When you want to adopt a dog, before thinking of anything else you think of its breed.
After you select the breed, you need to think a lot about its characteristics. Most people think about their food, their cleanliness, their living environment, etc.
And, when you choose a dog breed like German Shepherd to adopt, many people started to get worried about the shedding.
So, this guide is all about German Shepherd Shedding and how you can minimize that.
Does German Shepherd Really Shed?
Most of the dog breeds shed. The shedding of their hair varies from breed to breed. It’s highly unlikely that no dog breed sheds ever.
And the dog hair shedding can be very less or heavy.
The bad news for you is, German Shepherd is one of the dog breeds that sheds the most.
Yes, German Shepherds are the coolest, strongest and one of the most intelligent dog breeds. If you are looking for a dog breed for your family, German shepherd is one of the most family friendly dog breeds once trained well.
Even they will not think a second to giving their life to protect their owner. You can’t have any better friend than them.
Though the breed has a dominating personality, it has some negative points attached to it as well.
The excessive shedding of their hair might be worrisome for the owners.
And when this thing happens for the very first time, it looks peculiar to the owners.
So –
How much does German Shepherds shed?
German Shepherds are termed as heavy shedders. They shed all year long and that too in handsome amount.
Although they shed the most in summer season in order to regulate their body temperature and shed the least in the winter.
But a general rule regarding their shedding is that they undergo heavy shedding throughout the year.
So, What’s The Reason Behind The German Shepherd Shedding?
The overall shedding is due to a number of reasons.
Thick Coat
The German Shepherd’s skin comprises a double layer coat. This is the primary reason that why the German Shepherd are heavy shedders. The different composition of the two layers makes them more likely of excessive shedding.
Hair Growth
German Shepherd is one kind of breed that grows a lot of hair. The higher growth rate makes them shed frequently. It’s basically that the new hair is replacing the old hair, then shedding occurs.
New hair fits in the follicle, tipping off the previous one resulting in shedding.
Stimulus
The shedding is also the response to their stimulus. The different layers of coat sheds differently in different seasons.
Most of the outer coat shed in the warmer seasons. While a high percentage of under coat shedding occurs in the cooler seasons.
Health Issues
There might be some health issues that are constantly troubling the dog.
The dog might look okay from the outside, but there are chances that it is suffering from something internally. Like humans, dogs to respond to a change in their inner environment.
How to Minimize German Shepherd Shedding?
Since it’s a natural process, you cannot remove it off completely.
Still, there are ways of reducing German Shepherd shedding. Let’s look for a few.
Try A Healthy Diet
Your dog might eat good and would also like whatever it is consuming. But this isn’t a surety whether or not that diet is plentiful.
Try giving your dog raw diet, the raw diet helps the dog a lot. Make him consume more protein and raw diet is easily digestible.
The digestible diet is assimilated in the blood easily, hence improving on the dog’s condition.
It helps GSD’s to reduce shedding and regains a lot of dead hair.
The change in diet is not only limited to shedding. It has a good effect on the skin of the dog.
The skin gets nourished, holding onto them for a longer time than the previous time period.
Use More Oil
The oil composition in dog food is very important. The oil has a lot of different elements that are better for the dog’s skin.
The fatty acids in the oil nourishes the dog’s skin. The better the skin of the dog, the more retention of the hair on its skin.
Like humans, dog’s nutrition must have the exact amount that is suitable for their hair retention.
The fatty acids can also be bought through different supermarkets. If you are not willing to use too much of oil for other health issues, these can serve as the best substitute. Researches have shown that feeding fishes to dog has a vital role to play in reducing the shedding.
We highly recommend freshwater fishes for the dog. The fishes hold the elements that are required for the dog to stay fit and keep its hair.
The overall effect of this helps in minimizing the German shepherd’s shedding.
Keep The Dog Hydrated
Not drinking enough water is not a good thing for any of the living things.
Not getting a plentiful supply of water dehydrates the dog’s body. The dehydrated body results in the dry skin of the dog.
Its difficult for the dry skin to retain hair. So, you need to see that you are providing the GSD with enough water every time.
The moist skin reduces shedding.
Giving a lot of water in regular basis can also solve a lot of dog’s health-related problems.
If you are fed up with the excessive hair shedding of the German Shepherd, this trick might be the one you are looking for.
This tip is not very expensive to do, plus it doesn’t add up to any of the complexities you are already facing. Its fast, efficient and consumes very less time.
Dog Grooming
Regular grooming and proper grooming is very important for your German Shepherd dog.
It requires that you should brush your dog in daily basis. Brushing maintains the dog’s fur.
It resolves the tangles made in the GSD’s fur. The tangles prove to be disastrous for your dog.
Maintaining of the dog’s coat is necessary too.
Brushing the dog’s coat regularly helps you resolve the tangles that are made in the fur and remove the loose hairs.
So, when your dog rolls on the carpet, it doesn’t shed hair.
Bathing In Conditioner
There are a lot of new chemicals in the market for your dog. The chemical composition in them might favour your dog’s shedding.
Regular bathing of the dog helps the hair intact. It also helps to give and cover the lack of nutrition that your dog is receiving.
The chemicals in the conditioner help you nourish the skin. It gets the mud and dirt that is stuck inside the dog hair, which is weakening the dog hair.
The conditioner softens and smoothens the hair, making it less vulnerable of shedding off.
There are a lot of medicated shampoos in the market. If the shedding is unusually large try using one of those shampoos.
You need to consult your doctor for one of these. The medicated shampoos have the composition which can favour the dog in reducing the shedding of the hair.
Use Fur Lotions
These fur lotions keep the hair intact. The lotion is something that doesn’t wipe off. You place it on the dog’s fur after a bath. The technique is to dry up the fur thoroughly first. If not then the water already present in the fur might slip off anything applied on it. The lotion doesn’t let the skin to dry up. Keeping the skin moist makes the hair remain on the skin for long, thus reducing the hair shedding. The lotion also helps to return back the lost nutrition in their diet. It also makes the fur look shiny.
De-shed
As German Shepherds shed a lot you need to be regularly watching the fur thoroughly. The fur of the dog a lot of times catches fleas, that irritates your dog. But in real these fleas might cause the dog to itch a lot making the hair and the hair follicles weak. You need to constantly remove these fleas so that the dog doesn’t practice this itching. You also need to keep a shedding tool by your side. These help in reducing the hair shedding to a significant amount. The dog doesn’t get irritated a lot and makes it behave normal.
Conclusion
The shedding of German Shepherd is a very common thing as explained earlier. The shedding isn’t to worry about if it is under the given limits. However, if the shedding goes pretty heavy, try up the above-mentioned tricks.
These tricks might be handy for the owners who are very concerned about their dogs. Make sure that you take your dogs out for a walk. These keeps the stress levels down. Dogs might be subject to stress when the owner limits its contact with the dog.
The healthy environment and the fresh air it gets boosts the hormone levels. These hormones are very important in the growth of the dog. It also takes out depression from your dog. The dog enjoys every bit with the owner. It makes the dog healthy for long and doesn’t let the hair shedding to go out of hands. Hope these help your worries to lessen a bit.
