8.5 month labradoodle recently started losing hair - is he too old for that to be his puppy coat?

[Amanda]

Hello fellow doodle lovers:)

My labradoodle is 8.5 months old and has recently (in the past week) started losing hair.  He has never shed up until this point and I wonder if he is just losing his puppy coat but he seems a little old for that.  Any thoughts?  He gets groomed next week and I will ask my groomer too but just wondering.

[Amanda]

Thanks! That makes me feel better:)

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Is the hair falling out or do you mean it is coming out when you brush him?  In my experience, the puppy coat does not fall out.  It needs to be brushed out over several months.  Charlie was about that age when he started going through the coat change and it took him about 5 or six months for his adult coat to come in completely.  Or other doodle Beau did not start going through the coat change until a year and it did not take him long at all.  He does not have the thick thick hair that Charlie has.  BTW - your doodle is the cutest!  Keep on brushing! LOL

[Amanda]

I used to have to clean out my brush only once or twice when I brushed him and yesterday I cleaned it out at least six times.  However, in addition to brushing it is actually falling out.  We find it all over the house (especially in his bed).  He doesn't have any indicated of allergies or mange or anything so that's why I think it is puppy coat but most everything I read indicated this happens between 4-6 months.

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

If it is the coat change from puppy to adult Hurley didn't start making that change until around 8 months and it took a good 6-8 months for the completion of the change.    Hope that helps.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Enzo is just short 9 months and still has partial puppy/adult coat.  But, I have to brush it out...and brush, and brush, and brush.

[Wendy]

My almost 7 month old puppy is experiencing the same thing! Never any hair in the house before, and now it's all over. I assumed it was the puppy coat changing.

[Christy&Riley]

Riley is 9 months and I just started finding puffs of hair around house. When I brush her I now get tons of hair where before she never shed. I assume it is coat change.

[Amanda]

That's exactly how I would describe these - little puffs.  Okay, so it sounds like this is just normal puppy coat shedding.  Thanks everyone!

[Christy&Riley]

What I think is interesting is that it doesn't look like hair that you usually see when a dog sheds. It's like someone is tearing off little pieces of a reddish cotton ball and leaving them around my house. I thought I was doing a good job of brushing to avoid mattes but I found some horrible ones under her ears the other day. Fortunately, she has so much hair, I just cut them out and you wouldn't even know the chunks were gone. LOL. 

The one thing I'm not sure about is whether or not to brush daily. Some say frequent brushing will make the hair grow in more..or something like that. But I'm afraid if I don't brush every other day at least she will matte. I suppose you just do what works best for you. :-)

[Rose Coward]

Is it possible that when she scratches she's inadvertently tearing matts out with her claws?  That's my only guess.  Yes, with shaggy dogs like this, it's virtually impossible to know if you just chopped some of the matts out.  I usually resort to this in those sensitive body spots (inner thigh, ears, armpits). 

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

I brushed Hurley daily during the transition from puppy to adult coat.  Now in winter I brush him about every third day.  In summer everyday.  We live in the Las Vegas. Nv area so we have pretty hot summers.   He is in the water more (although Hurley goes in the water no matter cold - and yes we do get temps below freezing) in summer because that is how he cools off.    I find little tuffs of red hair usually every couple of days now but it isn't like shedding.   

[Hua]

Mine's 10 months and has been blowing his puppy coat since he's 6 months.  I still think his fur are very soft but have noticed that there are more rough patches on his back.  The breeder told me that it can last anywhere between 2 months to a year with age 8 - 10 months being the worst.