Question re Labrador shedding

actually a dogs long coat does insulate it. Try shaving a long haired dog in hot summer heat and see what happens

I DO shave long coated dogs in summer all the time. It's part of my job. I'm experianced in grooming for nearly a decade and a half. I live in Florida.
I'm not saying that you have to shave your dog, but that long coat doesn't insulate the dog from the heat. I've seen misrable long coated dogs that were happy, active and comfortable AFTER being shaved.

I shave my GSD/Chow in the summers and IMO he seems happier, and he doesn't seem to feel so hot all the time outside (he would also look like a completely different dog going from brown and black to a cream color!!). But that is just my experience with my dog. It doesn't get as hot here as it does in FL and he's a lazy couch potato anyway so when we weren't on a walk or outside playing, he was soaking in the AC while snoozing on the couch!!! LOL!!

No. Long coats do not insulate an animal. I had a whooly husky that we line cut every year to 1/4 inch and trimmed the rest to about 2' and he was much better off.

If long coats insulated from the heat what would the point of short hair be? There is a reason that animals from warm climates have short fur. If long hair kept an animal cool in heat then there would be no point to blowing the coat (natural occurence in double coated animals) or spring/summer shedding at all.

All dogs shed. I've had super short coated dogs (ABs and Dobes) and long coated monstrous puff balls (great pyr, whooly husky) and mid coated dogs like labs, standard coat GSDs etc. All dogs shed. Period end of story. Outside dogs have much more regular shedding patterns than dogs kept primarily inside in more or less temperature controlled environments.

Vacuuming works if you approach it the right way and don't freak out your dog or cat. Seriously though, a rubber curry and furminator combined with salmon/fish oil and vit E every day works extremely well. Another remedy is not allowing your pets on the furniture ;)

Furminator all the way, I have one for my 2yr. old lab and probably 80% less hair on the floor.

My giant poodle was pure black and a fuzz ball during winter. He looked massive and his coat was a lot of maintainance. Took me close to 2 hours to do him every few weeks, but I loved his coat.

We shaved him down to a standard poodle cut in summer. He loved to get shaved, it really kept him cool during the summer. He was pretty miserable with 9 inches of fur.

OK - how's the furminator any different than a rake? We use a rake on Diamond and we get just as much fur off of her as the ad shows for the furminator.

There's no real difference except the furminator uses very tiny teeth close set. I use a #40 blade held in my hand to get the same effect, it just doesn't have a handle on it.
Rakes work well for most people. Especially for thicker coats.
If what you have works well for you, I wouldn't invest in the latest gadget. I have an old rake, and a Coat King. If anyone were to invest the money in a real Coat King, you'd see some difference, but just for one dog? Use your rake.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

There's no real difference except the furminator uses very tiny teeth close set. I use a #40 blade held in my hand to get the same effect, it just doesn't have a handle on it.
Rakes work well for most people. Especially for thicker coats.
If what you have works well for you, I wouldn't invest in the latest gadget. I have an old rake, and a Coat King. If anyone were to invest the money in a real Coat King, you'd see some difference, but just for one dog? Use your rake.

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We have two rakes, and one has teeth very closely set. Good to know I don't need to go invest in something else! :D

The furminator is essentially a blade like hairdressers use except it doesn't cut the hair, not sure if holding a blade at a 90* angle would cut the hair or not, and yes the furminators are a LOT of money but I think it's been a worthy investment, for me at least.