Hey Woofa’s,

Yay Spring Time has finally begun in Australia, I love it!!!

Although I can appreciate not everyone loves Spring because with it comes hay fever : (

Spring for our fur kids also means MALTING SEASON!

If your dog’s malting hair isn’t taken care of it can cause all sorts of frustrations for you and your dog.   From them constantly itching, or trying to bite out the hair themselves, or causing hair matting that becomes uncomfortable.   This then may require a shave down!!!!!

As groomers we know not everyone loves a shave down, even in summer.  We don’t always like doing them but if your dog is a matted mess, it’s the best thing to start over again.

Short-haired dogs also malt in Spring and do require brushing but it’s not as severe as with long-haired dogs.

WHAT IS MALTING SEASON?

Malting season generally hits in Spring Time, when the weather starts to warm up.

Malting is when your dog loses hair.  This hair is meant to come out and doesn’t fall out in lumps leaving the skin bare.  It falls out naturally.  In a similar way our own hair comes out when we brush it.

Your dog begins to lose the excess of it’s winter coat, ready for the warmer weather.

DOG HAIR 101!

The basic cycle of your dog’s hair is that it will begin to thicken up in Autumn/Fall ready for the colder months of Winter.  They will have a nice thick coat (even short haired dogs do this) to keep them warm in the colder months of Winter.

Then in Spring the excess hair your dog’s coat generated for Winter, will start to fall out as it’s no longer needed.  What the coat does now is starts to thin out ready for the hotter months of Summer.

This excess hair that starts to malt needs to be brushed out, ESPECIALLY if you have a long haired dog.  It’s good to brush out the short haired dogs as well because they can drop hair all over the place.

BUT the long haired dogs, big or small, are the ones that suffer the most if this hair isn’t brushed out (or de-shed as groomers call it).

If the hair is not brushed out your dog will try to do it themselves.   Either by biting it out, scratching at it or rubbing it.  The malting hair will bulk up in their coat and become matted causing them discomfort.

With matting comes the shave down!!!!!!!

THE SHAVE DOWN!!

Most groomers don’t want to do a shave down.

What’s a Shave Down?  

A shave down is when a dog comes in badly matted, their hair is that badly knotted up that any amounts of brushing won’t get it out.

So a groomer has no choice but to cut your dog’s hair off short.  The clipper blades have to get under the knots and when the knots are close to the skin, a shave down is necessary.

Dog’s can’t brush their own hair, so it’s up to their owner to be on top of it.  Either by doing it constantly themselves or booking regular appointments with their groomer.

When your dog is in this state a shave down is necessary.  Then afterwards learn the lesson and keep your dog brushed and maintained at a length that you like.

It’s not always just the little ones either, sometimes the bigger long haired ones come in in this state and again it’s preferred not to but the shave down does happen.

How To Avoid The Shave Down?

a) Keep your dog knot free;

b) Brush your dog’s hair on a weekly basis;

c) Check your dog’s hair for foreign items (dog’s get things stuck in their hair often);

e) If you don’t have the time to do it yourself, make regular appointments with your groomer to keep your dog’s hair maintained.

LONG HAIRED BIGGER DOGS!

If your dog isn’t matted ALL over and there’s some bulked up hair around the rump area etc a de-shed is the next order of operation in the groom salon.

Where all your dog’s excess malting hair will be brushed and blown out of their coat.  There are other tools used but these are the basic ones.

SHORT HAIRED DOGS (ALL SIZES)!

As mentioned above even short haired dogs malt, their little magical fibres get left all over the house!  Again brushing it out helps and depending on the coat some groomers may use a de-shed carding utensil to help remove malting hair.

I’m not getting too technical here just covering the basics.

THE NON-MALTING (SHEDDING) DOGS!

These dog’s coats generally have some form of poodle in their breed, i.e. Cavoodle, Moodle, Labradoodle etc. Just about everyone is trying to breed with a poodle so their dog’s hair doesn’t shed.

The thing is whatever oodle breed you have, you’re still going to need to brush and maintain your dog’s hair.  With the oodle breeds generally they have longer curly or wavy hair, which still needs to be brushed.

Their hair will still thicken up for Winter and thin out for Summer and again, it still needs to be maintained and brushed.

Just because they don’t drop hair all over the place doesn’t mean it doesn’t need looking after.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Malting Season is here, your dog will start to lose it’s excess Winter coat.

You need to help your dog by brushing this excess hair out of their coat otherwise it will cause them discomfort.

If you have a long haired dog (any size) and you allow this to be ignored you may end up at the Dog Groomer for a shave down!!!!

Even short haired dogs malt and need their coats brushed more regularly during Malting Season.

Malting is a natural occurrence for your dog’s coat.

In The Comments Below – Billy Would Love To Know – How You And Your Fur Baby Deal With Malting Season?

Cheers