When did your male first blow his coat?

edited April 2013 in General
Exactly as title says. When did your dog first blow his coat?

Toki is about 18 months. He has not blown his coat yet. There are phases where dusty bunnies will occasionally fall off of him, and now is one of those times. But he has not actually ever blown coat. I'm just wondering if he is a late bloomer or maybe these phases of dust bunnies are infact, him blowing coat, just really mildly.

Its just weird because Toki has a very good fur with lots of undercoat. His sire didn't blow his coat until around 16-17 months, which we have slowly crept by that timeframe.

(as a side note, i'm not at all worried. I'd be totally fine with a dog who doesn't blow his coat, i'm just curious! :) )

Comments

  • My boy did in the spring of his second year. If I recall, it was a later than the other dogs, who are all blowing their coats right now, which is typical for them, so I'm guessing it might have been more like May or June or something. this year--he's going to be 3--he's blowing it now at the same time as the Shibas and Kai.
  • Koda's first MAJOR blow is this year, 4 years old. His coat is so thick it's ridiculous. I did change food in October to Earthborn from Great Life and raw.

    Mei blew her coat properly at 15 mos. old. Mika will be 1 in a week and has not blown coat.
  • A side note on the coat blowing. I had Bel into the vet, and as we were restraining her to look at her teeth, the vet tech started pulling out tufts of hair and said "I wonder if something is going on with her coat, too? It's odd the way it is coming out in patches."

    I laughed. I forget that 1) neither the vet nor vet tech have double-coated dogs and 2) somehow we're not usually in the vet when the dogs are in full coat blow. They didn't realize it was normal (and of course, it doesn't LOOK normal, when it's really a full blow!)
  • Does Mika still have puppy fur? Motts (only 6.5 months) has mostly puppy fur and I was curious to see if he'd lose that with spring shedding but he isn't shedding at all. (yet...) Even when i brush him, not much comes loose.
  • @wrylybrindle Did you mean Toki or were you asking someone else? In any case, I don't think Toki has puppy fur. I look at him as a 6 month old puppy and he is super fuzzy and has longer fur then than he does now. His guard hairs are fully in, as well.

    Interesting to know that someone else's dog didn't blow until 2 and 4.
  • Sorry , I should have @Tjbart17 there! Mika is a kai a little older than mine, so I was curious.

    My 7 year old double coated dog never seems to blow coat to a sudden or shocking degree- not the clumpy, chunky, sheepy way you see sometimes in photos- he definitely sheds off his winter wool every spring but we brush brush and brush some more. It's always been copious but rather gradual. He hates me to pull tufts out of his breeches, but it's just RIGHT THERE...sometimes. My point is, I dont know that its always so dramatic, and maybe Toki's shed just isnt that dramatic and is more evened out?
  • edited April 2013
    Conker's first shed was around 5-6 months. The puppy fur just kinda, BOOM! He's blown-coat every spring and fall since. He's had one additional coat-blow when we went to Arizona for Christmas some years ago. It was 30 in Oregon and 65 in Arizona.
    This year has been epic. He'll be three in July.
  • I think those dust bunnies you got was him blowing coat just very mild.
  • @WrylyBrindle Mika's puppy fur went away by four months old pretty much. But she isn't blowing coat. She just has course guard hairs.

    Koda is super soft, but the girls aren't. Their fur is more rough. All have the same diet.
  • Matsu is quite puppy-furry (I guess its puppy fur? maybe it isnt- its soft and shorter on his sides and flanks. If it isnt, he is more like Sage than Juno in his coat. His tail is EXACTLY the look and feel of Sage's tail only shorter.) He a nice stripe of grownup fur down his back...
  • That's how Koda was for a long time. Mike lost her puppy fur early. It really disappointed my niece who preferred Koda's puppy fur. :-P
  • @jellyfish,
    It's probably so temperate where you live that Toki just sheds year round. If you really want to experience the full blow, let Toki sleep in an outdoor kennel. He'll grow a bigger and thicker coat and the blow would be more noticeable.
  • I always recommend to keep your akita outside! lol I let my dogs come inside and out.
    but I let them sleep outside in cold weather inside of cage. so they can get better coat. and they are happy about that. hot weather ? they stay inside of my house with me!
  • @jellyfish,
    My puppy shed quite a bit(one plastic bag for a few days) in early November when he was 3 months old. It was quite warm in Texas at that time, and I thought his body confused but I guess it really was puppy coat. Then cool weather arrived in late November, he became fluffy with winter coat. In mid-January, he started shedding again. We didn't have any winter this year in my area.(80's) I brush and comb him everyday to remove his dead fur.... I already caught fleas, and am wondering what it will be like during summer.... He mostly stays outside during the day and sleeps inside. What temperature do you keep your dog inside, @timkim?
  • I think the climate where you live influences the degree to which your dog sheds. The bigger the difference between hot and cold, the bigger the blow lol.
    If you live in a warm climate all year around, there isn't much of a need for the dog to grow or shed the winter coat.
    When I brought my pup home from Japan, it was 25 degrees there, but -10 in Toronto. He grew a thicker coat within 2 weeks I'd say.
  • Sakura has been having those crazy "dust bunnies". Every time I pet her the fur just flies around everywhere! I've been brushing her with the undercoat rake and always get LOADS of fur! Should I stop brushing her out daily and just let the fur do its thing? I don't want to overbrush or something and do harm to her coat... is that possible? Taki doesn't blow her coat as she doesn't have a proper undercoat, but she has been mildly shedding also although nothing compared to Sakura.

