As a member of the Etsy affiliate program and an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Once upon a time, I thought that having a short haired dog would mean less grooming, less hair and less shedding. BA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! What a fool! Oh man, you guys. WHY DIDN’T ANYBODY TELL ME?! My puggle, Kolchak, sheds like it’s his job. I honestly can’t believe this dog isn’t BALD yet. I quickly learned that if I didn’t want to live in a house where there were fur tumbleweeds everywhere and dog hair in, on and around everything, I would have to figure out some shedding solutions for short hair dogs. We’re sharing what works for us.
This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, we may earn a small commission which does not affect the cost of your order. We use these commissions to buy craft supplies, fancy flours and cool dog gear, so we can keep sharing our DIYs and recipes with you. we couldn’t do this without your support and it is so appreciated.
While half the interwebz will tell you that you can “cure your dog’s shedding” by feeding this food or adding that supplement, let’s not kid ourselves. Great nutrition can only do so much. For the record, Kolchak eats better the 99% of the planet (dog or human) and he still sheds like a beast.
Your best shedding defense is a good offense: develop a an awesome grooming routine.
Our four step systems help make the most of every single grooming session and it helped me reduce my vacuuming schedule from everyday to a couple times a week. Jackpot!
STEP ONE
You guys, get a great deshedding tool.
Spend whatever they want for it at the store. Your right arm? Your first born child? Whatever. Totally worth it. These things are so pricey that you’ll be like “I could buy myself like 25 brushes with this money”, but don’t be tempted to cheap out. A great tool can make all the difference and it can prove it’s worth within a month.
Anyone out there have a deshedding tool they love? Leave a comment telling us what tool rocks your world.
Now, I bet you’re thinking, excellent! I’ve groomed my dog and we’re done.
STEP TWO
Get wet & wild.
Ok folks, here it is, the secret sauce to all your grooming woes: Get your dog wet to the skin. You can give them a bath or use a spray bottle to douse them. I’m not fussy. The key is to get them wet and rub it in, so their fur is thoroughly soaked. As an added bonus, I like to do this with a fantastic smelling dog shampoo. There is something about a wet dog that makes them projectile shed fur. It comes out by the handful, all over the place. When a short haired dog is wet, you just have to look at them and all their gross, wet loose fur just starts falling out all over the place. This is exactly what you want.
STEP THREE
Two words: Zoom. Groom.
Y’all, I can not sing the praises of this magical device enough. You need a Zoom Groom.
When you have a normal, dry dog this tool works pretty darn great, but when you have a WET dog? It’s darn magical. The fur comes off by the heap. So much fur. It’s amazing.
Once you’ve Zoom Groomed, you’re almost done. Last step folks. I promise.
STEP FOUR
Wipe out!
Grab one of those fancy pants grooming wipes (if you’re like me, they’re by the door and handy for wiping muddy paws). Wipe your dog from head to toe to remove any remaining loose fur. Repeat this step in a couple hours when your dog is totally dry. I have no idea ho, but by then, there will be more loose hair. HOW ARE THESE DOGS NOT BALD, YOU GUYS?!
Voila! That’s it.
Do you have a grooming routine you swear by?
Spill your guts folks. I am always looking for tips and new ideas.
While Boca has super-short hair and is a bit of a shedder, dog hair conversations normally just make me laugh and laugh after having two double-coated dogs. I could have built another Norwegian elkhound every time I brushed Freya. If she got on the sofa (which was not allowed for said reason) it would be coated in a layer of white down. I am still finding her hair around. That said – I have something similar to the Zoom Groomer that came in one of my many subscription boxes and I love, love, love it. It really cuts down on the ginger hairs in the house.
You’re lucky! I get a whole extra Koly every time I brush him. It’s awful. I could MAYBE live with ginger hairs, but black hairs on my beige carpet & floors? AWFUL
I have opposite of KolchakPuggle mine is ten hair on black clothes. It is ridiculously so much of it.
Tan hair not ten. I tell ya this keyboard really tests my patience.
We survive by the FURminator. I put Bentley in the bathtub, Furminte him, wipe him with a damp washcloth, then finish with a regular dog brush. I’ve never heard of the Zoom Groomer. I’ll have to look for it! Yes, our boy should be bald by now!
Ohhhhhh, THE TUB IS A GREAT IDEA! I love it. I adore it. That’s brilliance.
Confession: I vacuum my bath tub.
My new hound dog mix rarely shed. I bathed her when i got her…nada
She went to Petsmart for a bath 2 weeks ago and sh-t shedding lije crazy. Bathed her again at home but it wont stop.
