TravelingMel

May 6, 2008

Rigby has a lovely, thick double coat of fur. It keeps him snugly warm on the coldest of winter days. It even keeps him coolish in the summer, although you wouldn't know it from all the panting.

Every spring, my sweet malamute sheds his winter undercoat and grows a summer undercoat, which he then sheds in the fall. Don't be misled, he sheds every day of the year, but there are two big blowouts annually that last about a month each.

We are in the middle of one now.

I wanted to get him shaved, but Henry cherry-picked pieces of information off the internet to defend his opinion that Rigby should not be shaved. (The double coat helps keep him cool, shaving damages the hollow hair shafts, it is psychologically damaging to mals...etc.)

During his online search, Henry stumbled upon The FURminator. (The second picture on the website even shows a malamute--not as cute as Riggy--sitting in all the hair removed by the FURminator.) This brush promises to remove more hair than any other shedding tool while not damaging the fur and reduce shedding by 90%. 90%!!!!

Big Henry was kind enough to pick up the FURminator in Bozeman this morning on his way over to Livingston. I only brushed Rigby for a few minutes since the fur was flying and I didn't want to inundate my neighbors with mal fur. Tomorrow we'll head to the dog park and really give it a workout.

Let the deFURminating begin...

A quick lesson in deFURminating: don't stand downwind of the dog you are brushing.

If the dandelions or the holes in the lawn aren't enough to drive our neighbors crazy, maybe this will do it.