I'm often asked -- "do huskies shed?"

WHY do people time and time again ask me this? They are Arctic dogs and most people are aware of this but they still ask this. YES. Huskies shed. A LOT.







All northern breeds shed -- a LOT. This is Brimstone, our Schipperke -- Rest in Peace (--he also earned his name). They are small dogs -- no more than 20 lbs. They also "blow their coats twice a year. We learned this for the first time in Chicago. In winter -- February....

Brimstone was a puppy back then -- 11 lbs!



Then again as an adult in Texas at 17 lbs.





The pictures above may not look like much to a trained eye but keep in mind this is the fur I get every couple of days! We live in Texas so while it's hard to keep a Siberian Husky or Alaskan Malamute cool, it can be done. It helps that I suffer right along with them cos I miss the Chicago weather/winters.

I didn't take pictures of every grooming session but nonetheless -- here's what pics I do have....

Each grooming session is about an hour and I usually yield a bag of hair per dog. Because the dogs know that I give a treat for brushing, a treat for claw clipping, a treat for shaving the paw protecting extra long paw fur, the dogs actually line up and try to stare me down as they wait for their grooming! I need to block 3 dogs from the room I'm grooming the 4th dog in.

Combing too much led me to be able to use a flea comb and Echo ended up with what looked like she had a rat tail when the sun caught the white of her fur! No more combing THAT much....

Banshee Bag O' Hair:



Aula's bag:



Sasin's paw fur before (left paw):



After (right paw):



Me after 1 dog grooming:



Grooming gloves:



Now... the legendary Dyson Animal vacuum. Ta da! It's 10 years old now and it's never had a broken belt or anything that needed to be repaired or replaced....



I do, however, have to become the vacuum cleaner myself! The green screwdriver shows where I pulled out that big wad of hair. And yes -- the red and black handled screwdriver is a Husky ratcheted screwdriver.







Yes -- Huskies shed! From time to time I need to thoroughly disassemble the vacuum so I can clean it ALL out -- vacuum dirt included.

There is nothing metal within so it's safe to dunk this into a bucket of water. I was able to confirm this when I watched the YouTube video on how to take it apart:

Dyson Animal DC 17.





Still not convinced Huskies shed?

I took the dogs for car rides in the evening before my stroke and after  a month of collecting hair, I would have to roll down the windows then get onto the freeway to "pollinate Huskies" in all of the city by blowing the car's coat.





Hair even gets into the trunk! I don't know how....



Oddly enough, I do notice just how many more Huskies are around these days. I'd like to think my pollinating does more than the movie The Game of Thrones' dire wolves does at inspiring people to get wolf look-a-likes....

Yes, there are northern breeds crossbred to resemble dire wolves but no -- northern breeds do not surrender their their breed mentalities -- they THINK FOR THEMSELVES when they don't think you're thinking it right. They are ingrained to RUN. NEVER think walking a Husky off a leash is a good idea. Think about how slick their undercoat makes them and just how easy they can slip out of a collar! I do need to use prong collars, prongs inward or outward, and I won't humor any hate mail I might get. There's a time and place for "power steering" a natural born runner.