DeShedding Tools

Deshedding Tools – What are they and why?

Most dogs shed hair, but for many double coated breeds such as Border Collies, Golden Retrievers, Labradors, and Cocker Spaniels they can do so more profusely.

Shedding hair is normal in the spring and winter when new coats are coming in, but in a more constant climate such as Brisbane and Australia in general, they can shed all year round.

There are many benefits of an undercoat de-shedding rather than a standard clip or shave. These include:

• Hair will grow back faster, thicker and more coarse if they are given a full body clip. This is especially noticeable over time.
• The outer coat actually protects and insulates from the sun. When a dog is shaved/clipped down to its undercoat, it loses this protection and can sunburn more easily. This is especially the case for light coloured dogs.
• Many owners understandably assume that they are doing the right thing for their dog by getting them clipped in the warmer months. However they are actually doing the complete opposite. It is the thick dense under coat which stops air flow to the skin and keeps them hot. If you only have them clipped, then most of this dense undercoat remains! De-shedding will remove much of the thick undercoat and thin out the top coat.
• Regular deshedding will remove loose hair, reducing the amount of hair which normally ends up on your couch! You can see from the pictures exactly how much hair this might be!

All in all your dog will look good, feel good, and stay protected from the elements. This is why many breeders of these types of breeds advise against clipping.

Many breeds shed hair and it can mean the dog ends up in the far corner of the garden, far away from the house, or less hugs to avoid being covered in fluff!

A deshedding tool removes dead hair and also the undercoat leaving the dog much much cooler with its attractive, sun protective outercoat intact. Its actually quite amazing how much hair is removed with a good quality deshedder.

The good news is its actually very easy to do, though if not done regularly it can be time consuming. For double coated breeds you generally want to remove both the dead hair and also the undercoat. Many people make the mistake of having their double coated dogs clipped which removes the nice protective outercoat, leaving the undercoat when in fact its the undercoat you want to get rid of!

We have seen a lot of people have much better relationships with their dogs when they don’t have to worry so much about hair loss around the home. It of course does not stop it completely, but regular brushing and deshedding will drastically reduce it and your dog will feel so much better in the warmer months.

We sell and recommend the Mars Coat King. Its a fantastic and easy to use deshedding tool, which CLEAR Dog Grooming uses in the grooming salon.

Purchase the Mars deshedding tool here and view the blade size chart to match it to your dogs breed. We recommend you wash your dog before you do a major deshed with your dog as dirty hair will blunt your blade quicker. That said, the MARs tools ladt very well, we do a good 100 deshed services before we need to replace the blade (keep the handle and just replace the blade) and some of the dogs we get havent been done in a long time so we expect it will last 3-5 years on 1-2 dogs which you do weekly.