Baths alone won’t solve a shedding problem. Most grooming services at Petsmart include a brushout, but not a good deep deshedding unless you pay extra for it. I would pick up a tool lole a Furminator or a Shedmonster and a rubber comb and give your dog a really thorough brushout!
Maya is a shedding machine. I shouldn’t complain, though. I barely brush her once a week. Perhaps I should start with the first step! By the way, I have one of those rubber brushes and they really are amazing.
I would go nuts if I didn’t brush Kol, but I hate the feeling of dog hair on my face and in my own hair and on every surface!
I really think short haired dogs tend to shed more than my long haired Pyrs. Our lab/husky mix would shed like crazy! The furminator became our best friend 😉
I believe it! Felix has long hair, but he doesn’t shed at all. Since he has hair, I have to brush it out. Koly, he projectile sheds.
I have 4 dogs a golden retreiver cross very furry and australian shepherd an australian cattle dog and a jack russel we got the jack russel last and I was like cool short hair will be easy ! I now have white hairs everywhere I run the sweeper twice a day brush her everyday I’m going to have to try the get her wet thing I’m ocd and this white fur is driving me crazy!
The Coat King IS king when it comes to removing excess undercoat! I love mine!
We have something similar and it’s pretty great!
The zoom groom is amazing! I managed a dog grooming shop and Furminatior makes shampoo and conditioner. It is fantastic! I use it on my pug all the time.
I didn’t know they made shampoo. Cool.
Oops, furminator.
I’m not really too concerned about having dog fur everywhere. So I take care of shedding for the dogs’ sake, not mine. We do use FURminator and I also like Curry Comb. I like that for a number of reasons – the shape (reminiscent of horse brush), the massage effect (yes, I tried that on myself first) and the fact that it also does pull out some of the loose fur.
FURminator itself recommends bathing before FURminating, in fact they even have a special shampoo for that. But we don’t find it necessary to use.
Does being wet promote dropping undercoat? That’s for sure. Even when Jasmine came from her hydrotherapy, every stroke over her body left my hands covered with fur.
Note: never brush or comb hair while wet.
We had a curry comb (I think it might have belonged to one of our horses, actually)!
re: Zoom grooming a wet coat – can I ask why? I checked with our groomer and she gave her blessing, but ONLY gently and only with a tool like the zoom groom, never a slicker or other tool.
My Dash, a black lab, is so guilty of leaving fur tumbleweeds….daily! Oh, and the beige (black) carpet!!! If my mother drops by before I get a chance to vacuum it, she gasps “Oh, your carpet is ruined!” lol We are Furminators!!! We could spend an entire day combing and the hair would keep coming…..and you would never notice one hair missing from his body!!! Our beagle/blue heeler mix, Duke, is just one year old and has just started shedding…… mostly his white hairs so far.
RUINED I TELL YOU! LOL. I totally feel like that sometimes.
Haha, love it! Rio is the crazy shedder here! And yes, I know what you mean about the de-shedding brushes – that may be the one pet product I haven’t invested in. But the Zoom Groom, I’m all over that & love it! My fault is that I don’t brush him enough and then I pay for it with HAIR everywhere. But there are tons of advantages to short haired dogs, too :). Ex: finding ticks easily.
im a professional groomer I rely on the furminator it’s the best descending tool!!
This has been sooo helpful. My brother just moved in with me and he has two dogs, a bully, Orion, and a Jack R terrier, Vinny. Vinny sheds like nobody’s business. Its thick white hairs everywhere. We were opting to buy him clothes lol! We will definitely try ALL of these methods! Thanks!
Just got a jack thought yes short hair easy ! Heck no she should be bald by now!
LOL, yes, I thought the same thing before I got my puggle. *sigh* I was so so wrong.
I adopted a small, short-legged terrier mix recently. I had had poodle mixes before and had no prob at all with shedding. This little girl hates to be groomed and I am at my wit’s end! I think she has allergies as she is forever scratching. No, she has no fleas, etc. she just has allergies. How can I get her comfortable with grooming sessions? She is very quirky and isn’t that affectionate or trusting(yet) so I don’t want to force her or scare her more than she already is. She came from a municipal shelter and all I know about her is that she was found on a busy highway and almost got hit so someone picked her up and took her to the shelter. I am pretty good with working with dogs so this is frustrating for me. She has long, silky beige fur and it is everywhere! I vacuum daily but to no avail! I feel so bad for her and want to help her get into a grooming routine as well as wanting her to enjoy grooming.
PLEASE HELP!! Thank you
It can be so hard to earn their trust.
