Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Fur Balls

Benjamin, Henry & Luna after being brushed

My favorite question that non-pug owners ask me about pugs is, “Do they shed?” I quickly answer YES to that question, but I feel like I can never be emphatic enough. How exactly do you express to someone that doesn’t have a pug just how much that pugs shed?While Benjamin, Henry & Luna shed year round, now is most definitely shedding season and they are all, no doubt, getting rid of excess fur for the summer. You can’t really tell because of the shadows in the picture but the grass is littered with pug fur. This was the result of a quick brushing of each of the pugs and I was shocked at how much fur came off them considering I had just brushed them on Sunday.

Each time I brush them, the same thought runs through my head, “What do people that have a fawn and a black pug do?” How do they cope with the light and dark colored fur? What do you wear? No matter what fur is going to show on something. We have light colored carpet so the pug fur doesn’t tell on us as much in between vacuuming. If I am going somewhere important I never wear black. Black has a great way of highlighting fawn colored pug fur!

The other thing that made me realize just how much pugs shed was buying my first canister vacuum. I never realized how much bagged vacuum cleaners shelter you from the truth. With a canister vacuum, after running the vacuum, all your dirt is right there for you to see. I’ll never forget the first time I ran my Dyson and saw how much pug fur it picked up. I was shocked! I just figured my old vacuum wasn’t doing a very good job, but when I ran the Dyson again the next day and saw the canister filled with pug fur again I was speechless. All this fur came from my house? In just one day? No way!

Luckily, I am not one of those people who can’t stand a little pet fur here or there. I do my best to keep up with it, but I have come to terms with the fact that it is an impossible battle to win.

What is your battle with unruly pug fur like?

Comment Page 1 of 1 pages

Ann

05/07/2008

With the amount of fur that comes out of my dryer lint filter with every load I could knit another pug.

Heather

05/07/2008

Ha! Where to begin with this one…It is so funny to watch people after they ask that question, “The boys don’t shed, do they?” I think it must be the short fur that throws people off, but if only they realized puggies have double layers of fur and those little fawn “hairs” inundate our lives. An old friend of mine coined the phrase “everything beige” to summarize the attempt of us fawnies to masquerade the fur that inevitably finds it way onto everything! I borrow my friend’s Dyson weekly because I have a cheapo vacuum that doesn’t cut it…You couldn’t be more right - what shows up in that canister is mind boggling!

Amanda

05/07/2008

With a fawn and a black pug you usually just end up with a bunch of grey fur everywhere - which works ok with our carpets.

The girls are shedding like MAD right now - I collect all the hair everyday after sweeping the floor and I plan to make a brother for them.

Or knit a toque for the winter.

Jennifer

05/07/2008

I have a Dyson, too, and it’s scary! ...and the dryer lint is all pug hair here too! My pug is always so offended when I won’t sit down and let him on my lap one last time before I head out the door to work or an event… Has anyone tried a furminator? My dad has one for his long-haired dachshund, but I haven’t tried it yet… just wondering…

Karla

05/07/2008

I have a fawn and black pug. Its a endless cycle of cleaning. My fawn, his hair always shows up on my clothes and furniture. Black hair is an endless battle on the kitchen and bathroom floors because of the linoleum. I’m so used to it and it doesn’t bother me that much, but right now it is shedding season and I just bought a new vacuum, so we will see what happens with that!

Krissy

05/07/2008

We have two pugs, but only one of them sheds like that. Our first pug was the non-shedder, so when our second pug started losing her fur by the handful we immediately took her to the vet. Turns out she was shedding for the summer season; we quickly learned about the shedding! I could care less about the shedding… Sure the cleaning is more and more often, but it is a small price to pay to get to live with such wonderful little puggies!

