Why is my husky shedding so much in the summer?
The major factor tied to the hair loss noticed in huskies is the change in environmental temperature. During summer, the temperature rises and your dog has to adapt to the increase in temperature. For example, when the environment is really hot, you tend to wear lighter clothes. Your husky would also be shedding a bulk of its undercoat so that it becomes thin enough for adequate ventilation in the summer.
After this shedding occurs, the undercoat is so thin it’s hardly noticeable. However, if your husky is shedding more than it would normally shed during summer; it could be as a result of one of the following reasons;
- Stress: When your dog is anxious or under stress, one of the things you notice is the falling out of hair from their body. The reason for this is as a result in the increase of a hormone called cortisol. To solve this problem, you need to ensure that you give your dog drugs that help it stay calm.
- Poor feeding i.e. when your dog’s meal lacks essential minerals like Zinc and Iron.
- Tick or flea infestation: Ticks and fleas are pests that live in the undercoat of your dog. Ponce they are present, your dog always has the urge to itch its body with its clawed foot. This action affects the fur on its body and soon enough, they begin to drop off. Once you begin to notice the presence of flea droppings on your dog’s body, start treating flea infestation. You could also use tick powders when there’s tick infestation.
- Bad grooming of the dog: When your dog isn’t properly groomed, it may end up having skin infections like eczema. This infection usually causes the fur to fall out, leaving areas with no hair or fur at all. Ensure that you get antibiotics or steroids once you notice areas with a thin hair mass.
- Hormonal changes and Genetics could also be the reason why your husky is shedding so much in the summer.
How to groom your husky at home
When the hair and fur begins to fall off your husky’s body, the one thing you want to do is get it groomed. The frequency of this grooming should be daily. That way, the shedding of hair occurs more quickly and prevents the fur from getting matted. Let’s see how we can go about this;
1. Work with a detangling spray when brushing across the body of your husky.
2. Use a rake to work through the undercoat fur. If your husky has a very thick fur, get special rakes that can work their prongs through the mass.
3. A shedding brush will help you cut out the incidence of shedding by a very great fraction. So, if you use this as frequently as possible, you can prevent a situation where fur is scattered all across your home.
4. A comb with wide teeth will help get rid of any fur or hair strands that lie within the coat after you have brushed and raked through the dog’s body.
Some people also prefer to groom their dogs with the aid of a vacuum like device—usually a blow dryer that can blast out air at high velocity.
1. Start from the belly, and then, move to the upper parts of the dog’s skin.
2. After the belly, aim the hose towards the legs. Start from the right base and then, move up to the thigh region. Do the same thing for the other half of the dog’s body.
3. Afterwards, you can proceed to blow the chest, face and neck.
4. Once you are done blowing, ensure that you give your dog a good bath. The kind of shampoo you use matters a lot at this point. Stay away from shampoos with harsh chemicals as ingredients. Instead, go for milder ones that contain omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. These elements help nourish the skin.
5. The final step here is to run a brush across the washed body. That way, the hair comes out looking even more radiant.
Why is my husky shedding so much in the winter?
There’s a breed of husky called the Siberian husky. This dog usually sheds its entire coat at once. This complete shedding usually occurs about twice a year, and it is a process referred to as blowing coat.
For these dogs, shedding of hair is a natural occurrence that involves the fallout of old strands of hair and fur. That way, a new set of hair strands can grow out.
One more thing you need to note is that huskies have a double coat. What that means is that their coat consists of two functional layers that help to protect them from adverse weather conditions. For example, when it is very cold, they need a form of jacket against the freezing air outside.
The first layer which you see is the upper coat. Usually, you wouldn’t see this hair until your husky pup becomes an adult. They are resistant to water and quite tough. What the hair in this layer does is to protect the layer of hair beneath them from elements like dust and moisture.
The next layer is the undercoat. Here, instead of hair strands, you find fur. The fur is usually very soft and tightly packed. As a result of the denseness of the fur, the skin of your husky dog usually remains out of view. The undercoat is a site of insulation for your dog. It traps air to the body of the dog and helps it feel very warm even when the air outside is freezing cold.
The layer that these dogs shed is undercoat—the furry area. And the first time they do that is when they are transitioning from being a puppy to an adult. When they are about thirteen months old their double coat begins to develop. So, as a puppy, their coat feels very soft with short hair strands. However, the moment they begin to grow, the hair strands grow longer and thicker. Most times, the hair even changes in color.
So, your husky is only shedding during winter because it does that at the beginning of every season. The undercoat that was formerly protecting the skin falls out and gets replaced by denser and softer fur. This process is the only way your dog can prepare itself in advance for the cold weather. The upper coat would also get longer, so that it can prevent more moisture droplets from finding its way into the lower coat of fur.