Products in this guide
You cannot stop a healthy dog shedding. Hair grows, hair dies, dead hair falls out, and the mechanism works.
What you can change is where it comes out. Right now the dead coat leaves slowly, over six or eight weeks, onto your couch and car seats. The alternative is to take it out deliberately, in one session, into a bin.
Same hair, different location. That is the whole job, and most owners of a Husky, Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Malamute or Labrador do half of it.
What is a double coat?
A double-coated dog has two layers doing two jobs. The outer guard coat is longer and coarser: it sheds water, carries dirt away from the skin and blocks a lot of UV. It grows slowly and sheds little.
Underneath sits the undercoat, a dense woolly layer that traps air against the skin. It insulates in cold weather and, just as importantly in a hot climate, buffers heat by holding cooler air near the skin. It is what your dog sheds and the target of a deshedding session. Left in, it packs down, blocks airflow and felts into a mat that traps heat and bacteria. Hence hot spots at the height of summer.
Why does my dog shed all year round?
Long daylight hours and mild winters never give a double coat a clean seasonal trigger, so across most of Australia dogs shed near continuously instead of blowing coat twice a year. A coat blow is the heavy seasonal release of undercoat, where a dog dumps a large volume of dead wool over a few weeks, and northern-hemisphere sources say it happens twice annually.
Australian owners read that and assume their dog is broken. Coat cycling is driven by daylight and temperature, and in a mild climate many double coats never commit to a clean blow: they shed with soft peaks rather than two dramatic events. Do not wait for one.
Never shave a double coat
Shaving a double coat is the most damaging mistake an owner can make in summer, and it is usually made with good intentions. The dog looks hot, so off comes the coat.
The guard coat does not grow back the same. Undercoat floods back. Guard hair is slow and in many dogs returns thin, soft, patchy or not at all. Months later you have a fluffy, texture-free coat that mats far more easily and no longer repels water.
You lose the insulation and the sun protection. The coat is a thermal buffer working in both directions. Strip it and you expose skin that has never seen direct sun. Pale-skinned dogs sunburn readily, and repeated sunburn on thin regrowth is a real skin cancer risk.
You risk clipper alopecia. Some double coats fail to regrow after close clipping, leaving permanent bald or fuzzy patches over the back, hips and tail. There is no reliable fix.
The dog is often hotter, not cooler. Dogs cool by panting and through their paw pads, not their skin. Shaving does not add a cooling mechanism, it removes a shading one. The answer to a hot dog is removing the dead undercoat, not the living coat.
How do I deshed a double-coated dog?
Deshed a double-coated dog wet, in five steps: pre-brush the dry coat, wash with a coat-release shampoo, work a deshedding conditioner down to the skin, rinse and seal, then force dry while brushing. Brushing a dry double coat gets the surface hair, almost none of the packed undercoat, and damages guard hair on the way through.
1. Pre-brush the dry coat
Before any water touches the dog, comb or slicker out loose surface hair and small tangles. Water turns a tangle into a tight mat that comes out of the bath worse. Deal with real mats now with a dematting comb, and never run a deshedding tool over a knot.
2. Bathe with a coat-release shampoo
An ordinary shampoo cleans the coat. A coat-release shampoo strips the dirt and sebum holding dead hair in place, so the undercoat can let go.
FurEx De-Shedding System Step 1: Cleanse
A deeply penetrating yet gentle shampoo that neutralises the ionic charge within the coat to remove dirt, odours and excess sebum, which is what prepares the coat for loose hair removal.
3. Deshedding conditioner, worked down to the skin
This is where the release happens, and the step most owners rush. A deshedding conditioner works into the hair shaft so dead undercoat loses its grip on the coat around it. Work it down to the skin, then let it sit before rinsing.
FurEx De-Shedding System Step 2: Release
FurEx is a three-point system formulated to assist in removing the collected undercoat of double-coated breeds. In Step 2, natural oils and proteins fill in the hair cuticle, so old and shed hair comes out with little or no force.
4. Rinse completely, then seal
Rinse for longer than feels necessary, especially through the ruff, britches and spine. Product left in a dense undercoat causes itching and pulls dirt back in.
Then finish on FurEx Step 3: Close, a mildly acidic leave-in finishing spray that further seals the hair cuticle and promotes maximum release of tangled and collected hair. It goes on after the rinse, not before.
To run fewer bottles, Natures Specialties Ez Out Shampoo removes the bulk of the unwanted undercoat and pairs with Ez Shed Deshedding Conditioner, which moisturises the skin on jojoba oil, nettle, sage and rosemary extracts and vitamins A, D3 and E. iGroom Deshedding + Detangling Shampoo loosens undercoat and stops new tangles forming, all in deshedding and coat release.
5. Force dry, and brush while you dry
This is what separates a real deshed from a bath. The dryer does most of the work. A high-velocity dryer pushes air through to the skin and blasts the loosened undercoat out in clouds. No brush or rake removes that volume, because a brush only reaches what it can grip and air reaches everything.
Dry against the direction of coat growth until about three-quarters dry, working section by section and brushing as you go, then finish with the growth to settle it down. Working against the grain lifts the coat at the roots and lets you check the skin for hot spots, scurf or ticks. Keep the air cool to medium warm, never hot.
Towel-and-air-dry leaves most of the dead coat where it was, settling back against the skin so shedding resumes on your rug the next day. For a double-coated dog, a force dryer is the highest-impact purchase you will make.
Which brush should I use on a double coat?
