Shedding Patterns

Shedding Patterns - By Staff Writer on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 - 15:39

There are three basic types of shedding patterns for dog coats.  How your dog sheds is dependent on the type of coat that they have.  All coat composition and shedding is genetically based and inherent to the different breeds.

Mosaic Shedding
A dog that sheds with a mosaic shedding pattern loose their coat randomly and continuously.  The strands will shed much like the strands of human hair.

Band Shedding
This type of shedding occurs with the top coat of a dogs coat.  It takes place in smaller sections and takes longer the block shedding. 

Block Shedding
Block Shedding is a type of shedding pattern that happens with undercoats.   Large portions of the undercoat come out at one time in blocks.

Blowing The Coat
Blowing the coat is a term that refers to the shedding pattern in which a dog loses its entire undercoat at once.  This often happens seasonally twice a year with dogs that have thick undercoats or sometimes with dogs that are pregnant or nursing.  The dog will lose most of its coat in large chunks over a period of a week or two.   When a dog Blows it coat you need to take it out side and brush it often as large quantities of fur will come off their coat.