Hi All

Just a wee query.  I'm a little concerned about my neighbour's dog who is a white GSD bitch.  They've had her about a year and she was 8 months when they got her.  I did suggest at the time when I was talking to them and they first had the dog that it might be hard work as they had just had a baby as well.  They assured me they knew what they were doing and I felt a bit of a nosey neighbour :rolleyes:

I've recently noticed the dog is quite thin and what I'm a bit concerned about is that it's fur is falling out -my own dog moults a bit but this is big clumps falling out as it walks about the back garden (yup I'm being nosey again).  Is this normal?  Do GSD's moult a lot in summer?  I personally feel the dog is a bit neglected but I certainly don't think they're doing that intentionally.  But I do feel a bit sorry for the dog as I don't think they have the time for her that she needs (they both work).  Before I charge in again can anyone tell me if the hair loss thing could be considered a worry or if GSD's do lose their coats a bit.  Also am I sticking my nose in where I shouldn't be

Thanks.

CG

Yes, GSDs can lose masses of hair when they moult, so I'd say she needs a thorough grooming every day.

It sounds like it needs a jolly good groom. GSD (with longer coats especially) are notorious for dropping their coats, and even with good grooming habits, it is still on going. I would guess that the fact the dog is white 'highlights' the problem even more.

Thanks so much for your replies, I'm very relieved this is normal as there was quite an alarming amount of hair lying around. It's not a long haired dog but I'll drop it into the conversation about grooming when I next talk to them as copper has just been and had his coat out.  Hopefully that will sound friendly instead of trying to tell them what to do :)

CG

Despite daily grooming my short haired GSD is leaving dog shaped patterns wherever he lies and clumps of hair all over the place :rolleyes:

With two GSDs and a golden, it's only the hair keeping the carpet clean in my house :D

There are a few GSDs where we walk - when I first started going there I thought something must have been killed and had it's fur ripped out as there were huge clumps of it all over the place! This happened on and off for a few weeks and it wasn't until I saw someone actually getting a brush out and grooming his dogs there and then that I realised where all the fur was coming from! Huge clumps of it - great for birds nests I imagine :P

You might like to try to find a polite way of saying that if the dead hair isn't groomed out, it will mat up all over the dog's skin and make it very uncomfortable and difficult to rake out when they (or a hapless groomer) do finally try to sort it out. :-)

My GSD would lose endless amount of hair every year. I could sit with him at night grooming for hours and have a pile as big as him and then a couple of days later he would need doing again.

As for the looking thin again my boy was skinny till I put him on a raw diet and he started to fill out. Some GSDs can look thin until they are fully mature. Bit like a gangly teenager so I wouldnt worry to much about that either.

Wendy

Yep, in full moult GSD's often lose tufts of fur; when mine are walking along, you see the odd tuft about to come out and if you pull it, out it comes and that's with daily grooming. :-D

GSD's tend to look lean with big ears as adolescents and fill out later as they mature.  She's still only a youngster at 18 months :-)

My living room looks like a sheep shearing competition has been held in it every morning when I come downstairs with two GSDs its unbelievable what they can shed,  its always a good thing for prospective puppy owners to see an adult dog going through a full moult I thinkbefore they make their minds up about taking on a new puppy.
Your neighbours dog is probably at the lanky gangly teenager stage , they always look worse when loosing coat anyway its good you are concerned enough to ask about her though.

Most GSDs lose big clumps of under coat in the summer, sables can look really awful & longcoats look even worse as the coat tends to go very flat

One way of getting rid of loads is to bath & the use a blaster to dry-but only if you can use the blaster outside ! otherwise the house gets filled with dog hair

Nothing moults like a GSD; regular swimming helps!

Try a couple of Elkhounds :D

Thank you to everyone who replied - I'm reading up on my breeds now :)

CG