how often do dogs moult and how long does a moult usually last ? i have a 7 month old gsp who has been shedding hair like no-one's buisness for about a week now. is there anything to stop or reduce amount of hair being shed ?

thanks

not to sure on the whole moulting process but i find a good old fashioned brushing once a day helps heaps

=)

In Response to Hodgey

It is normally twice a year, for entire bitches they will loose More coat than entire dogs, who may not have a full moult after the big puppy moult at about a year, for some years.

Mine is a double coated breed and it normally takes about 3 weeks for the undercoat to come out and another week or so if they are going to drop the top coat.

Moulting is governed by the amount of daylight, and to some extent the weather so artificial lighting and heating can confuse things.

I have found neutered animals are inconsistent with their moult seeming to stop start or loosing a bit all the time.

Our Golden moults twice a year and it seems to last one to two weeks.  The only thing you can do is to try and contain the hair by brushing regularly. 

One of mine has a short coat (boxer) like your gsp and I use a rubber mitt.  Brill for getting all the loose hairs off and he really enjoys it as he gets a good massage at the same time!!  But as Brainless said, he does seem to moult most of the time x

At 7 months your girl will be changing her coat from her puppy coat to her adult coat. A daily rub-down with a rubber mitt or a Zoom Groom will help a lot. A certain amount of shedding is to be expected all the time (after all, we get hair in our own hair-brushes, don't we?). My smooth-coated breed shed most of the year round, with a 'proper' moult lasting a couple of weeks as well a couple of times a year.

Oooh snap - little white hairs EVERYWHERE.  Yes I forgot - I had a Zoom Groom (but lost it) and I thought it was great  

I will second that the zoom groom is fantastic. Use it for my cat and its fab.
RE: moulting. I have no idea, mines a non moulting breed :-) Sorry.

Hi,
How many breeds actually don't moult?
I always thought other than the poodles all dogs moult to some extent, including mine.Lol
:-)

The breeds that need clipping don't moult (although some people clip breeds which should be stripped or otherwise groomed differently).

Hi,

I hand strip all my dogs, as they show, but they still moult although there are alot of breeders in my bred who claim they don't!!!!!!!!!

Even as clipped pets there is still some hair on the floor, not anything like as much as a lab or collie.  :-)

I use a Ferminator on my boy to comb the undercoat out, its fantastic. I have a selection of combs, slickers including 2 Les Poochs and rakes.
When my boys undercoat is ready to fall out it turns reddish and you can really see just how much undercoat there is when this happens.
I also use a blower/blaster which no only helps after a bath but is great for conditioning if you like the coat. Blows dirt and loose hair out and is maybe the best bit of equipment I've bought closely followed by the Fermintor.

What I find helps the most is bathing and then grooming whilst still wet -removes a lot of dead hairs and speeds it up. Of course my breed is double coated so longer hairs, but one of mine was in terrible moult, looked really bad, it was two days before Boston. I stuck her in the bath, brushed her, and even though she lost a few hairs at Boston, looked perfectly respectable and got a decent placing too.

Poodles and Bichon Frise's are the only dogs who really do not moult at all. Some people advertise labradoodles/cockapoos etc as non moulting which isnt strictly true as the fur isnt a cmpletely wooly coat like the poodles/bichons. Not sure about bedlington terriers???They are possible less moulting than other breeds but not sure if entirely non moulting.x

Thanks for that Freds Mum. Know it was not too helpful, but wanted it confirmed.

Hi Hodgey,
All dogs bar two breeds moult all year round. However they moult very heaverly twice a year, depending on the weather, their age, gender and in females the sessions. My bred has a double coat and I use stripping knives to take the undercoat out. This ofen comes out better after a bath when still wet. But I have in larger breeds used the already mentioned the ferminator, works very well.
Good Luck. :-)

This weather is really affecting my 2, they have, a few weeks ago, cast their coats and lost all their lovely winter coats.  The weather's just too mild. 

Mine too, well one at least , the spayed girl has been on constant moult for about 2 months and no matter how much i brush a day she still has more

Mine moults twice a year and like brainless' dogs is a double coated breed and it takes a good few weeks until she's finished moulting. I brush her regulalrly and have found a bath really helps being out the hair but you've got to be careful the plug doesn't block because so much hair comes out!