OK, so we qualified for Crufts by some small miracle ;-) but little one is losing her coat fast :-( ...................should I comb out as much as I can now, or should I leave it well alone and hope she doesn't look too terrible ..............or maybe apply hairspray ;-) to help keep it intact :-D

Any advice welcome, other than "leave her at home"

Typical eh! (another missed rolling eyes smiley) I always opt for combing it out as fast as possible, and bathing too to encourage the new coat but that is with borzois. I've found that their coat looks so dry and horrible when it's casting, at least if the new coat is starting to come in it looks in good condition - even if they're bald...not sure if that makes sense and may not apply to labs anyway :-)

Sounds about right .....every time I sent off the Crufts entry form was the signal for every dog to unzip their coats - think Loki thought that to appear in skin would be de rigour! 

Oh well - the consolation is that conformation is obvious to all!

Margot

I would try and get as much of the dead coat out as you can. I have been using a sheding comb on my two and after a good couple of goes at them their coats more or less came good. The only really bad areas that proved diffcult were on the hind legs as couldn't get them to stand still enough to hand pull it out !

I am sure she will look fine and good luck with her !! Will keep an eye out for you both ! :-)

join the club jo!!! My girls isnt coming out too quickly though, i keep having a little pull to see how many hairs come out but we might just manage to look ok for Crufts. Im not touching her at the moment. Im not bathing her top half for fear of washing it all down the plug hole until her crufts bath! Oh dear, lets hope we can both hang on to a bit!!!
mel.x

I am lucky that mine is in full coat for Crufts each year, but the downside is she starts to drop it a month later so I have no coat for the show summer season.

Someone suggested using a "furminator" on her..............does anyone agree with that? I suppose that at least it will remove the dead undercoat and encourage the new to come through?

You could try using a rubber brush while bathing her, or go over her with a damp rubber glove, this will help the loose hairs to come out ;) 

I have the same problem here, mine have decided that the way to do Crufts this year is naked!

I have decided that I may as well strip it all out in the hope that a few millimetres will grow in by some miracle.

I'm glad to not be the only one who will be showing dogs at Crufts who are in their underwear!
The puppy has lost her puppy coat and forgotten to grow her adult coat; the male has blown
most of the wonderful coat he had all winter.  Thank goodness, I am showing one smooth coat.
The joys of showing heavily coated breeds!!!!!!!!

Karen

I never thought about showdogs  losing coat before, as my breed doen't shed. Thats another blessing of a curly coat , I guess. :-)

As well as doing what the others suggested,i have heard positive results from using Royal jelly supplements and shampoo.'Groomers grooming products'(sorry cant find the link) do both and claim that it

"brings on fast hair growth which is easily seen within the first few weeks."

It cant hurt to give it a bash as RJ also has other wonderful properties besides giving a great coat.

It's just as well my girl didn't qualify, she's currently sporting a rat's tail and bare patches round her shoulder and under her chin, thanks to the puppies. And at that she's not lost nearly as much as I'm told they often do!!

I was wondering whether anyone else's dogs were moulting for Britain at the moment - our Mal seems to be shedding by the bucketload - I seem to be constantly hoovering the carpets, and the addition of Malamute Hair to nearly every dish I cook is not too welcome (the hair gets everywhere!) Luckily she's not a show dog but I would still take your dog even if she's out of coat - I show Samoyeds and find that the judge often overlooks coat if they really like the dog - but I guess it depends on your judge??

your dinner isn't complete if there isn't a dog hair in it in my house!!

Yes, I have a nasty feeling there's a black hair or two in the shortbreads I made yesterday - luckily they're for the dog training club. :-D

But yes, I would take her even without much coat, I have seen so many write ups saying 'left her clothes at home but could not deny her quality' etc etc. :-)

We are not going to Crufts this year and guess what she looks beeautiful full coat on ,last year we had to miss because she was in season , we just can,t seem to get it right at all.
Think I,ll have a male next time !!!!

My Akita has started to blow her coat aswell and I really don't know whether to take her to Crufts or not??!!!!  The only thing is when the Akita's lose their coat they really do look awful. I have a feeling she may be staying home but will she how she looks nearer the time.

Yep, must be that time of year - Crufts is here!  I doubt if they moved Crufts (again) to later in the year if it would make a blind bit of difference to my dogs.  Only entered one this year & guess what, she's the one losing her coat :-(