Carla

05/07/2008

Our NYC pug meetup group has just had a thread running on this subject. Some of us felt that the shampoos that are designed to cut down on shedding really do work. Also, most agreed that frequent, if not daily, brushing is the key, but a one lady mentioned her use of the “FURminator” as a big key. Another lady bought one and came back to say she LOVED it. I, “thrift” person that I am, dug around for a really great deal before I bought mine. I can’t say that I got more hair off than I did with a regular wire brush using a special lifting up technique, but it was easier to clean out the hair buildup from the Furminator each time, therefore speeding the process, if nothing else. And ANN, I use a clothes line up in NY and the pug hair is what especially makes me miss my dryer in FL. lol

Wendy

05/07/2008

LOL! I know exactly what you mean! It was sheer providence that we adopted Angus when we had Mags (both black). I had the same thoughts—what to do if we had one of each. But, like you, I just do what I can and we get by. The Dyson we bought this past year has been an INCREDIBLE help in the fight against ‘floaters’. It doesn’t hurt either that they are so cute, it just really doesn’t matter. That unconditional love and snuggle pug overrides any inconvenience. I’m sure our family has quirks that annoy them (like not sharing our chicken noodle soup always!). Happy Wednesday to all!!

Wendy

05/07/2008

p.s. My wardrobe is almost all black and dark brown!!!

Martha

05/07/2008

I only have one pug, and I have a cannister vac too, and it’s always full of fur. I’m amazed that with all the fur Bennie loses he isn’t hairless! LOL

I don’t think there’s any way to win the battle against fur. It’s best to surrender and have a pug colored wardrobe!!

And why is it that people always think pugs don’t shed????

Deanna

05/07/2008

I could make fur coats with what i get out of the bath tub from CJ. I also heard that black pugs do not shed as bad as the fawn pugs, is that true?

Linda

05/07/2008

I have a Dyson also, my husband bought it for me because of all the pug fur. It amazes me how much fur and dust is in the house each day, and we have just one pug.
For people who do not have a pug and do not understand shedding I use ‘Pig Pen’ from the Peanuts cartoon as an example. Where ever Brandy walks there is a dust storm of pug fur surrounding her.

Linda

05/07/2008

I guess Pugami Vice was wrong, it appears Henry has forgiven Luna. What a cute picture with him giving her kisses

Punchbugpug

05/07/2008

Owning fawn and black…well, when I wear black I RUN to the car, and when I wear white, I RUN from Marty. Strangly the fawns seem to shed much more at our house. We brush almost daily. The canister vac thing is so true. I vacumn the family room rug and then saw “holy $#%$# how can all this be here in one day?”

TinaRenee

05/07/2008

And I thought my Great Dane shedded a lot… He didn’t hold a candle to my two pugs. I have wood floors/ceramic tile in 90% of my house. Everyday it’s either a dry dust mop or the vacuum - or both! There are areas where the hair accumulates into furbleweeds (hair tumbleweeds). The thought of bringing the gas-powered blower inside has crossed my mind more and more lately… And oh my - when they sit in my lap and I absentmindedly stroke their fur while I surf the net!!! I stand up and have WADS of hair all over me!!!

Chirs

05/07/2008

I love my furminator. The only thing that limits how much hair comes out of my pugs is the time that I can spend doing it. Piles and piles that would otherwise have ended up somewhere else in the house. I can brush forever, and it keeps coming back with brush-fulls. Regenerative pug-fur!

Nevis

05/07/2008

I vaccum a lot and at some point you kind of just give up. And oddly enough my black pug doesn’t actually shed that much. Maybe because she doesn’t have the double-coat like the fawn pug has?

Heather

05/07/2008

I think we all agree that we could care less about the mountains of fur with the love we have for our babies and the sheer joy they bring to our existence…Hello, that IS what makes us Puggie moms and dads fanatical like no other ...

Furbleweeds…AHAHAHAHAHA…LOVE it!

I often say the boys are creating new siblings daily with all the spare fur they leave me…If only I knew how to sew…I could have The Best looking winter coat by now…probably a new one for each day…with matching hat, gloves and scarf!

All our commiserating on the fur is so funny…literally made me LOL…

Love me, love my pug fur or take a hike! Hehehe

Heather

05/07/2008

By the way…perhaps I’m slap happy from countless days of insomnia…or perhaps I’m just exposing my ‘real self’, but am I the only one who’s mind is so far in the gutter she can think of only one thing at the repeated glance at the title of today’s post…hahahahaaha

Lex

05/07/2008

I don’t see the cat hair anymore… how sad is that? And I have to cats. We bought our furniture after we got Indy, so it’s beige. We both wear a lot of black though…

Is the dyson really good???? I have been looking at one for along time but the 500$ is holding me off….

