Hi,
We adopted a middle-aged Shepsky, and I've been lurking here to learn more about huskies.

I first visited to find out about blowing coat. When he arrived here in the summer, he did not shed at all - we thought our furminator was defective, because it wasn't picking up any fur.    Or maybe we lucked out by getting the only shepherd/husky mix in the world that does not shed?  HA HA HA.     Around Thanksgiving, the Storm of Fur began...

Anyway it's been great seeing photos and reading about dog stuff when I should be working...I need to ban myself from here until I get some work done! see you all later!

Welcome! he sure is beautiful!

Welcome to the forum. Sometimes they take a bit to hit their shedding stride but they always find a way. In my experience where they come from can sometimes play into how long it takes. Dogs that came from the shelter system that may have been there a while on really horrible food seem like they go into shed mode faster for me when they arrive and get swapped to a higher class food. My latest wasn't in the system too long and before that was on the run eating road kill so he took a bit longer to shed out.

welcome to the forums, he is handsome.

Thanks, I love seeing the photos of everybody's dogs!

We are finally emerging from his sea of fur (it's been going on since Thanksgiving), which means maybe I can wear black pants again soon, woo hoo! He needs to adjust his timing - in March it will already start getting warm again, so what's the use of putting on the "winter coat" so late in the year...

It's not a winter coat in the spring, he's losing the winter coat and transitioning to a heat insulation layer - for lack of a better way to phrase it.

Think about the insulation in your attic - during the winter your attic is frigid and during the summer it's sweltering - the insulation up there keeps the temperature "regulated." The Husky's (and other two coated dogs) fur operates similarly. If your attic roof develops a leak and the insulation gets wet then it doesn't work as well. A dogs fur is designed, in one fashion or another, to stay dryer - either because they can shake most of the water off (like in retrievers) or because the water has a harder time getting through (like the nordic breeds).

I wouldn't count on those black pants, yet, if I were you...

Ami blew coat late this year, also. Started, meh, in August, sort of off again on again then about Thanksgiving, took off in earnest. Pretty much done now except for some bunches held in his coat on his abdomen (he's a wooly, there undercoat can get trapped in the outer coat) I know he's putting on major coat because his collars all need to be let out. I'm attributing the late blow to the very warm fall we had this year. And the major thick ruff to the severe cold we've had since Christmas.

I think the thick winter coat goes on in Dec/Jan as the days are at their shortest and, at least here, Jan-Mar are the coldest months of the year.

Thanks for the info about coat blows! So it's not literally a "winter coat" and a "summer coat".
Interesting that maybe it's tied to daylight hours and a warm fall...

I was feeling sorry for poor Rumo's timing - he had only topcoat left on his underside at one point (we could see a bit of pink skin in places) and that was the coldest week we've had so far, brrrr!

Ditto here. Normally Ami stays outside forever, the colder, the better. This year in our first significant cold snap, he only stayed out a little at a time. It's been the last week or shop that I've noticed the feel coat coming in.

We got 12 inches of snow, which is a historic event in NC!
I wanted to post a couple of snowy pics...

Rumo is perfectly contented in deep snow:


My daughter made a "snowdog" sculpture! (her model is resting in the background)

Hahaha, Rumo poses well. Wow, you got more snow than we did! I'll bet Rumo is in heaven! We've been having a hard time getting Misty to come into the house, even when the temperature got below 0 degrees F!

Snow sculpture looks amazing!!!! Your daughter did an awesome job! Great pics

Well, Rumo's art appreciation manners need improving - he came over to "visit" the snowdog sculpture - which for him, meant circling and rubbing his body on it...then the nose fell off and my daughter had to redo it!

very cool snow sculpture
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