After almost 20 years of owning Labradors, I can tell you that, along with regular grooming, the only way is to get used to it. Labs shed, period.

 

Moulting. Labradors have two natural moulting periods, start of winter, when they grow their heavy winter coat, and spring/early summer when they chuck the excess coat out in preparation for the warmer weather. Thats the normal, but sadly we humans interfere with this.

Firstly the obvious. Our dogs live in an unnatural situation. There is no heating in the wild, where our houses are to a greater or lesser extent warm all year round. It’s easy to see how this can interfere with the natural rhythm. For me this year is different to usual. In the past I’ve been out doing my job as part time gamekeeper and picking up on the shoot. This has meant being outside for quite a bit of the winter. As I retired at the end of last season neither I or my dog has spent anything like as much time outside this winter. This has meant that Chloe has started her moult way earlier than usual because of the warmer conditions, also fur which would normally have been washed out of her coat in the brook has ended on my living room floor. So you can see how things can interfere with the moult.

But secondly, a less obvious problem. The old saying, “In the spring a young man’s fancy turns to love.” There is actually good reasons for this. Almost every creature aims a spring babies. Everything is starting to grow, and as the other saying goes, “The living is easy!” food is becoming more plentiful, the days are getting longer so the time for hunting for food is longer. So in the wild there is a natural time for having puppies. But puppies are born with their puppy coat, which lasts them until the early summer moult. But again us humans foul that system up. We mate our bitches when it’s convenient to us! This means that the loss of the puppy coat may likely not coincide with a natural moult! So you can understand how a pup might appear to have a prolonged moult! But the good news is that it will sort it’s self out eventually, nature will gradually pull the moulting seasons back to the correct time.

So what do I use for grooming? First a pet hate. Furminators and the like! These tend to cut the coat, which is not the object of the exercise. Better are things like a comb or pin brush. Personally I like a rubber hound glove or grooming mit as it’s sometimes called. But whatever, there is always plenty of “tumble weed” on the floor to keep the vacuum cleaner happy. It’s Labradors. . . They moult.

 

They moult, full stop. I have 5 and blumming cream tiled floors. I vacuum daily, multiple times when they’re moulting.

If it’s a big problem for you, bathe with a shedding shampoo and blast dry, or even better, let a groomer do it for you.

I’m anti furminator too, it ruins the coats. I have one but only use it on my oldie who can’t stand for long periods and I need a fast result and for her to feel comfortable. Her comfort now is more important than aesthetics.

 

This is all part of what people need to consider when thinking about getting a dog. As a basis, the bigger the breed the more hair so the more mess.

Then think non shedding dogs such as poodles. But the down side there is the cost or time spent trimming the coat. Also grooming is still necessary to prevent tangles.

It seems obvious to say that longer coated breeds will make more mess than shorted coated breeds of the same size, but thats an over simplification. Some short coated breeds bring their own problems. Having owned a Dalmatian, I found their short coat even more of a problem than Labradors. A Dalmatian coat is short and stiff, it does not lay on the top of the carpet like a Labradors coat, it threads in, is the very devil to clear up. The times I've been on my hands and knees with a rubber glove trying to work the needles out of the carpet. And needles they are, and can easily work their way into the pores of our skin. The times I've laid on my back on the bed turning contortions, tweezers in hand trying to remove one which has worked it's way into the sole of my foot!

Golden Retrievers have quite a bit longer coat than Labradors, so probably even easier to vacuum on carpets. But the coat tangles even while sleeping! A Labrador needs little grooming outside the moulting season, but for a Golden it's a non stop job! Even the little West Highland White terrier, the coat grows and grows. And it tangles if you dont keep in top of it. The hours I've spent with a stripping knife stripping my cousins!

My friend loves the coated breeds, finds pleasure in the continual grooming, but too me life is too short! Borzoi's are one of her breeds

Other friends are into Flatcoats, another breed which tangles, particularly their trousers.

No, Give me the Labrador any day!

My Dalmatian

Steph with her Borzoi.

Me handling a friend's Flatcoat at Crufts

A truck full of mischief