Define Shedding

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

One of the questions on the DK member profiles is “does your doodle shed”?  Well, I initially answered “No”, but now I am not so sure.

Every time I give them a good brushing (when their coats are long), I pull enough fur out of the brush to build another doodle, but since I find hair in my own styling brushes I am pretty sure that this wouldn’t be classified as shedding.  The shed/no-shed debate becomes a bit confusing when I look at some of the different surfaces in my house.  Some fabric surfaces have absolutely NO doodle hair on them what-so-ever but others fabric surfaces might as well be lint rollers. Most pairs of my black work pants have cream fuzzies on them and I have given up on wearing khaki pants because I couldn’t deal with the black fuzzies that stuck to them regardless of what I did to remove it.  I am currently on a mission to remove anything fleece from my house because that material seems to attract any last stray hair that comes off the dogs.  Anytime I wash a fleece blanket, I pull a wet clump of misc doodle fuzzies from the washer (it is gross!).  I don’t have piles of hair on the floors and I don’t really get much fur off of the carpet when I vacuum. 

I can’t really identify any individual hairs on my furniture, clothing, etc., but my doods just seem to give some items an overall fuzzy appearance.  So does this count as shedding? I do think the general fuzziness in my house may have gotten worse since I started doing all of the grooming myself. 

So help me out.  Do you consider your doodle to be non-shedding?  If so, does that mean that you have zero dog hair floating around your house?  If your doodle sheds, can you actually see hair on things as opposed to just a general fuzziness (if that even makes sense).  Every time I am out with the dogs and meet someone new, I am always asked if they shed and right now I haven’t figured out the correct answer.   

Thanks for the help!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Mine usually comes out.  I would try one of those sticky rollers (lint roller I guess!)

[Katie, John & Parker pup]

Yep...Parker leaves fuzz everywhere! Our apartment is small and cluttered so it is difficult to keep up with him! I am sure there is hair hiding in places that could make ten more doodles! lol

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Tara is an ALD and is what I would consider to be non- shedding.  There is little to no hair in the brush when I brush her out and the same is true with what remains in the tub after a bath. I find maybe a half of a dime sized glob of hair. Now I have to add that I do get more hair from her ears when I brush her than from the entire rest of her body. I don't know if there is such a thing as doodles  having certain body parts that shed more than others but it seems to be the case with Tara. Even so I don't find hair anywhere in the house or on my clothes. It just seems to come out when I brush her ears. 

[Bonnie and Kona]

Ricki, I definitely believe that different parts of a doodle can shed more than others. It's crazy but true of mine.

[Becka]

I don't think this is all that unusual--I was talking to the owner of a springer spaniel the other day who told me that the curlier hair on her dog's legs doesn't shed, but the soft, short hairs on her back do.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Bonnie and Becka this is good to know!  Since ALD's have other breeds mixed in I thought maybe Tara came with Cocker Spaniel ears! :)

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

both of my doods are ALDs...maybe they are defective.  Just kidding.  I love my little guys.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

They're not defective, their SPECIAL! :)

[Bonnie and Kona]

Here is my personal definition based on my two doodles (nothing official here at all, just me)

Kona does not shed: When I brush him I have lots and lots of hair in the brush, but there isn't hair floating around the hardwood floors.

Owen sheds a little: I get fur when I brush, but I also have a bit of the tumbleweed action floating around the hardwood floors and a few cream hairs on my clothes.

Our previous dogs were Golden Retrievers and those dogs shed like crazy. I'm talking huge tumbleweeds every single day and dog hair on everything they touch. I really needed to vacuum every day to stay on top of it. Now, if I only vacuum once in a week, I have much, much less hair than after one day with two shedding Goldens.

[Becka]

I like this definition. I always think that if a dog truly sheds, then you can't even pet the dog without a bunch of hair/fur flying. Perhaps that's an extreme definition, but it was the one thing I really didn't want in my dog. Sadie is (I think) still going through a coat change, but I've always been able to pet her without disturbing/dislodging hair. Plenty can come out in the brush, and I do find occasional tumbleweeds, but that's about it. (I still bought a Dyson vacuum cleaner when I got her, though.)

[Amy and Lily]

If I would hold Lily right before I went away I would be mistaken for a Sasquatsch from all the hair!!  I really don't know where all this hair comes from, you would think she was going to be bald!   

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

I brush Cooper (ALD) once a month usually  (she doesnt mat much) and I do get a reasonable amount of fur on the brush - the more matted she is the more fur I get. Mostly from her back. My MILs dog pulls chunks of fur out of Cooper so we find tusfts all over the place, and im often pulling apart mats so will find some loose strands around, but its nothing compared to my 3 cats! they leave tumble weeds