Use a slicker brush for pre-brushing and finishing, an undercoat rake for the main deshedding pass, and a dematting comb only on mats that are already there. Three tools, three jobs, and using the wrong one is how coats get damaged and dogs learn to hate grooming.
| Tool | What it does | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Slicker brush | Bent wires lift loose hair and separate the coat | Pre-brushing, line brushing, finishing |
| Undercoat rake | Spaced blades pass through guard hair and pull dead undercoat | The main deshedding pass on a clean coat |
| Dematting comb | Bladed teeth cut into a mat to split it | Existing mats only, never routine brushing |
A soft slicker brush covers the pre-brush and the finish, and a dematting comb handles a knot you cannot comb out.
Shear Magic Rake, Wide - 13 Blades, Coarse
The wide head and coarse 13-blade spacing cover ground quickly on a big body coat. For chest, legs and behind the ears, the narrow 8-blade version steers better.
Refuresh Gentle Deshedding Brush for Long Hair - Blue
L-shaped teeth pull loose undercoat out while leaving the healthy topcoat intact, on rust-resistant stainless steel with one-swipe fur disposal. It is built for coats like the Golden Retriever, Border Collie and Malamute; for a straight, coarse coat like a Labrador, the Short/Medium red version has double-C teeth that grip better.
Line brushing: the technique that matters
Line brushing means working the coat in horizontal sections from the skin outwards, instead of skimming a brush over the top. Start low, at the bottom of a leg. Push the coat up with your free hand to expose a clean parting with skin visible along the line. Brush only the hair below that parting, from the skin out to the tips, then drop your hand a centimetre and repeat.
It feels slow the first time, and it is the difference between removing the top ten per cent of the dead coat and removing all of it. A dog that looks brushed and still floods the house with hair has never been line brushed.
Two ways to hurt your dog
Slicker burn is skin irritation from dragging slicker pins across bare skin, usually from too much pressure or repeat strokes in one spot, so let the weight of the tool do the work.
Over-raking is the same mistake with a rake: once a section stops producing hair it is done, and more passes only strip guard coat. Build your kit from the brushes and grooming tools ranges.
How often should I brush and deshed my dog?
Brush or rake one to two times a week and run a full deshedding bath every six to eight weeks, tightening to every second day and every three to four weeks during a coat blow. Consistency beats intensity: fifteen minutes twice a week keeps you ahead of a coat, and one heroic session every four months does not.
| Task | Normal shedding | Coat blow |
|---|---|---|
| Dry brush or rake | 1–2 times a week | Every second day |
| Deshedding bath and force dry | Every 6–8 weeks | Every 3–4 weeks |
| Leave-in spray | Before brushing | Every session |
Never brush a bone-dry coat with nothing on it: dry brushing snaps hair and creates static.
Natures Specialties EZ De-Shed Spray
A ready-to-use leave-in on sodium PCA and aloe vera, formulated to moisturise skin and coat and assist in reducing excess shedding. Spray on, massage down to the skin, then brush through. Progroom Pro Magic also covers detangling, undercoat removal and faster drying.
Can diet or skin problems make my dog shed more?
Poor nutrition, dehydration and untreated skin problems all push shedding above a dog's normal baseline, and all three are fixable. Coat quality is built from the inside: a lack of essential nutrients, particularly omega-3 fatty acids, shows up as a dull, brittle coat and heavier shedding. Constant fresh water matters in hot weather, and so does flea and tick prevention, since scratching pulls out coat by the handful.
See a vet for bald patches, symmetrical thinning, skin that is red, raw or persistently itchy, hair coming out in clumps, or a change in shedding alongside changes in appetite or energy. Those point to parasites, allergies or thyroid problems.
Notes for professional groomers
Deshed throughput lives in dilution and dryer time. iGroom Deshedding + Detangling Shampoo makes up at 16:1 with its conditioner at 4:1, so the conditioner is the faster of the two to get through. Natures Specialties Ez Out Shampoo dilutes up to 16:1 and Ez Shed Deshedding Conditioner up to 24:1, so one jug of each covers a busy day. FurEx is three steps and Step 3 is a leave-in finishing spray, so build the full sequence into the booking time. Throughput is set by dryer capacity, not bath time.
Common questions
Will shaving my double-coated dog keep him cooler in summer?
No. Dogs cool by panting and through their paw pads, not through their skin, so shaving removes shade without adding a cooling mechanism. The coat is a thermal buffer that works in both directions. A properly deshedded coat, with the dead undercoat blown out, is airier and cooler than a shaved one.
My dog has already been shaved. Will the coat grow back?
Usually, but not always the same. The undercoat floods back quickly while guard hair is slow, and it can return thin, soft or patchy. Some double coats never fully regrow after close clipping. Give it twelve months before judging the result, keep the dog out of direct sun, and do not clip it again while you wait.
Can I use a human hairdryer instead of a force dryer?
Not on a double coat. A hairdryer heats the coat rather than moving enough air to push water and dead undercoat out of it, and that heat is a burn risk on skin you cannot see. A high-velocity force dryer works on cool or mildly warm air volume, and volume is what lifts the undercoat out.
How long does a full deshedding session take?
Allow two to three hours for a large double coat done properly, and expect most of that to be drying and brushing rather than bathing. A Husky or Malamute in heavy shed can take longer. If you have finished a big dog in forty minutes, you have bathed it, not deshedded it.
Is deshedding safe for a puppy or a senior dog?
Yes, with shorter sessions. Puppies carry little undercoat until the adult coat comes in, so keep it to gentle brushing and let them get used to the dryer noise from a distance first. For seniors, split the job over two days, keep the air cool and watch for skin that has thinned with age.
Where to start
Start with one proper wet deshed: pre-brush, wash with a coat-release shampoo, work a deshedding conditioner to the skin, rinse, seal with a leave-in, then force dry while line brushing. More hair will leave in that session than in the previous two months. Then hold the line twice a week, with everyday coat care between baths.
Do not shave the coat. Do not wait for a season that may never properly arrive. Get the undercoat out, on a schedule, on your terms.