Hi, I was wondering whether any of the Dane mummies/daddies could help me out, or even if you have a smooth coated breed in general.
I groom Diesel daily, most days :rolleyes: , but no matter how much I do or what I use,
he always seems to have millions of hairs still falling from him.
I've tried different types of brushes, rubber block thingies and nothing seems to work.
He's got a beautiful shiny coat with all the brushing, but it doesn't seem to make any difference to the amount of hair he seems to shed :rolleyes:
Any ideas?
Sharon
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Could it be the food that Diesel is getting?  I know when mine are on a good human-grade food the shedding is knocked down by quite a bit (Boxers btw).  Could it be the air in the house?  Is it too dry, are you running a humidifier? 

If you're feeding him a human-grade food (or raw) and the house is nice and moist, you may want to try an anti-shedding supplement with his food.  I've never used one so can't tell you if it works or not.  ;)

Not a Dane, but my smooth-coated dalmatians shed continually and have a full-blown moult a couple of times a year. It's a well-known breed thing. Apparently if you keep them colder (no central heating, for example) they're better.

Thanks Guys,
Maybe I'll try the brrrr  ;-)  method!!  Or on second thoughts, I'd rather just keep brushing and swiffing them away :rolleyes: I thought my Goldie was bad, until I got Diesel, now in all honesty, you can't find any of Bailllie's in the sea of hair, that is Diesel's :-D Thank god for wooden floors, I don't know how I'd cope with carpets
A humidifier's a point, I could try that, but as for his food, he gets Baker's complete along with fresh mince, I've had to chop and change his diet a little along the way, but he seems to be thriving on this, he's a fussy boy :rolleyes:

Have you tried a bristle brush?  I tried it on a GSD the other day that molts like fury - she molts the topcoat worse than the undercoat, and my rake wasn't doing anything, nor was my comb.  I tried the bristle on her and it did the trick - I think because the bristles are so close together, they catch the hair better.  Just a thought!

Hi Nikita, Thanks,  I've got a bristle brush which I use on Baillie, my goldie, but to be honest I'm a bit worried about using it on Diesel.  He doesn't have a thick coat at all, wouldn't it be a bit scratchy

When i swopped my RRs over to the barf diet, they shed far less.

I wouldn't worry, just don't use too much pressure and you should be fine.  A good quality bristle brush won't be too harsh anyway.  I use mine on my dobe - and he has next-to-no topcoat at all (he has bad colour alopecia) and he's fine with it.  And he's a wimp!

Try it, Diesel will let you know if it hurts him or not.

Bailliesmum,all the supplements and brushing in the world wont help your dog if youre feeding a food like Bakers.It is one of the worst foods around It wont be doing your dogs insides or outside any good at all :(

There are certain ingredients and additives i will not feed to my dogs,and bakers has every one of them! Until you change to a better food,i can say with most certainty that your dogs coat wont change,it may even get worse.

Poor nutrition and excess shedding usually go hand in hand....

Bailliesmum,i am sorry to be so abrubt but i speak from first hand experience here.The foods that seem to cause the most problems in dogs is Bakers,gusto and pedigree.I have had to treat my fair share of clients dogs who have been fed these foods :(

Hi Sara, I do feel you were a little abrupt! As I pointed out in my post, I have changed his diet a few times, going on the advice of his breeder and vet, as we did have problems with a few makes, one in particular which you mention.
But surely people can only go on the information that they have in front of them, and I'm sure what suits one dog doesn't necessarily suit another. I take your point that you would rather not feed your dog Bakers, which is ultimately your decision, and you obviously have  evidence to back that up.
All I have to go on is a happy, well adjusted mature adult with a stunning coat, albeit, he does shed a lot.
I feel that you could have possibly made your post a little more constructive, perhaps by telling me what the problems were you encountered with the dogs that were fed Bakers, and perhaps not by adding...

Poor nutrition and excess shedding usually go hand in hand....   :rolleyes:

Although I don't feed Bakers myself and wouldn't I've known many a dog survive in their teens eating it, with absolutely no health problems!  I've known people feed the other "BEST" foods around and had nothing but problems.  Whatever suites your dog in my eyes is the best!

Thanks, I tend to agree with that, not one thing is going to suit every dog. Anyway, Sara's reply has got me wondering about it, so I've posted on the feeding board, to see what people think if they're feeding it and how their dogs are doing on it
Sharon
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>perhaps by telling me what the problems were you encountered with the dogs that were fed Bakers<

I have pmd you with the problems i have encountered.

Perhaps you'd like to share the information with everyone else? Or is it terribly secret?

Hi Nikita,
Not sure if this will fall in the right place....
what I used to use on my GSD was a blade, (you can get them from pet shops) they are like a saw blade and if you run that over their coat all top hair comes off and there isn't too much moult (unless it is that time of year)
the ones you get from the pet shops are flexible, but I used to use a hack saw blade and it was wonderful..

As for short haired smooth coats, I groom my dobe with a rubber brush, I brush his fur backwards then the right way and after doing this all over i use a damp chamois leather to get rid of loose hair and skin. Seems to do the trick. He does moult more with heat (central heating) I have now moved his crate and it is much better (as he is no longer right near a radiator)

Emma

If not a humidifier, you can set pans of water on the registers or boil a big pot of water off everyday.  :)  Mine get brushed everyday as well, and I too have hard floors that get swept everyday :rolleyes: I can empathize!!

Hi have you tried cod liver oil caps for your dane i have a big girl called cassie and we put her on them as she coat was very dull no she is very shiney its good for her joints being such a large breed and she moults like you wouldnt belive