Puppies › Labrador Retriever › Do Labs shed?
Labrador guideYes, and more than that short coat suggests. A Lab has a thick double coat that sheds all year, and twice a year it lets go in handfuls.
They do, and the short coat fools people. Long hair is simply easier to spot on a couch, while a short coat like the Lab's is often denser and sheds more. A Lab's hairs are short and stiff, and there are a great many of them.
Twice a year the undercoat lets go in earnest, and those are the weeks you'll be combing every day. A good vacuum earns its keep in a Lab house all year round.
A short Lab coat sheds so much because it is really two coats. The outer coat is short, straight and very dense, and fairly hard when you run a hand over it. Under it is a soft undercoat that keeps out water, cold and whatever the dog happens to be crashing through.
That coat was built for work, because Labs were bred to fetch ducks and other birds from icy water, which is why a Lab tends to treat bath time as a good time. A woolly, silky or thin coat isn't typical of the breed, so a correct Lab coat is a thick one.
Most puppies lose their baby coat between 4 and 6 months old, though the change can start as early as 12 weeks or hold off until a year. A puppy is born with a single coat of soft, fluffy fur, and in a double-coated breed like the Lab the adult coat grows in as two layers.
Don't take a tidy puppy as a promise either, because some puppies shed hardly at all and then shed far more once they're grown. The Labs on our Labrador page go home at 8 weeks, so that change will happen at your house.
A comb and a warm bath do most of the work. Comb every day during a heavy shed, and bathe in warm water, which pulls out the dead hair before it lands on your floor. A Lab that lives mostly indoors does well with a bath every four to six weeks, with a comb-through first. A wide-tooth metal comb is the tool to have.
Leave the clippers in the drawer, because a Lab's coat should never be clipped or trimmed. Trim the nails when you hear them clicking on the floor, and rinse the chlorine out after a swim in a pool. A Lab really is a wash-and-wear breed.
Labs are no better for allergies than any other dog, since no breed is hypoallergenic. The proteins behind dog allergies come from saliva, dander and urine, which every dog makes whatever its coat, so the idea that fur length matters is a myth.
When the main dog allergen has been measured, the breeds sold as hypoallergenic turned out to carry more of it in their coats, and their owners' homes had no less of it. If someone in your family has allergies, spend real time around grown Labs before you commit, and talk it over with your doctor.
Both breeds shed on a similar calendar, and the difference is how much work each coat asks of you. Goldens shed a moderate amount all year with one or two heavy sheds, and their long hair and feathering need brushing at least once a week, while a Lab gets by with a comb and a bath now and then.
Our Golden Retriever and Labrador comparison sets the two side by side, and Do Golden Retrievers shed? covers the Golden coat on its own.
Meet the Labs we have now, each with photographs, a price and a go-home date.
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