Linda

05/07/2008

Lex,
I love my Dyson, I would not trade it for any other. My husband and I checked several reports and comments from owners before we decided on the Dyson. When we got it home my husband did the experiment where he vacuumed with our professinal upright then went over it with the Dyson. It was amazing how much was left behind from the upright.

Linda

05/07/2008

By the way, I am not a Dyson sales rep

Christina

05/07/2008

I did not know prior to getting Sleighbelle that pugs shed. I too thought, wrongly, that since their coats were short, they didn’t shed. How wrong can one person be? We call being covered in pug fur, “pug love”! As in, “Look, I’ve been pug loved.” But now, even knowing about the endless shedding, I would never trade my babies and I will get more pugs in the future. I also think that I could have knitted a dozen pugs with the hair that is swept up or in the lint drawer of the dryer! I have an Oreck and I think it does a fairly good job on the fur, but I don’t think there is a machine known to man that can get it all! I think if I didn’t have to use a lint brush every day, I would feel like something is missing in my life. I have a lint brush in the house, in the car, and at my desk.

Can someone enlighten me on this “furminator”? Is that a special kind of comb? Can I find it at Pets Mart?

Isn’t funny how many of us responded to this topic? Misery loves company!

Phyllis

05/07/2008

I have owned my fawn female, Sandy, for 2 years and thought I was awash in pug fur. But I really didn’t know what it meant to be truly drowning in pug fuzz until I adopted Robbie from pug rescue a month ago. He has the darker fawn coat (smutty fawn?) and sheds his weight (16 pounds) in fur about every other day! The furminator is fabulous with his coat but it didn’t make as much difference with her. I broke down and spent the $$ on the Dyson Animal and it has made my house look like a home again, not some crazy fur lined coat from the 1970s. I’d highly recommend it if you’ve got major shedding going on at your house. (This is my first post and I’d like to thank the Owned By Pugs community for all the great pictures and stories.)

Eryn with a Y

05/07/2008

lucy has been in the house for two days nowo, and i’ve eaten about 7 pug hairs already . but i’m getting used to it…the hair adds a certain unique flavor
~

Heather

05/07/2008

As mentioned, I don’t own a Dyson, but I drive across the city weekly to my friend’s to borrow hers. It is SO worth the money…money I don’t have but, damn, should I come into some the first purchase is my very own Dyson. My friend and I always joke that I will someday hold her Dyson for ransom (equivalent to the cost of getting my own!).

Carla

05/07/2008

There is a website for the Furminator….Furminator.com But you can’t order directly, you get from retailers. Petsmart sells them, but you pay lots more. You can expect to pay around $20-21. There are lots available at ebay with starting bids of $.99 but the price usually ends up at the same $20ish unless you get lucky like I did. Bought one for $14, free first class shipping.

They come in many sizes, but I got the small/blue one. (They are color coded) They even have a cat/purple version.

Kelle

05/07/2008

It’s amazing how much they can shed. I swear if I knitted I have enough to make several sweaters a year! (:

Love your blog by the way.

Kelle

DancesInGarden

05/07/2008

When people ask me that question I kind of laugh hysterically for a little bit. Kind of like my very own small nervous breakdown. Then I make sure they understand that pugs DO SHED. We can HEAR Ruby shedding. I am not kidding. When I am standing in the kitchen and it is really quiet, we can hear the *plink plink* of her guard hairs jumping out LOL. Her undercoat (which is very little, she is a black pug) does not shed but if I use a very find comb I can get some out. But those coarse hairs!

They weave into everything, show up in our food, and I am not kidding I went to the doctor because my ears were intensely itchy. He flushed them. PUG HAIRS! I am still traumatized .

Danine

05/07/2008

I’m the proud owner of the purple dyson…I was resistant at first to spend so much $ on a vacuum! I had an $80 dirt devil that lasted me 8 years! BUT probably didn’t clean very well! LOL! My boyfriend convinced me and I wouldn’t be without it ever again! I could use it EVERY day and every day the canister would be full!
I have given up on trying to fight the fur! When I see it on my clothes I tell myself (and anyone else that may comment on my hairiness) that it’s special - it’s Pugora - imported from China! LOL!
I find they are worse after a tubby - but I use the rake or furminator (which is great!)

