic conditions.
If you hate spending all your time in cleaning up the hair mess of the dog, you need to start the right grooming practices before its too late. Grooming your pup can be more exciting than you think if you love him or her so much.
The dog’s coat naturally responds to daylight. When the days get shorter and shorter and proceed towards winter, the dog will typically start growing a new winter coat.
At this stage, it sheds the old summer hair off from its skin to grow healthy new shiny fur.
Once the season proceeds towards the fall, you must be careful because it is the season when the massive hair shedding takes place, and you must be ready to handle the situation.
I am letting you know a remarkable fact that as a part of routine shedding, it sheds another enormous amount of hair in the spring season.
People call this activity as “blowing out” where the dog welcomes the new hair by getting rid of the old hair.
What are the other reasons that affect the hair shedding activity of German Shepherd?
Well, the instincts of hair shedding happen all round the year. But yes, there are other things you need to take care of like the health issues, allergies, physical pain and stress.
Do you wonder whether dog too experiences stress? It is a big yes, as dogs too feel stressed and behave with an aggressive nature. How can you control their stress levels? Follow up these things:
A healthy well-balanced diet is a must
We can’t blame the breed of the dog for its hair shedding routine. Even the food of the dog directly impacts the hair shedding of the dog.
A poor diet is disastrous for your dog. You need to be careful in providing your dog with a healthy diet as the dog’s skin are highly sensitive to any deficiencies that are related to nutrition.
Make sure that your dog food contains a delicate balance of essential fatty acids in addition to protein that helps in growing healthy hair follicles and helps in developing skin elasticity.
A result of a healthy coat sheds very less hair. If you are worried about the dull coat and excessive shedding, do increase the protein content in the food to 30 percent more as it promotes the renewal of the hair and skin.
Take allergy issues of your dog seriously
Do you find your dog scratching its body crazily and shedding too much of hair?
It means your dog is suffering from allergies. Specific allergies inflame the skin and make it very itchy and lead to more scratching that’s unbearable for your dog.
If you find your dog sneezing with watery eyes or any inflammation on the skin or any fur patches missing in particular areas, then your dog needs a doctor consultation.
Allergies can be caused either because of the environment or food.
Check whether your dogs are suffering from any physical pain?
Dogs are smart in hiding their physical pain, unless and until the pain is very severe. I bet its challenging to find whether your dog has some physical injuries or not.
In the case of physical injuries, your dog feels very stressful. The best way to find your dog suffering is to check his socializing activities with you.
If you see him avoiding you and feeling drowsy all the time with his lethargic behaviors along with excessive hair shedding, it means the dog is ill.
German Shepherds are loved for its socializing traits and protective nature, but at the same time, the dog may start behaving destructive with its ears pinned back and aggressive than ever before.
All these things make sure that your dog is feeling stressed over something and it can be anything like pain, loud environment, or even introducing new pets or people in your home. All these activities result in excessive hair shedding.
Other reasons
Hormonal changes can also be the reason behind the hair shedding. On the other hand, the puppy of 4 to 6 months sheds a lot of hair when it grows healthy adult coat that’s more protective. On these occasions, you need not worry about your German shepherd hair shedding activities.
German shepherd shedding Solution.
Give your dog a hygienic environment
Well, a proper grooming up can help you a lot to handle the hair shedding activity of dog productively.
Everything starts with hygiene. You need to make sure that the dog isn’t infected by any fleas, parasites or ticks.
You can go for flea shampoos or other pesticides that are readily available in pet stores.
In addition to it, make sure you properly clean up the beddings and blankets of the dog.
Once the dog is provided with a clean environment and a healthy diet, all the excessive hair shedding can be controlled.
Do realize that a dog with fleas can’t be taken to a groomer in case you want to have him or her well-groomed and cute.
Groom up your dog
You need to brush the fur of the dog every day as a deep brushing helps in removing all the excess hair that’s loose.
You can also nourish his skin coat with oils. On the other hand, you need to use all the de-shedding tools just before the spring arrives or else you have to spend all your time in cleaning your home.
Just before the winter coat falls in the spring, make sure you de-shed your German shepherd.
Maintain the nutrition balance of the food
You can add nutritious oil like olive or flax oils to the regular diet.
These oils contain omega-three fatty acids that help your dog to retain an inflamed skin, lowers the dandruff level and maintains the shiny coat texture of the dog.
You can either go for omega-three dietary capsules by consulting your vet. On the other hand, you can enrich the nutrition content of the dog by feeding it with fishes that abundant in omega-three like tuna and salmon.
Wrap up
German Shepherds are just lovely, and it’s great fun to spend time with them. It can teach you how to enjoy every bit of time beautifully.
Only one thing that’s quite peculiar is its hair shedding routine. If you are prepared to meet the odds with proper diet and grooming, there’s nothing to worry about raising a German shepherd.