Owners for Australian Cattle dogs who are interested in not triggering allergies or cleaning up furry messes take particular interest in the dog’s tendency to shed.
Do Australian Cattle Dogs Shed? The answer is tricky in this case as this breed does shed, though not often, however, when it does, it does so at a rapid and voluminous pace.
Do Australian Cattle Dogs Shed?
The short answer to the question of shedding for this breed is yes, almost every dog does. What makes the Cattle dog unique in a way is it actually has two coats: an undercoat and an outercoat.
The outercoat is there to protect the undercoat and acts as a wick. The undercoat is the coat that is shed.
The shedding is not frequent as the Australian Cattle dog does not shed year-round, but rather just about twice a year.
This means they are not high maintenance from a grooming perspective. An occasional brush (4 to 6 times a month) and a bath when they get dirty or smell bad is usually sufficient.
When Cattle Dogs shed, however, the effect is more of a “blow-off” of their coat, and when that happens the shedding is fast and pretty intense.
When shedding, they do require a much more hands-on, active grooming and brushing to remove the old coat.
Why Do Australian Cattle Dogs Shed?
Most furry animals experience some shedding to a varying array of degrees. As new coat cells develop, they push the fur off to make way for the new coat, causing the old fur to shed off the body.
Some dogs are extreme shedders. They shed year-round and an owner typically cannot leave the house without heavy help from a lint roller to avoid looking like they just wrestled their dog for an hour.
These dogs are the most likely to trigger allergies in people who are vulnerable to those.
Other dogs shed very seldom and require just very basic grooming, sometimes as simple as a daily brush.
The Australian Cattle Dog falls somewhere in the middle, though leaning closer to the more infrequent shedding breeds.
How To Groom When The Cattle Sheds?
When the Australian Cattle dog does go through a heavy shedding period the best way to mitigate the dander is frequent brushing. The brushing will also help to keep the majority of the shedding in a somewhat controlled way.
If left unchecked when showing signs of shedding this breed can leave clumps as the inner coat quickly, leaving the fur everywhere and triggering potential allergies with the heavy dander.
Therefore, it’s prudent to maintain the shedding coat as much as possible.
Hopefully, this information was sufficient to answer the question: do Australian cattle dogs shed? Their shedding is ultimately minimal throughout the year, except during their one or two heavy undercoat shedding periods.
These can be handled and mitigated by regular light grooming and brushing techniques to keep your home largely dander free.