Spread the Shed

Thanks to Bailey, my house has recently become unacceptably coated with white tufts of coarse hair. Yes, Bailey is a Norwegian Elkhound and his shedding is to be expected, but my house looks like it snowed INSIDE…at least 3 or 4 inches.

When I walk him each day, I have to stop several times to pull loose fur from his coat. I usually just toss it over my shoulder and go on my way, but the tufts remain, trapped in my neighbors' grass not 5 feet from my yard, haunting me with omens of the hair to follow. (Pictured right, a typical handful from Bailey at any time).

Bailey has always been a hairy, shedding beast, but this summer has welcomed a new record level of excess Bailey. SERIOUSLY. I brush him every night, yet one would think that his brush is coated with Rogaine upon seeing what he leaves behind after a mere 5-minute stint at the vet, for example. All of those supplements that claim to stop shedding - they haven't worked. The Furminator? Effects last maybe for a week to 10 days. Bailey is a never-ending creature of hair production…if only I could somehow bottle and market that to the middle-aged male. Perhaps for the Elkhound, hair production increases with age. That would be my luck.

The sweetest thing is that when I arrive to take Bailey outside (under these hairy circumstances), he seems embarrassed. He lowers his head as if to say, I'm sorry you'll have to vacuum after me later, mom. (Awwwww!)

But none of it matters. Bailey could generate a typhoon of hair, and for that my love for him will never change. Good or bad, hairy or bald, drooling or blind, toothless or fierce – for almost 11 years Bailey has been my most faithful companion.

He'll be 11 in December. Here's to hoping he's the heartiest of Elkhounds. Long live my hairy beast!