There’s a whole lot to consider when it comes to picking out a new dog for your family. After all, you want something that’s going to fit in well with your household.
You want a dog that your entire family is going to love and that will help improve your family, and that’s what you’ll get with a border collie.
But is a border collie the dog that you want? And do border collies shed? Well, we’re going to take a look at what you need to know to prepare for your new loved one.
What to Know About Border Collies
You may not know it, but border collies are actually extremely smart dogs. They learn fast and they can do a whole lot. That’s because they’re also really athletic. So they hit the top of the heap on both sides.
Not only that but they’re actually beautiful dogs as well. They have long thick coats that help them stay warm even in the coldest temperatures (they’re from the Anglo-Scottish highlands originally) and they come in all different colors. They are typically black with a little bit of white, but that’s not always the case.
Boarder collies are a medium-sized breed and have a double-coat that provides them with that added warmth and a bit of their weight as well. You can also find short hair collies that aren’t quite as fluffy as their standard siblings.
These dogs get to be around 18-22 inches in height at the shoulders and around 30-40 pounds. But you’re definitely going to find a drawback to these amazing dogs and that drawback is the way that they shed. Because border collies absolutely shed.
Do Border Collies Shed?
You’ll find that these dogs actually shed quite a bit as a result of their long coat and the fact that it’s double-layered. Unfortunately, they shed a lot during the entire year and even more in the fall and the spring. That means you’re going to have to be really careful about their fur.
It will probably feel like you’re always vacuuming or sweeping up fur. And it gets absolutely everywhere from the corners of your home to the furniture and everywhere in between. The best thing you can do is come up with a plan for how to take care of the fur.
One thing is to pay attention to the general health of your dog. Shedding happens naturally, with old and damaged hair being lost to improve the overall coat. On top of that, seasonal changes and daylight shifts can affect your dogs shedding, making them shed even more when they spend more time outdoors.
What to Do About Shedding
You can’t keep your dog indoors all the time to combat shedding, but there are some other things that you can do about their lifestyle that might be able to help.
Change their diet – if you give your dog high quality food it’s actually going to help reduce their tendency to shed. You need foods that are good for nutrients and keep the hair follicles in good shape, which means they won’t be lost. You don’t want supermarket products, but you do want to get something with omega fatty acids or protein. Your vet can generally recommend good quality products.
Manage fleas and ticks – Make sure you’re managing any kind of fleas that might get into your dogs coat as this will cause them to itch and scratch, losing even more fur. Not to mention it’s going to irritate their skin, so get them checked over if you notice a lot of scratching.
Regular brushing – Brushing your dog regularly means that you’ll be able to collect more of the hair that they lose instead of letting it fall out throughout your home. You’ll want to brush them at least three times per week with a slick or pin brush to deal with the outer coat and also with an undercoat brush to get into the lower level. This will help cut down on a lot of the shedding but it will need to be done frequently.
Blow dry after baths – If you take your dog to a professional for bathing they use a high-velocity dryer to get rid of all the excess fur before you take them home. This will also help with full drying. But you can do that at home with a blow dryer that’s considered high-velocity. It can actually stop shedding for a few weeks at a time because it gets rid of so much of the loose fur.
Get some exercise – getting plenty of exercise is important for your border collie, but if you take them outside somewhere to exercise they’re going to lose a whole lot more of that loose fur while they’re out instead of while you’re at home. That’s going to save you from having to clean up as much and it’s going to keep their coat even healthier, which also cuts down on shedding.
Taking care of your border collie is definitely going to mean dealing with shedding, but you can cut it down quite a bit if you know what you’re doing. By following these tips to help cut down on the loss of fur throughout your home, you’ll definitely be happier and your dog will be more comfortable too. But make sure you still have a good vacuum handy so you can clean up the mess that is left behind because even these tips won’t take care of everything.