I would start by making grooming tools a good thing. Get a Kong Zoom Groom and spread a little PB between the bristles. (Makes sure you supervise, so it’s licking NOT chewing on the brush.) The Zoom Groom is super gentle. Sit the Zoom Groom on an end table and casually introduce it while you’re relaxing and petting her, as opposed to making a big production of grooming. Lots of positive reinforcement and treats. When Felix was new and a fearful, I used to brush while he unstuffed his Kong. Good luck!
I work in a pet store and get my tips from professional groomers.
I know some dogs can be hard to groom, but letting their hair get matted is Extremely painful. Imagine if your hair was constantly pulled tight in knots?
If you can’t keep up you must take them to someone who can. The groomers can do much better than us who don’t do this as a living.
For most dogs, the Furminator works great but you should also have an everyday tool.
Short Hair: Zoom Groom
Long Hair: slicker brush & metal comb
Most of the pin or bristle brushes do next to nothing.
I have a short hair chihuahua named Rosco and he sheds like nobody’s business. His hair is cream and beige and shows up terribly on anything but beige or cream clothes. The Furminator brush doesn’t do anything on him and it hurts him because he whines no matter how gently I brush. Now, the Zoom Groom is my saving grace! By, the way, did you know that the different colors of the Zoom Groom brushes are for different types of hair? I didn’t when I got my first one.
I do like the Furminator Deshedding Shampoo and Conditioner. It works well and smells great. But, don’t just get the shampoo, you need the conditioner too. Also, they have a Furminator Deshedding Spray to use between baths. I dry brush him with the Zoom Groom and then spray him down and Zoom him again. Then I let him dry, and brush him with the Zoom Groom one more time. This keeps the hair pretty well in check.
I had him on Fish Oil too, but he was gaining weight and it didn’t seem to help the shedding anyways. But, I am going to try a new oil that the owner of the natural pet food store gave me a sample of. His is on a really good food that does help though called Fromm. Also, if your dog doesn’t mind, take a sheet off of those sticky pet hair rollers that you use for clothing and furniture and run it over your dog in the opposite direction the hair grows.
I will miss and long for all the hair on my clothes and furniture some day so, I just brush it off and kiss my dog!
I have a Jack Russel that sheds worse than any dog I’ve ever had! He has white and tan coarse hair that sticks to EVERYTHING! I do have a furminator that works ok, if I use it enough! That’s the trick, is getting him to sit still long enough. Also the bathing is an issue for me bc it kills my back! How often would u recommend bathing? Once a week?? And any advice on making the bathing easier on my back would be great! I use the tub and he does pretty well but I have to stay in a continued bent position that really irritates my back. Not sure how else I can bath him that would work for the both of us. Open to suggestions!
I wouldn’t bathe anymore than once per month.
In order for grooming to be effective on most short haired dogs, you have to do a big brush at least once a week. I would recommend adding the Zoom Groom.
As for bathing, if you have a laundry sink that is raised, that is perfect. If not, consider going to one of the u-bath places that have raised tables. If none of that is an option, at the very least get a hand held sprayer, so that you can get the job done as fast as possible.
I have a Bassador, Bruno sheds like crazy. He has a golden color and it gets on my clothes,our couch and anything in between. I wash him in a mild soap once a week and since he is oily that doesn’t dry him out. I scrub him good and rinse him good. I brush him out before and after. After he is dry I use my vacuam cleaner to remove as much as possible from him. In between baths I vacuam him several times a week. He is a short hair dog, and in a weeks time, he produces enormous amounts of hair. Too bad I can’t make pillow stuffing or something with this stuff,because I would get rich from it!. It’s everywhere. I get not one hair from my Morkie. He doesn’t shed one hair! I love that. As for my bassador, the vet tells me they will shed the same amount no matter what you do. And it all will not come out at one time and be done with it. He says just fight the good fight and I am! We sure love our dogs!
For me, FURminator is the greatest de-shedding tool that I’ve ever used.
My golden retriever shed a lot. I’m tired to keep my house clean. Then I brush my dog weekly with FURminator. Everything is better. But my dog has a medium hair, I’m not sure FURminator will be suitable for short hair dog.
We have a Furminator too and we love it!
SleekEZ….I tried the furminator (zip nada, hardly any hair), and the ZoomGroom (definitely worked much better). But the SleekEZ blew my mind! I have a 15 pound tan chihuahua mix that sheds like no other chihuahua I’ve ever had. Mind you, you should use it outside and gear up. Rain coat, vinyl tablecloth to cover up the rest of you. Sit in the middle of the yard and get ready for a storm of flying fur. I try to groom her daily. And yes my little girl is still shedding but it is 100 times better than before and she’s only 9 months old. Egads! For short haired constant shedders, this tool is it. I got the five inch from Amazon. No regrets!
Amazing article.
Thank you for good information.