Labrador owners - tell me about the shedding?!

[RosieLig]

After losing our puppy to lymphoma I'm thinking about possibly getting a rescue dog as I can't face the puppy stage again so soon!

My youngest child is 7 but is very affectionate so I do have to watch him around dogs. I was therefore thinking about a lab rescue as I like the idea of giving a dog a home and I love the breed.

The only issue is the shedding. I've heard conflicting things. Is it that bad? We have tiles and wooden floors downstairs and I can cope with the usual doggy mud etc....

Thanks!

I've got two labs. They do shed but I've never thought it particularly bad. I Hoover every other day.

I have found as a general rule, the lighter the lab the worse the bastard shedding.

I vacuum every day, sometimes twice.

After I have vacuumed she purposefully comes in sits in the middle of the room and then has a good scratch.

Then I weep quietly for a bit.

With solid floors downstairs you will be knee deep in rolling fur bunnies in a week.

And any carpeted area it lays on will take on it's colour within 2 days.

They shed shit loads.

But they are lovely, kind affectionate and highly trainable dogs.

Oh no, no sure I can face it![confusd],I'd love one though but the shedding, I know, could drive me potty.

I have two. Hairs everywhere. Worth it though. They are lovely.

They are worth it despite the hair loss x

They do shed a lot so pick a colour that goes with the majority of your clothes/furnishings . Seriously though you will have to Hoover every day, twice if you are house proud. You can minimise the shedding if you thoroughly brush them at least once a week (I use a Furminator). They are lovely though.

I would probably put mats down to minimise wet muddly sliding feet. If you are getting a puppy check the parents hip score, if a rescue get them checked over, hip problems can cause a lot of pain and can really cost. Get good insurance (ours costs nearly £50 a month for our old lab but its worth it just in case)

They moult loads, their undercoat comes out in clumps. A daily groom and Hoover sorts it out. They are such fab dogs that the moulting doesn't matter. In fact the person that finds the lab hair in their tea in this house gets a prize! grin

Whoops

I think HoneyDragon may be onto something! We have two and the black lab moults but nothing like the amount our yellow/white lab moults. The amount of hair from our yellow lab is amazing, when I use a furminator I could literally make a new dog! The colour is important as well because the white hair looks awful all over dark clothes (ie the majority of my wardrobe, dhs work trousers and the dcs school uniform!) and dark floor (as I have throughout downstairs...!) The black hair is much less noticeable!

It isn't so much shedding, as copious production of what are affectionately known 'dog drifts' (instead of snow) in these here parts. I have a black and a choc, and I am laughing my arse off at the idea that lighter colors shed more.
Vacuum every day. And then weep silently minutes afterwards when you can't even tell you bothered. Dog hair is known as a condiment here. The choc is like a freaking chinchilla crossed with a bear. We have been known to get ten or more brushfuls of hair out of her daily during shedding season (which is approximately in the spring, in the summer, in the winter, and in the autumn when she's getting rid of the summer coat in preparation for the heavy duty winter woolly mammoth stuff.) and that's only because after ten brush fouls, we can't even tell she's been brushed, still handfuls of fluff hanging out.

But we love them. Despite the drifts.

I vacuum daily, my lab then goes and lays on my carpets and leaves a lab shaped patch on the carpet!

I second getting a Furminator, they work really well, we've had drastically less chocolate hair drifting around since we got one.

Problem with colour scheming labs, is that if you get dark ones for dark shedding, you can't see the filth they've dragged in until
A) it starts to smell
B) they've made it upstairs and onto the bed

However

If you you have light furnishings that you hope to disguise the light coloured shedder than think again. Everything will end up a greasy beige. And
A) yes you'll be able to see how utterly filthy they've got
B) they'll still leg upstairs to shake on an unguarded bed

Now one plus is

You can eventually train a Labrador to stay the fuck put until they are drier and cleaner but you can't train them not to seek out and wallow in every damn thing that festers

Don't let any of this put you off. Hullygully is the most recent in a long line of Labradors the bastard

I'm clearly slovenly hoovering every other day!

I'm off to find a furminator.

I was told early in my lab owning career that you have to choose.

White/yellow hairs on every single black item of clothing

Or

Black hairs in the butter

I have 2 black labs and despite the hair everywhere I could not imagine life without them.

Honey - my parents carefully colour co-ordinated the colour of their carpets with their yellow labs. I can still see the hair though!

I have a yellow lab and i have carpeted/floored the entire house in shades of golden. I only hoover once a week and my house seems fine however i try not to peer too closely. I have a furminator as my lab is a reluctant groomer and it is amazing how much hair you can remove with a few sweeps.

dyson do a dog grooming tool.

I have two lab retriever crosses, (one of whom I am reluctantly in the process of rehoming, please don't flame me), and a golden carpet. I'm not sure what colour it use to be.

Best advice is to match the dog to the colour of your largest carpet. I went for a golden retriever (similar shedding issues) as my lounge/diner has cream carpeting.
Hair? What's hair?

I'm a stickler for clean floors, and so getting a lab did worry me, until we got our beautiful blonde boy, he is daft, loyal, loving and so good with the kids that I don't mind hoovering every day ( probably would anyway !)

Yellow lab here - furminators are brilliant, we can easily fill a carrier bag with one brushing. Carpet matches dog, Dyson is full every day!

Slightly off topic, but there is someone who makes dog hair teddies out of shed hair, you send the hair and a photo of your dog and they make them to match.... I had one made for my son when he went off to Afghanistan. He said it was comforting to 'see' his dog.

www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2751965

Is this the one you all use? Which size for labs?

www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2751965

Sorry, that was rubbish linky