Hey! So our Loki is about 1.5 years and was a rescue. She didn't start having bad dandruff until the summer came and we live in Ontario, Canada so she went through fluctuations of weather in the spring. Now whenever she shakes it looks like a snow globe. Is there any suggestions to help her?

We feed her raw dog food with a vitamin and mineral powder every morning and just the raw food at night. She doesn't seem to be too irritated yet by the dandruff but she has been itching a little more lately. We brush her every morning and we've tried dandruff shampoo for dogs without any change.

Any help is much appreciated.

How often do you bathe her?

The shampoo we are using says once a month

Quite probably that's way too often.  A Husky shouldn't ever smell "doggie" there's just something about the northern breeds that doesn't need a bath <period>.  I think that in general, most of our folks give their dog a bath when it gets into something really funky (like rolling in a carcass).   Some will rinse their dogs off when they've gotten excessively muddy (but it's seldom, I think, a soap and water bath).

Most of the dirt that a Husky is going to collect will stick to the long guard hairs and then it will fall off naturally, when it dries. I've had my one dog wo likes water down to one of the cattle watering holes - *I* won't get into that water, it's nothing but mud (and other stuff) but even with that she's "clean" by the time we get home in 45 minutes or so - maybe her undercoat's damp but the outer hair is clean and white.

We do have people who show their dogs so they have to be shiny, squeaky clean and I'm sure they;ll offer their comments about a good shampoo to use and how often they bathe their pups,

Does she have a funky odor and that's why you bathe her so often? Has she started blowing coat or recently blown coat? Mine get a bath about twice a year. Usually in line with them blowing coat because coat blow gets the dandruff going. If she just blew coat I would hold off on the bathing and maybe work some coconut oil into her skin then give it time. As her undercoat starts coming back in her skin will figure itself out. If she does have a funny smell she may be having a yeast buildup on her skin and a dandruff shampoo with oatmeal in it could actually make it worse.

Thank you for the help! We've noticed that after bathing her dandruff subsides for a couple days but then comes back very obvious. Brushing her seems to loosen up the dandruff as well. We will try the coconut oil and see if that helps!

I agree with coconut oil, you can also give her a teaspoon a day with her food to help work inside out. Also I suggest no oatmeal based shampoos, and not to over bathe. My husky mix girl hasn't had a true bath in over 2 years, she swims a lot, and even after rolling in cow poop early in the spring this year, we hosed her off out side and then used baby wipes to freshen her coat so she didn't stink up the house, and she smelt fine. Like Jenn asked does she stink, does she have bad eye boogers, does she have ear troubles? if so she may have a food allergy. Lastly, huskies in general need higher fat content than many other dog breeds, feeding raw, some people miss out on making sure they get an appropriate amount of fat. Typically most do best with 17-22% fat in their diet. Adding fat, or making sure that the raw diet is at least 50% red meat may also help. Do you use a fish oil as a supplement? Many raw feeders do as well do make sure their is an appropriate amount of omega 3 and 6 along with keeping the coat in good condition.

I feel VB your pain. Yesterday I did a test drive of crazy bc with black interior. When I got out, a huge snowfall of dry skin from the back of my arm. Mortified! I most likely have excema.

If this occurs in summer with your pup, k would suspect seasonal as allergy.

Mine get a bath maybe twice a year,or when absolutely necessary. The good thing about huskies is they seem to clean themselves (like cats). Plus, their fur is not oily like a water dogs. Fish oil really shines my two pups up.

When I got my pup, she had very dry, itchy skin. On the advice of our vet, we started giving her fish oil tablets. Within a few weeks, I noticed a huge difference in both her skin and coat.

We also switched to this oatmeal shampoo which helped sooth the dryness and itchiness for her. She seemed much more comfortable with it than her old one. It doesn't dry her out like the other one did.