Shed Season: The Bath, the Brush and the Treat That Ends It

Spring means the brush comes out every day and the vacuum runs more than the radio around here. Dog shedding season gets loud fast, so we keep a plain routine: brushing outside, a bath with the hose, the shammy standing by, and one of our freeze-dried treats waiting at the end for Ella. It is not complicated, it is just repeated, day after day, until the worst of it is over.

The brushing routine

We start outside, past the Camaro's back bumper, out of the wind. A slicker brush first, working from the shoulders back toward the tail, short strokes, then a metal comb through the feathering on the legs and the plume on the tail where fur likes to bunch up. Loose fur comes out in handfuls this time of year, more than any other, and doing the whole thing outside keeps it off the kitchen floor instead of drifting across the house for a week afterward. Ten minutes most days is enough to keep the pile from turning into a weekend project. We do the underside last, since that is where Ella squirms the most, and we save a treat for the very end so the whole thing wraps up on a good note instead of a chase around the driveway.

The tools matter less than the habit. A slicker brush and a comb cover most of it, and neither one needs to be fancy. What actually moves the needle is doing it daily instead of once a week, because a week's worth of loose fur packed into one session takes three times as long and leaves both of us tired of the whole exercise before we are halfway through. We keep the brush by the back door now, next to the leash, so there is no excuse to skip a day just because we are already headed out to the car.

Bath day and the shammy

Bath day follows the brush, not the other way around, since it is easier to rinse a dog that has already had the loose fur combed out than one that still has all of it in place. We use the hose out back, work the shampoo through from the neck down, rinse twice to make sure nothing is left behind, and have the shammy ready the second Ella steps out of the tub. A microfiber shammy pulls more water off in one pass than a regular towel does, which cuts down on standing around dripping in the yard before she is allowed back inside the house or into the Camaro for a drive.

We keep our whole routine, brush to bath to shammy, mapped out on the Wash Bay page, mostly so we do not forget a step when the weekend gets busy. We also post where we are headed next, car shows included, on the events board, since a freshly brushed dog makes for a better passenger on the drive over. It also means fewer stops to shake fur out of the back seat before we get where we are going.

What goes in the pouch

Every session ends with treats, and that is where our freeze-dried treats come in. We keep a bag of Freeze-Dried Cheddar Cheese Bites by the door for right after brushing, small pieces that go quick and keep Ella standing still for the last few strokes of the comb. Bath day treats take longer to work through, so Freeze-Dried Beef Heart and Freeze-Dried Beef Tripe come out once everyone is dry and the shammy is hung up. Everything we make is single ingredient, freeze-dried in small batches in Malvern, Pennsylvania, nothing else added to the bag.

From the shop

A short list for shed season, our treats first and then the grooming setup that goes with them.

• Freeze-Dried Beef Tripe, single ingredient, freeze-dried in small batches, our go-to for bath day.
• Freeze-Dried Beef Heart, the other bath-day treat in our house, lean and single ingredient.
• Freeze-Dried Cheddar Cheese Bites, the everyday brushing treat, quick to hand out mid-session.
• Dog Grooming Supplies, shipped by Lillian Ruff, for the brushes and combs we reach for outside.

Questions

How often should I brush during shed season?

We brush most days while the fur is coming out this heavy, ten minutes at a time outside so it does not end up across the house. Once the heaviest part of the season tapers off, a couple of times a week is plenty to keep on top of it without turning it into a chore.

Does the order of brush then bath actually matter?

It does in our experience. Brushing first pulls the loose fur out before it gets matted or stuck to a wet coat, so the bath itself goes faster, the water stays cleaner longer, and the shammy has less to work through once Ella steps out.

What treats work best right after a bath?

We reach for something that takes a little longer to get through, like Freeze-Dried Beef Heart or Beef Tripe, so Ella has something to occupy her while she air dries in the driveway instead of shaking off across the furniture the second she is back inside.

For more of what we're doing this season, visit our Explore page.