Bath and Shedding like crazy

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

Schulz has not shed that bad for a while now. He was starting to smell so we gave him a bath, and now he is shedding like crazy. I have brushed him over and over today and hair is still falling out like crazy. Is this normal?

[Ginny Nightingale]

How old is Schulz? If he is between 10 and 14 months old, he could be blowing his puppy coat.  If he is an adult--this could be something systemic that is related to the smell you noticed. Not an expert in this though--let's see what others have to say.

[Ginny Nightingale]

Hi again--I looked at your page and it seems like Schulz might be at that puppy coat stage--they go thru a transition and if you don't keep brushing out the hair it can get all matted into the coat. You will have this for quite a while and you really won't know if he is a shedder until that is over--say at about 18 months old. 

[Bonnie and Kona]

All of our shedding dogs have shed like crazy after their baths.

[Bonnie and Kona]

hmmm, I don't remember for sure, but I can say that I only noticed it for the first day or so. I think it might be the rubbing when you bath them that loosens a lot of hair that is going to fall out eventually anyway. I really don't know. They also seemed to have the ability to "drop their coats" when they were nervous... like at the vet's. We would come home from the vet office covered in hair. I'm not sure how this happens either. ;o) ?

[Shannon and Finn]

Our shepard/lab mix was a shedder and after a bath (or the vet) there would be a lot of hair around.  I think with any dog that has an undercoat you are going to loosen the shedding hair during bathing (or when they are nervous) and so you will see it falling out for a while, not necessarily increased shedding, just the stuff that was loosened is falling on the ground instead of staying trapped underneath.  The only thing to do was use a brush that removed the undercoat, which would take me hours of brushing (took a few days for me).  Fortunately I haven't found a single hair from Finn except in his brush since I had 13 years of hair clean up before.  Looks like Schulz has a bit straighter of a coat so you may have luck with a furminator, which is what I used in the past with a lot of success.  Finn is a bit to long and curly for one (would just get tangled and pull his fur) but they are wonderful on the straighter coats.  I have seen people mention other brushes that are useful as well (are they called undercoat rakes???).

[Kathy, Harley & Roxie]

Harley started shedding like CRAZY about 11 months, continued for approx 3 months and now he is back to no shedding.