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Grooming Huskies and Sled Dogs


First of all, a word of warning... don't pay any attention to any person, book, website, or information source that tell you that 'huskies don't shed'- this is not true!

We've heard it said several times (although only by people who don't own sled dogs!) that huskies and sled dogs shed for one or two weeks a year only, and don't loose hair in between. This is either: a) A complete lie; or b) Something nobody told our dogs. Or our friends' dogs. Or any sled dogs we've ever met.

So basically, if you want to own a husky or sled dog, you have to be totally ok with the fact that your whole world will be covered with a layer of white fluff. This will not be limited to clothes and sofas, but will appear in your car, on your food, on your chair at work, in your friends houses. Basically, anywhere you go you're likely to find stray husky hairs. Which is fine, as long as YOU are fine with it.

Shedding is often cited as one of the contributing factors in new owner's decisions to re-home their dogs, and if it is likely to bother you or a member of your family, then you might seriously want to consider another breed of dog.

Once or twice a year, most breeds of sled dog (and many sled dog cross-breeds), will 'blow their coats'. This is when the dog's fluffy undercoat suddenly starts coming out in great big clumps around your house and garden. Your dog will look like a hobo for a couple of weeks, and then look a bit skinny for a few more weeks until the undercoat begins to grow back.

There are some things you can do to speed the process up slightly and make life slightly less fluffy, but really, it's just one of those things that comes with husky ownership and you have to have a sense of humor about.

GROOMING helps the speed the shedding process along, and at least means that most of the hair comes off on your brush rather than all round the house.

Many owners we know, including ourselves, swear by a grooming tool called a FURMINATOR This is basically a rake-tool, which is more efficient than most at removing loose hairs and clumps of fur. It is good for getting through to the undercoat in 'double-coated' northern breeds. We've found them to be most reasonably priced with Amazon. We find a medium size Furminator suits us for grooming Siberians, but it might be useful to have a large one for malamutes.



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