Out-of-season Shedding

Has anyone else had a dog that sheds its undercoat in the "wrong" season? So far, our full bred Siberian Husky, Lobo, has not blown his coat (shed) in the winter - only in the spring and fall (a partial shed in the fall).

However, our mixed-breed, Willy, who is German Shepherd and Husky mix, has been shedding during the winter. Starting around Christmas, 2006, I started noticing tufts of gray undercoat working their way up. You can see the textured look to her hindquarters in this picture with this paragraph. If you click the picture, it will open in a window all by itself (you maybe should right-click and open in a new window). Look closely (magnify if you can) and contrast that with Lobo's hindquarters. Both dogs are a bit snow-covered from play outdoors in our Michigan yard, but you can see the difference. I have combed and picked some of the obvious and loose tufts out, but I don't want to do too much because we leave the dogs tied outside during the day when everyone is at work. Yes, each has sheltered areas to get out of the wind - and you should, too, if you have a dog outside in cold weather, especially with zero degrees Fahrenheit and below wind chill.

Lobo's hindquarters show a bit of matting, but not shedding. He really dislikes brushing and combing, so I don't tend to brush his short coat out as often as I probably should. But, since he does have a short coat - shorter that Willy's - it's not as bad as if he had longer fur.

Another difference between their coats, Willy's coat has different guard hairs than Lobo's. The husky has kinkier guard hairs. Willy (with Shepherd background) has straight guard hairs that are much longer down the middle of her back that elsewhere. Willy's undercoat is gray, which you'd never guess from looking at her. The tufts can be "picked" out with fingers when loose, or we can use a shedding comb, undercoat rake, slicker brush, or (easiest to find) a stiff human hair comb. She is fine with any of these, and none seems to hurt her skin as long as I am careful. Willy can shed out a large paper shopping bag full of fur during the spring!

I comb Lobo in the spring (takes several weeks altogether), and I mean human plastic comb because he "tells" me that the shedding combs and such made of metal, hurt his skin. Lobo can "blow" or shed just as much undercoat as Willy, but the fur is creamy colored and has a different texture (kinkier). It's hard to define the differences. One is that Lobo's undercoat feels a bit waxy, even though I don't really end up with a residue on my hands. Also, Lobo does not end up smelling like a dog (Willy can stink like a dog), and didn't even keep skunk smell strongly on his coat when he was sprayed. The guard hairs left on Lobo are more sparse that on Willy, and he looks quite strange with little undercoat.

And on the off-season shedding - I thought at first that I did not adequately comb out Willy's coat during the spring and summer. Now, I think that perhaps Willy is just shedding out of season because we had a very warm start to the winter in 2006. Even the flowers and flowering bushes were fooled - I had a few yellow blossoms on our Forsythia bush in late December!