Hair

Let it fly in the breeze

And get caught in the trees

Give a home to the fleas in my hair

A home for fleas

A hive for bees

A nest for birds

There ain't no words

For the beauty, the splendor, the wonder

Of my...

 - Gerome Ragni and James Rado

I've lamented it before: come to my house, and you will leave covered in dog hair.  I've dealt with an excess of loose and abandoned hair laying around my entire adult life.  Of course, it wasn't all dog hair.  I used to maintain a rather long, fluffy coat of hair myself, and I'd sit and try and cut hair loose from the vacuum roller and not be able to tell if it was mine or the dog's.  I once had a co-worker/friend of mine confess to me that before she had her own dogs (border collies - I loved those dogs) she'd see me open my briefcase and see all the hair caught there and feel sorry for me.  I'm not sure I think my predicament rises to the level of pity really, but I have spent over the years more time than anyone else I know literally vacuuming out computer cases and luggage.  If you look at it from another perspective, my dogs and I perform a public service.  The birds in my vicinity have the nicest nests in the city - all genuinely fur lined.  Hair: it's just part of the gig with dogs.

Tip: Don't brush your dogs while
wearing corduroy

And maybe because I'm more laissez-faire about hair just being a part of my life, I've never spent much time or energy researching products meant to reduce shedding.  And even if I had, I'm not sure what the impact on my tribe of collies would have been.

I saw a post a few months back from a new collie owner on one of the collie Facebook pages I follow asking what "blowing the coat" meant.  My response was, "You'll know it when you see it."

Collies are "double coated", which means they have a top coat of fur, which is what you see, and then a layer underneath of softer, shorter hair.  This is a big deal in the collie world - as a matter of fact, rescue organizations will make that one of the application questions: "Are you familiar with the collie's coat and grooming requirements?" 

And if you're getting really hot just thinking about that two layered coat, remember they are shepherds by nature, and nature never takes a holiday.  So their undercoat serves to protect them from moisture, cold - of course - but also heat.  

Despite having a lot of fur, purebred collies are not, in my opinion, all that hard to groom.   I had decided once I reached three, I would hire a professional groomer.  But, because of Rooney's sensitive car tummy, it'd probably have to be a mobile groomer, and when I looked into the costs, I thought I'd take my vet's advice and just buck up and do it myself.  I once chatted up a couple of collie owners I met at a dog walk who had a sable and a merle rough coated collies.  I had just gotten Ripley and wanted some tips.  They explained that theirs differed dramatically in how they were to groom, with the merle being the harder to brush.  I find that's true - not that I've had the pleasure of owning a blue merle (someday...) - Rooney's sable coat and Sirius' tricolor coat are distinctly different.  And the tri coat seems to be the easier of the two.  Ripley was the same; it was a breeze to brush her before she got sick.  Geddy, who is a collie mix, has the hardest coat to keep brushed and probably the one I'd love to have someone just take over for me.  As luck would have it, he hates - I mean really just abhors - getting brushed, but definitely needs it the most.  It's almost a two man job - someone to hold him still and someone to brush.  Whereas Rooney will be standing right there waiting for her turn, and if you brush her first, she'll still stand right there waiting for another go.

But despite their differences in coat and tolerance, all three of mine are double coated.  And all three definitely blow their coats, although Geddy's is less of a dramatic sloughing off than the other two.  Which means at some point in the year they will molt that under coat.  I've read it's traditionally mid-to-late summer for male adults.  Well someone forgot to tell Sirius he's supposed to wait until mid-summer, and he's been blowing his coat over the last couple of weeks.  I am celebrating today because I think I got the last of it last night.  And his coat looks stunning for the first time in a while.

How do I know he blew his coat?  Well, as I commented to the newbie collie owner, you know.  For one thing, he has tufts of hair just hanging off of him at all times.  I read a Newfoundland owner describe it as tumbleweeds of fur blowing around the house.  That's accurate enough with my dogs - I can't even imagine a dog that size with that much coat.  Oof!  Of course, their advice to handling it was brush, wash, brush, repeat.  I am happy to know there's nothing more anyone else with a double coated dog does than I do, because that's kind of how I handle it.  Actually, that's exactly how I handle it.

Before you say to yourself, "For a dog blog, you're doing your best to talk me out of wanting a collie!", I'll point out that really that coat blowing thing is their own, inherent dog grooming thing.  If I just help them along with some proper brushing (there are brushes specific designed for undercoats - that's a must have), I really don't have to break the bank with a lot of professional grooming like I would if I had, say, a Standard Poodle (although I would like one...and a greyhound...and a shepherd...and a Vizla...all dogs are welcome in this woman's army).  But really, ironically, the point to all of this is: it's just not that bad.  Collies just are not that bad to care for.  You've just got to decide you will have some hair to contend with.

This is just my world.  Life is sort of hairy.  In my case, I mean that literally.  So, again, if you come to visit, I'll have a lint brush for you, and I recommend that you don't wear black.

The Trouble with Tribbles?

There will be a treat later, right mom?