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!

[BG and Gavin]

Gavin is a light shedder.  Occasional doodle-bunnies found around the cold air returns and under the fridge, lots of hair in the brush, a bit of hair if you are wearing black, but you cannot pull hair out of his coat with your hand.  He has no dander.  I am allergic to most dogs both saliva and dander, but he does not bother me a bit.

[Becka]

This describes Sadie's coat/shedding exactly! I too can sometimes react to saliva and dander but I've never reacted to Sadie. If anything, when I feeling an allergy attack coming on, it's from something in the yard--which I A) spend more time in now that I have a dog; and B) Sadie and I both bring back inside with us on our hair/clothes.

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

Ditto for Knox! Thanks for making my reply so easy! Lol!

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

I'm in the same boat as Amy.  Sasha does not shed (well kind of).  She is very poodley and there are no tubleweeds of her hair or anything.  But when I wear black pants or top I see her little cream color fuzzies.  Now Oliver is a big time shedder...but he only sheds where I have tubleweeds on the floor, on fleece blanket and on clothes.  But when you pet him or run your fingers thru his hair there is nothing in your hands like a normal shedding dog would have.  When Ollie runs, shakes or scratches and he is in the sunlight you can see the hair.  Oh yeah and one other thing too.. somehow a Ollie hair always works its way into your food = yuck !!!.  Try to brush him daily and always have a brush full of hair, this is 365 days a year !!  Whether they shed or not, I could care less.. they are my babies and I love them to bits :)

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna definitely sheds - there are "tumbleweeds" that gather around the house and you get some "presents" of shedded hair if you hug her. However - when you pet her you get maybe a hair or two but that's it - so her shedding is light in comparison to some dogs. 

She also seems to grow a seasonal undercoat (we think - she's still under 2) of fine white hairs.  She's a deep red/apricot in the Summer but her Winter coat is noticeably lighter because of that "extra" coat. If we get a repeat of her first Spring, there will be a couple bad weeks of a tumbleweed invasion!

What's interesting is from peoples' descriptions, she seems to shed LESS than some more "poodly" looking doodles, so does that mean it has little to do with the curl of the hair and more the texture?

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Non Shedding, nary a hair anywhere.

We use a brush that gets into her undercoat so yes, there is some hair on the brush but not much. We brush her every 3-5 days.

[Cindy M, Zachary & the Frenchies]

When I brush/comb Zach there is a lot of fur/hair in the comb. However he does not drop any incidental fur, Nothing on the furniture, clothes, bedding, nor does fur come off of him when I pet him. To me this is non-shedding. My bulldogs shed - fur everywhere! In fact Zach's coat attracts the bulldog's shed fur into it (it also attracts dust and dirt)

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think my doodles don't shed but I do find the occasional small clump where Calla has scratched herself. All hairy creatures shed. It is just the timing and amount. Hair grows to a certain length and then falls out. With doodles this is long, at least in the higher generations. The dead hairs don't readily fall to the ground and therefore need to be brushed out of the rest of the coat. They do not shed great amounts of hair all a once, seasonally, like some breeds. I have had a lab in the house and he shed tumbleweeds full of hair . I've also had a standard poodle here and he shed hardly a hair. My labradoodles are certainly more like him. I think doodles shed about the same amount as a healthy person.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

I have always considered Murphy my non- shedder as I have to brush his hair to get his loose hair off. There is very little elsewhere, but I do have little tumbleweeds every few days. Bella has a very different coat, thick thick thick, and I still don't consider her a big shedder, although there are much more tumbleweeds now and I have to empty the Dyson canister after doing every room, especially the carpets.
They have to loose hair the same as any living hairy thing would. We loose 100 hairs a day ourselves and thats just from our heads. I expected that even if they were considered non- shredders.
I have friends with shedding dogs and compared to them to my dogs hardly loose any hair.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Chloe has fly aways-like when you touch her loose hairs fly-Myla not so much. So I would say Chloe sheds and Myla don't.