The Summer Of Fur

Today was my third brushing in three days. I stand patiently as The Woman continues to remove more and more of my coat. I am enjoying this new style. I look all sleek and muscular now- much more macho- than that winter Teddy Bear look.

And still, the fur falls.

Despite all the literature that exists regarding dog breeds, everyone always asks, "Do Shibas shed?" The answer to that is no, we do not shed;

We explode.

Similar in style to that of a Hiroshiba. The Woman vacuumed and had to empty the cannister three times while just doing the upstairs. When I shed, I like to make sure I do a thorough job.

And it looks like the end is not in sight. With temperatures continuing to rise, I expect to lose at least another pound of fur before August.

So The Woman posted to my breeder's web circle about how do people with two Shibas survive (this is where I found out that "puppies" have been under consideration- a topic she and I will have to discuss at a later point). Here is an example of some of their responses:

We also experienced the shiba blowing of the coat abut 2-3 days ago. (It must have been the hot Connecticut weather the past week!) The fur drives me crazy - and I am constantly washing, wiping and vacuuming fur out of the corners. But we only have Teika - and that's enough fur for me!

I personally like it when The People bring out the Dustbuster to chase my fur on the hardwood floors. I love to chase it while it chases the dust bunnies.

We have resigned to the fact that we will NEVER have a home free of Shiba fur again!!!

No house should be without Shiba fur. That is just a given.

Saku has the thickest (not long just THICK) coat I have EVER seen on a Shiba. His owner calls it a carpet coat and that's what it reminds me of, an expensive wall to wall carpet that you sink into barefoot.

When he arrived in Feb he had just done a major shed, Debbie said. She spent 2 days grooming him and still sent him and Bambi for a professional groom before I picked them up!

Then when spring arrived here he shed a mod amount again

HOWEVER he was still not done and you could not see his skin even when he was being washed. BUT with the hot weather and 3 bitches in heat (first Doodle and Bea in May, then Rosie who came to "visit" him and now Annie with Bambi close behind I think) he has decided that any type of a carpet is too much and is dumping the entire thing

He looked so horrible today that I decided that even though I can't groom them well anymore with my hands we were going to try.

Without doing a spectacular job, just a pretty decent one, his entire 10 X 10 pen is COVERED with fur. It looks like he has a red/buff carpet out there (did anyway til the wind came up)

I cannot imagine that in a house (he stays in the dog room when inside) but supposedly you with nice altered housepets who comb the dogs more often have less shedding then us multi dog people.

isn't that nice to know????

Okay, I need to comment here for a moment. I would lose my coat too, if I lived in a house with 5 girls all going into heat at the same time. I am not sure that any dog could survive that and not lose their fur, their sanity, or even remember their own name when surrounded by that many available girls.

I pause to consider what a Shiba/Rottie cross would look like . . .

We brush down AKU everyday and sometimes a few times a day.

I like these people. I wanna be adopted. Do you put cheese on his breakfast and dinner? If you do, I think you could be nominated for Shiba Sainthood.

Funny Shiba siting on QVC...
They were selling a pet comb and for the show they
trotted out a huge golden retriever and a little
Shiba. At first I was puzzled by their choice of a
Shiba but when you saw the huge mound of fur next to
such a little dog the brush looked like it was Magic.
Pretty funny show because they had to keep cutting the
Shiba out of the picture because he was not into the
demonstration. The golden was falling asleep and the
shiba kept trying to run away as some guy kept
fumbling for the leash. I am pretty sure the guy
combing may have gotten bitten at least once because
the camera did a very awkward cut away just as the
teeth started to show 2x in the 3 minutes I watched.
I am certain the shiba fur pile sold hundreds of those
shedding combs though because the Shiba pile was huge!

This one makes me laugh. I also would have bitten the guy. First, Shibas deserve all camera attention; we don't share the screen with a commoner. Second, being brushed is a private moment. It's like when The People take their shower. You really don't want it to be a public experience because we are losing what it is that makes us great- our fabulous fur. Hence, it is not something that should be publicly advertised, and then further more, used for selling a product. We are above product endorsement unless it involves food. And not kibble, but good food. Like cheese that costs $20 an ounce, or ice cream, or chicken.

Damn, now I am hungry again.

So, for the record, yes, Shibas shed. And we do it with the dignity and grace that make us the adorable Shibas that we are.


I Am Shiba. I Prevent Boredom by Losing Fur.