    She's 9 1/2 months now, and I'm wondering if this is her blowing her coat, shedding puppy fur or a bit of both? Also, when they blow their coats, is it common for it not all to come off evenly? She seems to be a bit patchy in some spots (not balding, but noticeable uneven fur). I'm paranoid of demodex now because of this Dx. Also, she is still intact and has not had her first heat yet. Is weird shedding common before this? I haven't noticed any discharge or swelling, so I'm pretty sure she hasn't had her first one yet - I've read that when they go into heat it's pretty noticeable :x
  • Uneven and patchy is exactly how they blow their coats. And I find with my females, they blow it just before coming in to heat.
  • @WrylyBrindle, Kona's fur is exactly the same way as Matsu's! Short and soft all around the sides and a stripe along her back of adult hair...and the funny thing is when she gets excited or barks when someone walks in the house, her adult hair stands up and she looks like she has a mohawk! xP Someone once asked if I did that on PURPOSE to her LOL

    I think weather does have a lot to do with blowing coat...Kona does not seem to shed much and she's never really "blown" her coat...there has been a time when she started shedding a LOT (that was back in March), but never uneven chunks...here in San Diego I think the weather is so moderate they don't really need to build a winter coat.
  • Now that I have been to NIPPO Classic and seen & felt a lot more kai, and met NK who live in other climes I can think on this much better.

    Matsu and Ayu feel the same (makes sense- she's his mother!) - it's Juno who has a different coat. Juno's coat is finer, longer but still thick. Matsu's coat is shorter, and straighter- as the judge showed me, you can brush him backwards and spike his hair up. It stands out if you brush him that way, which is considered 'proper.' Juno's isnt as stiff and wants to lay down, which is not against allowable coats in Kai.

    Also- Having seen Kurenai blowing her coat in great chunks- I can say that none of my dogs ever do that. Discussion at the Classic among NKF people was that it's just too cold and summer is too short here that my dogs dont really blow their coats the way the others do.

    So maybe mine are always winter-coated, and Kona tends to keep a summer coat because of where we each live?

    Sage is shedding a lot now, but not in dramatic chunky-style fashion. Matsu hardly sheds at all still. Juno dropped some of her winter undercoat, but she still has plenty of cushiness that isnt going anywhere. Ghidora (handsome as I think he is, coat or no coat) didnt have any undercoat at the time, and while Juno and Sage shed, its never like his was when I saw him. So now I understand! Mine just don't dump their whole coat.

    It's 54 deg today - it's mid June.
  • Oh that's really interesting! I didn't know about there being a "proper" coat for Kais...does Matsu's hair on his back ever stand up and look like a mohawk (i'm digressing :P )?

    And yes...I think it has to do with where we each live :)
  • Yup- all my guys can raise a Mohawk when ON Alert. Reilly's 'hawk goes all the way down to her tail! and as she calms down, the part by her shoulders rests, then down the spine till just her hip fur is standing straight up in about a 4 inch square. Its kinda funny.
  • That's too funny that it ends at her hip!! I don't know why, but I think when their hair stands up like that it looks so silly to me :P Kona's will mainly tuft out around her neck, then there is a thinner line of raised hair that goes to her tail as well!
  • Shelby hasn't really blown her coat yet either. She has a full adult coat now, and get puppy hair came out with her regular baths. She also raises her hackles when we go out in the car somewhere or she meets new people. They all think she's aggressive! If they only knew the truth about her and her silly attitude towards everything! :)

    Mya didn't blow her coat until she was about 2 years old (I only know this because I was her groomer before she came to live with me). Now it's like clockwork, every February and September she has a full blow even though we live in south Louisiana and never have a real winter (think shorts at Christmas) for her to build anything up. I still get tons of hair out of her during those blows and have to use a velocity dryer to get the loose hair out because it gets so packed in!

    Btw-I'm jealous if the 54 degree weather...with the heat index it's over 100 degrees here. We are moving to Wyoming in 2 weeks though and I can't wait to escape the heat and humidity!
  • I loved Wyoming when we visited there! What a great place to go to live!! :)
  • I think I'm most excited for my dogs! I worry about them having a heat stroke down here and I think they will love the cold weather!
  • I bet they will! and snow! :) Shelby's brother Matsu loves the snow!
  • Yay! Mya has never seen snow, so I'm wondering how she will react... I'll have to post spam when we get our first snow out there. Heck I've never really seen snow myself, so maybe the spam will come after the second snow :)
  • Wanted to revive this thread to ask about my guys coat blowing situation. He is 19 months old now and he hasn't had anything close to what an Akita blowing their coat looks like from what I've seen. Last year he started shedding more around April for a month and then again in September for around a month, I brushed him everyday during that time period and was getting a lot of fur off of him but nothing like I imagined. I pull the occasional tufts of hair off him too but not too much. During the time from April-September he barely sheds at all, I brush him once a week and don't get the amount of fur I do each day when it's April or September. So is this his version of coat blowing? Or is he just young and just getting started? I live in a 4 season climate by the way if that means anything.
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