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So fresh and clean!!!

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For the first time ever, I took my pugs to a professional groomer. I dropped the pugs off after dropping Martine off at daycare, and I picked them both up in the afternoon. I was a bit hesitant to take them to the groomer because I have always just done all the grooming myself. But, I finally decided that it was about time for me to delegate that task to a professional, just so we can get them having baths on a regular schedule, and hopefully help with the shedding problem.

All I have to say is that if you think you are doing a good job giving your pug a bath, a professional can probably do a better job. Plus, the groomer did the best deshed job I have ever seen. I don’t think I could have gotten this much undercoat off the pugs if I had used a furminator for an hour on each one. It turns out that the professionals have lots of tools that we don’t, and they’re good at getting all that pug undercoat out. So much so that now, I can actually pet my pugs without having a handful of fur!!!


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Pug Shedding

Someone asked me about how to stop pug shedding the other day. I wrote up a big post about how to stop pug shedding three years ago, but here’s my current strategy. My current thoughts are that you can’t do that much to stop it. Diet can influence shedding somewhat, but not all THAT much, at least in my case. I feed my pugs Tripett Advanced Skin and Coat Formula with their meals. Anyway, my strategy is that you can’t STOP the shedding, but you can reduce it for relatively long periods of time. Please note that all pugs are different. I’m mainly dealing with Gadget’s fur — he has a very thick undercoat which sheds a lot. Your experience may vary.

Here’s what I do:

  1. Furminate Heavily
  2. Give Bath
  3. Dry Thoroughly, Wait until completely dry. Hair Dryer on cool setting is also good.
  4. Furminate Heavily Again
  5. Furminate Heavily Again
  6. Wait two days for the shedding to end
  7. Vacuum everywhere.

If you do this, you blow enough hair off of the coat to make it so that the shedding is minimized for a good lengthy period of time, until the hair builds back up. Then you have to repeat.

What do you do to stop shedding? What have you tried that doesn’t work? Please let everyone know, and leave a comment!


Pug After Bath Shedding

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Bathtime has come to be dreaded for both pugs and people. Gizmo and Gadget really don’t like having to get wet in the tub. We don’t mind that part, but we do mind the days of excessive shedding that come afterwards. Of course, we do things to minimize the shedding, like add olive oil to their food, furminate them, etc. It all helps, but they still lose lots of hair for a few days because we’ve just pulled all the oil off their coat (which helps it stay intact).

This picture is of the aftermath of one brief furminator session.

Just look at those piles of hair! Click on the image, and it becomes a little bit more evident just how much hair there is right there.


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Pug shedding after bath?

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Gizmo and Gadget got a bath today. They’re fairly overdue for one, but they don’t like them and they shed like CRAZY afterwards. Literally, for at least a day, they shed about 10x normal. I’ve tried some Jojoba Chamomile Organic Shampoo, and it helps. That, along with a LOT of furminating (you have your furminator, don’t you?) can really help the shedding for a while. Last time I gave them a bath with this shampoo (and furminated them a lot), they stopped shedding (90%) for a week or two.

Pug Shedding: You can’t stop it, you can only hope to contain it.

Anyway, G&G hate the water, but they love the towel-off. It’s a close #2 to gadget’s love of bagels. (He’s becoming known as Sir Gadget Von Bagelton). To see how much they hate the water, you can click on the image, and go to the gallery to see the other picture I posted — it’s them sitting in the bathtub as far away from the rising water as possible.

Sorry guys. The water’s gonna get you today!


Chinese Pug Dog Shedding – How to Stop Shedding

Well, not really. If you have a pug, you know the unstoppable force of shedding. As a wise sportscenter anchor once said, “You can’t stop it, you can only hope to contain it.”

Yes, this is true for pug shedding. As I understand, pugs have an overcoat and an undercoat. The undercoat is also called “down” — it’s lots of small hairs right next to the body designed to keep warm air close to the body. I also understand that through genetics, black pugs only have one of these coats, I think the outer coat. (I think the outer coat was bred to be darker and the undercoat was bred out — but i’m not sure on this)

Anyway, black pugs shed less than fawn pugs, apparently. I wish I had known this.

So, how do you keep your pug from shedding? Well, I have a couple techniques. The first and foremost is my vacuum. This is what is meant by “containment.” I now have a dyson 14 animal vacuum, which i highly recommend. The next step after that is to brush frequently. If you can get the hair off in a controlled manner, you’re more likely to get it in the trash can, rather than on your floor or clothes.

I use a furminator along with the standard wire brushes you find in stores. The furminator essentially is a fine tooth comb combined with prongs that cut or pull the hair out. It does a very good job at gripping and thinning hair. However, It’s still not enough. Pugs shed A LOT, especially after a bath.

So, Tricia and I just had to make a bunch of returns to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and one of the things we picked up was a barber’s hair shaving kit. I just shaved Gizmo and Gadget to 1/8 inch of hair, and, well, it’s kind of a butcher job (Gizmo hates the look, but he didn’t mind getting shaved).

I’ll have pictures up in the next day or so, but, well, i’m not a professional, and they look kinda bad. However, what’s left is most of their undercoat, and they’re a LOT cooler, especially in the New Orleans summertime heat. Gadget’s already starting to get way overheated, and we thought that a good way to combat the heat was to get rid of some of the extra hair.

So far, the shedding has been lessened — what sheds is shorter hair, and there’s less of it. We’ll see what happens when there are baths and more time has passed, but I think this is going to be really good for them, once their “bad haircut” grows out a little bit and later when I get better at trimming them.

Do you do this? Should I have gone longer than 1/8 inch? Do you have any tips for pug shaving? Reducing dog shedding?

I read online that ground flaxseed was great for reducing shedding, and maybe i’ll try it. Anyone know?

See more posts about Pug Shedding.

By the way, the FURminator is a very good product.

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