Patty

05/07/2008

My fawn pugs, Rocky and Adrian, don’t shed. They wouldn’t dare!

Carla

05/07/2008

At our last meetup, one lady said that when she got to Italy, she found hairs that traveled with her. Her mom asked her to please leave the ENTIRE pug home on her next trip. lol

Pat

05/08/2008

I, too, was amazed by the shedding! Mr. Skittles seems to have cycles when he will shed alot, then it doesn’t seem as bad.
I like the term pugoria, too cute!!

Corrine - OBP

05/08/2008

Thank you everyone for sharing your shedding woes!

I have been really happy with our Dyson. We have the Animal one and while I am no expert on vacuum cleaners, I know it sure does pick up a lot!

I have tried the Furminator and I think I will give it another try this shedding season. I have used it once or twice, but I always keep going back to the Zoom Groom. The pugs like it.

DancesInGarden - every time my ear itches, from now on I will think of you!

Eryn with a Y - Congratulations! Glad you little one is home with you now!

Patty - Can you train Benjamin, Henry & Luna for me?

TinaRenee - I guess what they say about pugs being “a lot in a little is true” A great dane is probably 10 times as big as a pug and a pug will out-shed them every time!

Lex - We got our Dyson at Bed, Bath & Beyond with one of those 20% off one item coupons. At least we saved a little bit.

Punchbugpug - I’m with you. It is alwasy show-n-tell after I vacuum. I take the canister around and make everyone look at what the vacuum picked up.

Patty

05/09/2008

Actually, I was just kidding. I wanted to throw a little bit of controversy into the mix, and see if anyone would catch it. The truth is…I’ve saved up just about enough of Rocky and Adrian’s shedded hair that I’m ready to clone a brand new pug with their very own silky, beautiful fur. Think I’ll name the new puppy “Radrian” or how about “Racky” or how about just
“Re-fur”?

Nicole =]

05/10/2008

I read this and I was “horrified” by how many people have super shedder pugs.
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned this, but I have a Shed Ender, and it gets the soft, undercoat of the pug out and it works GREAT!
It doesn’t really get the top coat of the pug, but it gets the crap that always sticks to everything.
I found my Shed Ender at Bed Bath and Beyond, and it was shown on T.V. so look in that section. It is blue and grey (the colors of the Union and the Confederacy from the Civil War… Sorry, but I’m doing a project in history about that).
It works GREAT and you just get mounds of fuzz out. Plus, it’s for lefties and righties :D
Thanks for letting me know where to find a Furminator. I need to get one =]
Hope this helps!

Ivy M. Andrews

05/10/2008

I have 3 pugs, 2 fawn and 1 black. I also have a Llasa mix and 3 cats, 2 of which have long hair. When I’m getting ready to go anywhere, the last thing I do is get dressed and then I don’t sit down. My big question to everyone is: Do pugs have a thing for cleaning ears? My female pug cleans the other pugs’ faces and ears. She also licks my Llasa until he is wet all over. She gets plenty of exercise, but she loves to lick.

Zenaida Vega

05/26/2008

I have TWO fawn pugs. They are 2 years old and for the most part they are good boys. I just had forgotten how much they truly do shed. I’ve had pugs before but maybe I conveniantly forgot about the shedding. Maybe I am seeing much more hair now because I have two of them. Regardless, I just don’t know what to do with all this hair everywhere. It breaks my heart but I can’t let them lay of the sofas anymore because then any time someone sits down they get up with an entire layer of hair all over them. I feel sorry for them. Their cute little face look at me like “why”, but I just can’t let them come up on the couch because I know I’ll kick myself later when I’m trying to get rid of the hair again.

Sunny

11/24/2008

Hello. I am new here. We just got a pug a few weeks ago. Our carpet and our furniture is a “Fawn” colored. (Well, really beige, but we call it fawn).

I never noticed the shedding. Until…. We vacumed the house.. I couldn’t believe how much air come off of one little pug.

sdqgobeo

02/27/2012

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03/13/2012

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